Text of a speech I gave on racism

What if I told you that in Germany 42% of the people on death row were Jewish? What would you think? Does that sound maybe a little disproportionate? It brings back memories of a different time in their history doesn’t it?

Fortunately that statement isn’t true. Germany does not have the death penalty because as one German put it “There is no way with our history that we can ever engage in the systematic killing of human beings.” BUT, replace “Germany” with the United States and Jewish with black and that statement becomes true.

Even though, according to the US Census Bureau in 2010, Black people made up only 12.6% of the American population, they make up 42% of the people on death row, according to the Equal Justice Initiative. And make up 41% of the prison population at large.

We need to have a talk about racism. And we finally are in this nation, unfortunately Trayvon Martin had to die for us to realize this. And it’s important that you realize this is not a made up thing. Racism is alive in the United States even though many deny it, the facts speak for themselves.

According the EJI:
1) Nearly one out of every three black men in their twenties is in jail, prison, or on probation or parole.
2) Black men are eight times more likely to be in jail or prison than white men.
3) And if these trends continue they estimate that 40% of the black male population in the State of Alabama will permanently lose the right to vote as a result of a criminal conviction.
4) And a 2003 Bureau of Justice Statistics analysis showed that 32% of black males born in 2001 can expect to spend time in prison.
Think about that. Imagine being born into a world where you a nearly pre-destined to go to prison.

Not only that but that you’re more likely to go to prison than college.
1) In 2006 the Census Bureau issued a report that found more than three times as many black people live in prison cells as in college dorms and as for whites, more than twice as many live in college housing than in prison or jail.

And lest you think that once they include those who don’t actually live on campus the numbers even out, civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander writes in her book The New Jim Crow that “In June 2001, there were nearly 20,000 more black men in the Illinois state prison system than enrolled in the state’s public universities. In fact, there were more black men in the state’s correctional facilities that year just on drug charges than the total number of black men enrolled in undergraduate degree programs in state universities.”

Now, we can spend decades trying to define what exactly justice is, I mean people have been arguing over Plato’s definition for 2400 years, but we can all agree on one thing, and that is that justice is always fair. And from these numbers there is only one conclusion that we can come to about America’s judicial system – that it is one that is unfair.
And as if all that wasn’t bad enough, racism is deep within our own American businesses and culture.
In 2010 the U.S. Census Bureau released a study that showed that per capita income for blacks was only $18,054 compared with $28,502 for whites. In other words black people earn 57 cents for every dollar earned by white people.
And that same study found that 27% of black people were living below poverty

But it only matters how much you get paid if you actually do get paid
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in February of this year the unemployment rate for the civilian population overall was 7.3% however the unemployment for black people was double that at 14%

And it’s not just how much they get paid it’s also how much they pay.
The Center for Responsible Lending issued a report in which they found that black people were 31% to 34% more likely to receive a higher-rate loan than whites.

And perhaps the worst expression of racism is the rise in hate groups.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, hate groups have been on a steady rise since 2000, however, the most disturbing part is the last few years. So called Patriot and Militia groups who believe that the federal government is out to get them and trade on conspiracy theories have jumped from just 149 groups in 2008 to 1274 in 2011. While many things happened in between 2008 and 2011, one thing stands out: President Barack Obama.

With these facts laid before us we can see that we have a major problem with race in this country. In the judicial system, in the political system, in the business system, and in our culture right next to us.

Now you may ask yourself: How did this happen? How could this happen? And most off all: Who did this?

But you need not look far!

In 1989 as a result of the fall of communism Vaclav Havel was elected president in the first free election in Czechoslovakia since 1948. Three days later, he gave his first New Year’s address to the nation and he spoke about what had happened in preceding years. He told them that: “The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment.” And he went on to say: “When I talk about the contaminated moral atmosphere, I am not talking just about the gentlemen who eat organic vegetables and do not look out of the plane windows. I am talking about all of us. We had all become used to the totalitarian system and accepted it as an unchangeable fact and thus helped to perpetuate it. In other words, we are all – though naturally to differing extents – responsible for the operation of the totalitarian machinery. None of us is just its victim. We are all also its co-creators."

Now replace totalitarian with racism and you still have a true statement because institutional racism is just as insidious and we are all its co-creators. Now what are you going to do to stop it?