Blackness in America and the presumption of innocence: How the American police and mass media poisoned everything

Iheme, Williams C. (2020) Blackness in America and the presumption of innocence: How the American police and mass media poisoned everything. Human Rights, 15 (2). pp. 153-174. ISSN 24236489

[thumbnail of JOHR 2020.pdf] Text
JOHR 2020.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to Repository staff only

Download (652kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

In American history, the ‘Black body’ has been commodified both during the slavery era and in the contemporary period whereby the private management of prisons has partly resulted to mass Black incarceration. The abolition of slavery some 150 years ago is still fairly recent compared to the 400 years it was practiced: thus some of the heinous treatments by slave owners were carried over into the criminal justice system, causing the police, jury, judges, etc., to treat Black people unequally and unfairly compared to their White counterparts. From the ‘proceedings of the rebellious negroes’ in the slavery era to the racialized media coverages of police brutality against Black people, Black protests, treatment of criminal suspects, etc., the American mass media have been identified as playing a major role in the maintenance of the deep racist structures that perpetuate mass Black incarceration. This paper links up some historical practices against Black people with the contemporary racist practices in order to show that slavery is still functionally alive in America and manifests concretely through the justice system: this paper aims at amplifying the ongoing debates toward obliterating the remnants of slavery in America.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: Black People | Racism | Presumption of Innocence | Mass Media | Police Brutality | Prison | Protests
Subjects: Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Human Rights
JGU School/Centre: Jindal Global Law School
Depositing User: Amees Mohammad
Date Deposited: 01 Jan 2022 07:26
Last Modified: 14 Feb 2022 07:08
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.22096/hr.2020.130966.1232
URI: https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/525

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Actions (login required)

View Item
View Item