Quotation:

“I knew that Prince was not killed by a single officer so much as he was murdered by his country and all the fears that have marked it from birth.” page 78

“The truth is that the police reflect America in all of its will and fear, and whatever we might make of this country’s criminal justice policy, it cannot be said that it was imposed by a repressive minority. The abuses that have followed from these policies—the sprawling carceral state, the random detention of black people, the torture of suspects—are the product of democratic will.” page 78-79

Comment: These two quotes really stuck out to me and I felt like they formed a type of theme. The topic of police brutality in America is a highly controversial topic. Black people are extremely mistreated all over this country but especially in the criminal justice and law enforcement system. To me, it seems as though they never get a fair playing field and when they comment on it or try to justify themselves, they receive backlash in a form of beatings, death, etc. It really irks me that we have not come up with a solution to this horrible problem in our country. Parts of these quotes confuse me while other parts intrigue me and interest me, which is why I picked it for today’s QCQ. I believe that police brutality is a conversation that we should all be having. I would like to say that having the conversation would result in the spreading of awareness of this problem, but I truly believe that it is a well-known issue in this country, but yet still nothing is done to adjust the system and bring justice to, not only just blacks, but also latinas/latinos, hispanics, jews, the disabled, etc. The whole system is unjust and there’s no reason why we, as a country, can’t come up with some adjustments that could be made so that everyone has a fair playing field and nobody fears for their own body just from being pulled over and looked at by a police officer. It mentions in the book, also, that racism in this country is heritage. Well, I say that cultures can change and adapt, we could change our heritage if we really wanted to, but yet nobody (excluding activists and those affected by police brutality) seems to be trying.

Question: What is the carceral state? What is the democratic will? Why is it taking so long for changes to be made in the criminal justice and law enforcement system?