Judicial System (Courts)

Question #1. How does this institution/system (e.g., Mental Health System) contribute to/perpetuate racism and racist violence and other daily atrocities visited upon people of color?

Table Facilitator, Group 1

1. Unequal sentencing. Blacks have more arrest than whites even though whites commit more crimes.

2. Structural racism; wealth gap/stratification, racial biases that lead to harsher attitudes towards P.O.C.

3. Court officials do not demographically represent the communities they serve.

4. Institutional Racism, synonymous with city, country and other institutions.

5. “Just us” not justice, 3rd grade reading level = projected beds, school to prison pipeline. Small children, families.

6. Stratified crime codification that disparages communities of color.

7. Profitable system of corruption and collusion.

Question #2. What should have been done before the massacre in Charleston – what are the signs that we missed/are missing as a community in this area (e.g., Mental Health System)? Why does it take a massacre for so many white allies to recognize everyday racism and stand up to speak against it?

1. Not watching/monitoring, “hate speech” on internet, terrorist put ideologies and plans on web . . . white privilege is so ignorant and not experienced with hatred daily.

2. Access to guns should have been more heavily controlled to protect against arbitrary or targeted violence and support systems were non-existent for this person.

3. Disenfranchisement (felony) white people can choose to face racism and step up.

4. Predictive policing and racial profiling, community accountability and responsibility, deal with the “Bystander effect,” identify those who are at risk of becoming violent.

5. Terminology/labeling, white terrorist = mentally ill shooter, black? = thug or mafia and a killer.

6. We value diversity of color in every species but our own.

7. People’s perceptions are influenced by the media.

8. Hate speech vs. free speech . . . is someone a danger to the community, what kind of language is acceptable?

9. A person may be privileged in one respect and yet suppressed in another . . . intersectionality not spoken of.

10. Context is not taken into account when Blacks or POC are involved in the situation, but the context is considered when the aggressor is white.

11. The court system belongs to everybody and can place particular conditions opou??

12. Silence is complicity. Judges have a duty to stand up against injustice. There should have been a national judge strike/walk out.

Question #3. What specific actions can you take as an individual post – massacre – to eliminate racism in (e.g., the Mental Health System) in the Seattle area? In the US? Give Specific action recommendations.

1. Conflict Resolution, Restorative Justice, “Witnessing Whiteness”

2. New legislation, phase out jail system.

3. Learn more about how the system works;

4. Criminal class, eternally marginalized

5. Debtor system, in education, in public assistance, in housing

6. Read “New Jim Crow.”

7. Washington contract with GEO group to ship inmates to Michigan even though there is no parole in WA State.

8. Individual Level; working with Republicans . . . challenge biases and raise uncomfortable questions. (morals/values)

9. King County Superior Court, Book Read . . . discussion among judges and officers, constructive criticism and positive reinforcement.

10. Learning diverse cultures, encouraging our communities, smash the fear of our own youth.