I heard a joke a while ago. A white woman driver hits two black men. One is thrown off the road and the other hits the windshield. The windshield breaks and the man’s head goes through it. Two white policemen, who are investigating the accident, tell the woman not to worry because they will arrest both of the men: one for illegally breaking and entering the car, and the second for leaving the scene of the crime. These two cases seem to add some credibility to the joke. The American Justice system seems to be following this principle: For the same crime, the maximum punishment for minorities and minimum punishment for whites.
By Dr. Sawraj Singh
Two recent Grand Jury verdicts have brought out the reality that the American Justice system is not color blind. In both of these cases, the victims were black and the accused were white policemen. In Ferguson, Missouri, a white policeman repeatedly shot and killed Michael Brown, a young black man. The policeman claims that the young man assaulted him and endangered his life. However, there are some questions about the shooting which are difficult to answer. Some witnesses say that Michael Brown had surrendered and had raised his hands. Another question is that why did the officer shoot multiple times? If he just wanted to stop the attack then one or two shots would have been enough. In the second case, Eric Garner, a black man in New York, was strangulated (colloquially referred to as a chokehold) by a white policeman. While it was happening, Garner repeatedly said that he could not breathe. However, the policeman did not let go. As a result, Eric Garner died.
In both cases, the Grand Juries acquitted the white policemen. The black community is outraged and many people all over the world are beginning to question whether the American Justice system is really color blind. I heard a joke a while ago. A white woman driver hits two black men. One is thrown off the road and the other hits the windshield. The windshield breaks and the man’s head goes through it. Two white policemen, who are investigating the accident, tell the woman not to worry because they will arrest both of the men: one for illegally breaking and entering the car, and the second for leaving the scene of the crime. These two cases seem to add some credibility to the joke. The American Justice system seems to be following this principle: For the same crime, the maximum punishment for minorities and minimum punishment for whites.
This principle starts with minor traffic violations and goes all the way to the top. Many studies have shown that the police are more likely to issue tickets to minorities than to white drivers. I know of cases where minority drivers were stopped just for a suspicion while white drivers got very little punishment even after causing a major accident. Many minority Americans have accepted this as a fact of life and have learned to live with this while some get very upset and even run into trouble with the police. Minorities are detained and jailed at a much higher rate than whites. This is particularly the case with blacks. They have a total population of about 15%. However, they form more than 45% of the prison population.
Racial discrimination in the medical profession seems to be rampant. Minority physicians are more likely to be scrutinized, more likely to be punished, and more likely to lose their licenses. They have to hear from insurance companies that it is difficult to defend them because a white jury will be more sympathetic to a white patient than to a colored physician. Minority physicians are then encouraged by the insurance companies to settle the cases out of court. White physicians are less afraid to go to court because if the physician is white, then his odds of winning the case are more than even. No profession is immune from racial discrimination. Even in Police Departments and the FBI, the minority members have complained of discrimination.
Generally, minorities feel that racial discrimination exists and that they are less likely to get justice. However, many whites feel that minorities use racial discrimination as an excuse for covering up their mistakes and for avoiding punishment. There is more and more polarization in society on this issue. The solution lies in bringing more transparency, credibility, and accountability. In today’s computer and information technology age, this is not difficult to do. We should collect hard data and then make it public. Once both minorities and whites see the hard facts, then either the minorities will be convinced that there is no discrimination, or whites will believe that there is discrimination.
For example, we can look at the most basic justice served on the streets and the justice done on the spot. We look at the number of drivers stopped due to suspicion. Let us see what percentage is white and what percentage is non-white. Then, we look at the percentage of these people who actually get ticketed (citation). It will not be difficult to see if there is a difference between whites and non-whites. We can look at conviction rates and punishments awarded. Is there a statistically significant difference between whites and minorities? Similarly, we can look at the numbers of complaints filed against minority physicians and white physicians. Then, we can look at the adverse actions taken by the Licensing Boards. We can also look at the cases settled out of court and the cases which go to court. Are there any significant differences between the cases of white and minority physicians? We can also look at the conviction rates and acquittal rates by white juries for whites as well as for minorities. I feel that it will be proved beyond any doubt that the American Justice system is not colorblind.
We need a two-staged approach. The first stage is to prove or disprove if there is a difference in administering justice to minorities and whites. Once it is proved that different standards are being applied for minorities and whites, then we should think of the changes which can make the system fair, equal and just.
America has been very vocal in criticizing the human rights records of other countries. However, when the whole world sees the plight of minorities in America and the justice-loving people demonstrating against what they consider to be unjust practices, then it sends very wrong signals to the world at large and especially to those countries which are criticized by America for violating human rights and engaging in unjust practices. American criticism loses credibility and appears hypocritical. It also shows gross double standards. America loses the moral right to criticize others.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
