Why have so many young black men been incarcerated?

The New Jim Crow, as it is called, has led to the mass incarceration of 2.5 million black and brown males in the United States. The conditions that led to this are poverty, poor education, and lack of opportunities for young males. In 2014, one out of every three black men could expect to go to prison, versus one out of every 17 white males. Because of the policies of the 1960s, 45% of people in prison are black men, wiping out a whole generation of black fathers.

I firmly believe the 1965 Law and Enforcement Assistance Act, which began this process and would be further enhanced under President Bill Clinton, helped militarize police departments across the United States in what was described as a means of serving and protecting local communities. Also, the three-strikes law came into play, where, if a person committed three felonies, they could be permanently incarcerated. Since the passage of this law, millions of black and brown families have been permanently ripped apart.

With this disruption of families, single mothers are forced to raise their children alone in the Information Age, where education is vital to future success. In many instances, mothers must work long work hours to meet the needs of their children and support them through broken educational systems. As educators, we must do more than just teach from a textbook; we must find ways to help parents navigate their way through toxic communities and schools with more challenges than you can name.

Let’s be clear. The lack of adequate and equal access to educational resources is not a recent development. History shows Lincoln and his Cabinet failed to live up to the promise of Reconstruction, and it would only grow worse over time and replaced by what is known today as the “black codes” of the South.

At the same time, homegrown terrorism escalated to the point where thousands of black people were murdered and lynched when states enacted black codes. Degradation was imposed through the Jim Crow laws and the Black Codes, shaping society and creating a culture that still lives in the shadows of the past.

During this period of Reconstruction, the public education system originated, and it used a Eurocentric model that Dr. Carter G. Woodson vehemently opposed. The truth of the matter has always been that black people wanted to educate themselves, and they knew how to do so.