The Black Codes and Why They Matter Today

It’s hard to understand why African-Americans are incarcerated at higher rates than other groups without knowing what the black codes were. These restrictive and discriminatory laws criminalized blacks after slavery and set the stage for Jim Crow. They are also directly linked to today’s prison industrial complex. Given this, a better grasp of the Black Codes and their relationship to the 13th Amendment provides a historical context for racial profiling, police brutality, and uneven criminal sentencing. For far too long, blacks have been dogged by the stereotype that they’re inherently prone to criminality. The institution of slavery and the Black Codes that followed reveal how the state essentially penalized African-Americans just for existing. Slavery Ended, but Blacks Weren’t Truly Free During Reconstruction, the period that followed the Civil War, African-Americans in the South continued to have work arrangements and living conditions nearly indistinguishable from those they had during slavery. Because the cost of cotton was so high at this time, planters decided to develop a labor system that mirrored servitude. According to America’s History to 1877, Vol. 1: On paper, emancipation had cost the slave owners about $3 billion — the value of their capital investment in former slaves — a sum that equaled nearly three-fourths of the nation’s economic production in 1860. The real losses of planters, however, depended on whether they lost control of their former slaves. Planters attempted to reestablish that control and to substitute low wages for the food, clothing, and shelter that their slaves had previously received. They also refused to sell or rent land to blacks, hoping to force them to work for low wages. The enactment of the 13th Amendment only amplified the challenges of African-Americans during Reconstruction. Passed in 1865, this Amendment ended the slave economy, but it also included a provision that would make it in the South’s best interest to arrest and imprison blacks. That’s because the Amendment prohibited slavery and servitude, â€Å"except as a punishment for crime.† This provision gave way to the Black Codes, which replaced the Slave Codes, and was passed throughout the South the same year as the 13th Amendment. The codes heavily infringed on the rights of blacks and, like low wages, functioned to trap them in a slave-like existence. The codes were not the same in every state but overlapped in a number of ways. For one, they all mandated that blacks without jobs could be arrested for vagrancy. The Mississippi Black Codes in particular penalized blacks for being â€Å"wanton in conduct or speech, neglect[ing] job or family, handl[ing] money carelessly, and...all other idle and disorderly persons.† How exactly does a police officer decide how well a person handles money or if he’s wanton in conduct? Clearly, many of the behaviors punishable under the Black Codes were completely subjective. But their subjective nature made it easier to arrest and round up African-Americans. In fact, a variety of states concluded that there were certain crimes for which only blacks could be â€Å"duly convicted,† according to The Angela Y. Davis Reader. Therefore, the argument that the criminal justice system works differently for whites and blacks can be traced back to the 1860s. And before the Black Codes criminalized African-Americans, the legal system deemed runaway slaves fugitives for stealing property: themselves!   Fines, Forced Labor, and the Black Codes Violating one of the Black Codes required offenders to pay fines. Since many African-Americans were paid low wages during Reconstruction or denied employment, coming up with the money for these fees often proved impossible. Inability to pay meant that the county court could hire out African-Americans to employers until they worked off their balances. Blacks who found themselves in this unfortunate predicament usually did such labor in a slavery-like environment. The state determined when offenders worked, for how long and what kind of work was performed. More often than not, African-Americans were required to perform agricultural labor, just as they had during slavery. Because licenses were required for offenders to perform skilled labor, few did. With these restrictions, blacks had little chance to learn a trade and move up the economic ladder once their fines were settled. And they could not simply refuse to work off their debts, as that would lead to a vagrancy charge, resulting in more fees and forced labor. Under the Black Codes, all African-Americans, convicts or not, were subject to curfews set by their local governments. Even their day-to-day movements were heavily dictated by the state. Black farm workers were required to carry passes from their employers, and meetings blacks took part in were overseen by local officials. This even applied to worship services. In addition, if a black person wanted to live in town, they had to have a white sponsor. Any African-Americans who skirted the Black Codes would be subject to fines and labor. In short, in all areas of life, blacks lived as second-class citizens. They were emancipated on paper, but certainly not in real life. A civil rights bill passed by Congress in 1866 sought to give African-Americans more rights. The bill permitted them to own or rent property, but it stopped short of giving blacks the right to vote. It did, however, allow them to make contracts and bring their cases before courts. It also enabled federal officials to sue those who violated the civil rights of African-Americans. But blacks never reaped the benefits of the bill because President Andrew Johnson vetoed it.   While the president’s decision dashed the hopes of African-Americans, their hopes were renewed when the 14th Amendment was enacted. This legislation gave blacks even more rights than the Civil Rights Act of 1966 did. It declared them and anyone born in the United States to be citizens. Although it did not guarantee blacks the right to vote, it  gave them â€Å"equal protection of the laws.† The 15th Amendment, passed in 1870, would give blacks suffrage. The End of the Black Codes By the end of the 1860s, many southern states repealed the Black Codes and shifted their economic focus away from cotton farming and onto manufacturing. They built schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and asylums for orphans and the mentally ill. Although the lives of African-Americans were no longer dictated by the Black Codes, they lived separately from whites, with fewer resources for their schools and communities. They also faced intimidation by white supremacist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, when they exercised their right to vote. The economic woes blacks faced led to an increasing number of them to be incarcerated. That’s because more penitentiaries in the South were built along with all of the hospitals, roads, and schools. Strapped for cash and unable to get loans from banks, former slaves worked as sharecroppers or tenant farmers. This involved working other people’s farmland in exchange for a small cut of the value of the crops grown. Sharecroppers frequently fell prey to shopkeepers who offered them credit but charged exorbitant interest rates on farm supplies and other goods. Democrats at the time made matters worse by passing laws that allowed merchants to prosecute sharecroppers who couldn’t pay their debts. Indebted African-American farmers faced imprisonment and forced labor unless they toiled on the land according to the instructions of the merchant-creditor, states America’s History. Increasingly, merchants and landlords cooperated to maintain this lucrative system, and many landlords became merchants. The former slaves had become trapped in the vicious circle of debt peonage, which tied them to the land and robbed them of their earnings. Angela Davis laments the fact that black leaders of the time, such as Frederick Douglass, did not campaign to end forced labor and debt peonage. Douglass primarily focused his energies on bringing an end to lynching. He also advocated for black suffrage. Davis asserts that he may not have considered forced labor a priority due to the widespread belief that incarcerated blacks must have deserved their punishments. But African-Americans complained that they were frequently jailed for offenses for which whites were not. In fact, whites usually eluded prison for all but the most egregious crimes. This resulted in blacks jailed for petty offenses being incarcerated with dangerous white convicts. Black women and children were not spared from prison labor. Children as young as six were  forced to work, and women in such predicaments were not segregated from male inmates. This made them vulnerable to sexual abuse and physical violence from both convicts and guards. After taking a trip to the South in 1888, Douglass witnessed firsthand the effects of forced labor on the African-Americans there. It kept blacks â€Å"firmly bound in a strong, remorseless and deadly grasp, a grasp from which only death can free [them],† he noted. But by the time Douglass made this conclusion, peonage and convict-leasing had been in effect for more than 20 years in certain places. And in a short stretch of time, the number of black prisoners grew rapidly. From 1874 to 1877, Alabama’s prison population tripled. Ninety percent of new convicts were African-American. Crimes formerly considered low-level offenses, such as cattle theft, were reclassified as felonies. This ensured that impoverished blacks found guilty of such crimes would be sentenced to longer prison terms. African-American scholar W.E.B. DuBois was disturbed by these developments in the prison system. In his work, Black Reconstruction, he observed â€Å"the whole criminal system came to be used as a method of keeping Negroes at work and intimidating them. Consequently there began to be a demand for jails and penitentiaries beyond the natural demand due to the rise of crime.† Legacy of the Codes Today, a disproportionate amount of black men are behind bars. In 2016, the Washington Post reported that 7.7 percent of black men between the ages of 25 to 54 are institutionalized, compared to 1.6 percent of white men. The newspaper also stated that the prison population has quintupled over the past four decades and that one out of nine black children has a parent in prison. Many ex-convicts can’t vote or get jobs after their release, increasing their chances of recidivism and trapping them in a cycle as relentless as debt peonage. A number of social ills have been blamed for the large numbers of blacks in prison   Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã‚  poverty, single-parent homes, and gangs. While these issues may be factors, the Black Codes reveal that since slavery ended, those in power have used the criminal justice system as a vehicle to strip African-Americans of their liberty. This includes the glaring sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine, a higher police presence in black neighborhoods, and a bail system that requires those  arrested to pay for their release from jail or remain incarcerated if they’re unable to. From slavery onward, the criminal justice system has all too often created insurmountable hurdles for African-Americans. Sources Davis, Angela Y. The Angela Y. Davis Reader. 1st Edition, Blackwell Publishing, December 4, 1998. Du Bois, W.E.B. Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880. Unknown Edition, Free Press, January 1, 1998. Guo, Jeff. America has locked up so many black people it has warped our sense of reality. The Washington Post. February 26, 2016. Henretta, James A. Sources for Americas History, Volume 1: To 1877. Eric Hinderaker, Rebecca Edwards, et al., Eighth Edition, Bedford/St. Martins, January 10, 2014. Kurtz, Lester R. (Editor). Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict. 2nd Edition, Kindle Edition, Academic Press, September 5, 2008. Montopoli, Brian. Is the U.S. bail system unfair? CBS News, February 8, 2013. The Crack Sentencing Disparity and the Road to 1:1. United States Sentencing Commission.

Problems Of Bullying In Schools - 1631 Words

Bullying in the school system can be handled appropriately if action is taken immediately. In order for this problem to be solved, students who are being bullies to other students need to go to an alternative school for a few weeks and then find a support group to go to once or twice a week to help them deal with their anger/emotions. It will make the child’s life manageable and will prevent them from potentially harming another students’ life. According to Horne, Stoddard, and Bell (2007), â€Å"Recognizing that bullying and aggression result in negative academic, emotional, and behavioral consequences, a number of programs have been developed in the last century to address the problem of bullying and aggression in schools† (pg. 264). This†¦show more content†¦268). The authors then state that students learn different techniques to control their aggressive behavior while they are in their groups. This evidence is relevant because it explains what t hese groups consist of and how they will be effective in helping students. This type of solution would not have a cost to it since this is something that schools are already doing today. The practicality of parents’ coming and discussing this situation that involves their child could either happen or not depending on their every day schedule unless they found an appropriate time that would work for them. It is cost effective because this is already a part of the principal’s duties. One way that could increase the practicality of this happening is that teachers and faculty could sign a petition to follow through with this idea and then if more time is spent on it, then their salaries could be raised. The principal would be the first person that would oversee this solution since they are the higher authority of the school system. According to Cross and Barnes (2014), â€Å"Key patterns of behavior are seen to emerge within the family context, with family members influencing and reacting to each other in complex ways, which may then influence th eir behavior beyond the family circle† (p. 294). The authors then explain that family influences can impact children and that their behavior ofShow MoreRelatedBullying Is A Problem For School1318 Words   |  6 PagesBullying has been a problem for schools for a long time and has continued to be so. It has increased dramatically, taking everything that happens at school and moving it to the Internet. Pre-teens and teens are the most likely victims because they do not fit in a certain group or the bully just wants to show them that they are better than anyone else. 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Sara Lee Corporation Free Essays

Sara Lee Corporation (Case study) 1. Executive Summary This case study provides an evaluation of Sara Lee Corporation and particularly its operations of product lines available through the Wal-Mart stores. To begin with, an effective SWOT analysis of the company was conducted where strengths and opportunities are identified while addressing possible threats and improving its weaknesses to avoid giving the competition an aggressive advantage. We will write a custom essay sample on Sara Lee Corporation or any similar topic only for you Order Now Marketing requires effective identification of issues as a key factor in devising the best methods of addressing them. Therefore, Kirk Nelson identifies the BasicHipster style to be a major problem in the market because it was not doing well. Effective establishment of the best possible solution is therefore critical to maintain the corporation’s market share for the Wal-Mart Account. This analysis generates key alternatives that Kirk Nelson as the Sara Lee Wal-Mart Girl’s Panty analyst should consider in getting out of the current deadlock. This study recommends that Sara Lee Wal-Mart account should retain the FashionBikini due to its better performance compared to the New FashionBikini and introduce back into circulation, the new BasicHipster. . History or introduction Sara Lee Corporation is a fortune 500 company listed on the NYSE. They mainly mass market their diverse product lines of food and beverages, branded apparel, and household products through large retailers like Wal-Mart and Target, but also smaller store as well. Sara Lee, under the Hanes branded apparel operates a produ ct line of underwear called Girls Panty (GP) targeted girls ages 4-12 that include 3 cuts or styles: FashionBrief, FashionBikini and the BasicHipster. The Girl Panty line in Wal-Mart had to meet its sales and supply standards. Sara Lee Corporation maintained high sales due its ability to analyze its products on the basis of the market demand and thereby maintaining the customer’s preference. This case study provides a comprehensive analysis of the corporation’s Girl Panty line in the Wal-Mart account, identifies the strengths and weaknesses, recognizes the marketing problem, generates alternatives, make a recommendation and finally offers an effective implementation strategy. 3. SWOT Analysis Strengths Sara Lee has been identified as having 3 key strengths. First, their ability to employ highly experienced supply chain analysts made it easy for all the members to effectively carry out their roles and cite possible shortcomings on time and come up with workable solutions to address it. Second, Sara Lee’s longtime history has demonstrated that their products built on leadership brands represent high quality, affordable, casual clothing for everyday use, thereby creating brand loyalty and a strong attachment to its products. Finally, relationship building and retention is another key strength for Sara Lee. The trusted partnership between Sara Lee and Wal-Mart was two-fold. Wal-Mart served as a strong distribution channel partner with deep market penetration, while Wal-Mart relied on Sara Lee’s wide portfolio of well-known and established brand names. Weaknesses According to the case, the corporation suffers some weaknesses. To begin with, the girl panty suppliers are international and therefore subjected to key external forces such as cultural factors, religious considerations, strikes and unrests which made supply uncertain (Case, 427). With some of the supplies coming from external suppliers, the waiting period was very long and therefore unpredictable (Case, 427). Sara Lee’s market share for the BasicHipster was performing poorly. A New BasicHipster product was in the process of being developed but not yet primed for distribution. Opportunity One of the key opportunities that Sara Lee had was its ability to establish the need for new products and make them to replace those whose sales were on the decline in the market. According to the case (431), Kirk Nelson was informed of a suitable replacement for the BasicHipster after indicating its poor performance. Threats Notably, Sara Lee had one key threat to its operation in its Wal-Mart Account, the Fruit of the Loom brand. Global competition was fast emerging in regions such as Eastern Europe, South East Asia and the Middle East powered by technology and cheap labor. Due to this global atmosphere, Fruit of the Loom rose as the main competition in the underwear category (Case 426). 4. Case Analysis Sara Lee Wal-Mart account division analysis was the most effective at marketing as it provided a crosscutting evaluation of the product’s performance. Kirk Nelson was deeply involved in generating the most recent information before meeting his boss (Case p. 425). As a result, it acted as a critical organization in promoting sales at the stores at low prices and sustainable supplies (Case 427). As a result, this relationship promoted the internal sales at Wal-Mart while creating the needed impression in other external Sara Lee branches. In addition to that, the corporation had an effective supply from its widespread supply chain by maintaining distribution centers for its products (Case 427). To ensure that the products, promotion, and pricing were perfect, the analysts’ recommendations were subjected to extra scrutiny and further refinement. This reduced possible cannibalization and provided more effective recommendations on aspects such as replacements of less performing products. Even after analyzing the performance of the BasicHipster style, the decision to replace it had to further be analyzed (Case 428 -430). 5. Marketing Problem Due to the lack of performance from the BasicHipster style, it was temporilary replaced with the New FashionBikini until the New BasicHipster was finished. After watching the sales do well for over a year in all three styles: FashionBrief, FashionBikini and the New FashioBikini, the New BasicHipster was ready for the shelf. Should Sara Lee replace the old or the New FashionBikinis with the BasicHipster or should they consider leaving both FashionBikinis selling side by side and not introduce the New BasicHipster? Of course, that decision depends on how well the FashionBikinis (old and new) are working together. Establishing an effective solution to this problem was a key issue in that the product was expected to be free of cannibalization in the market. 6. Alternative Solutions Sometimes analysts make important decisions while generating the sought after revenue and steer their products towards maintaining effective competition. Looking at the marketing problems brings to mind several solutions Sara Lee should analyze. First, Sara Lee management could consider maintaining the status quo as it is, keeping all three lines: FashionBrief, FashionBikini and New FashionBikini. In doing so, they keep their sales steady without risking the loss of market share and shelf space. Since the FashionBrief was preferred by younger girls while the FashionBikini and the New FashionBikini was preferred by the older girls, this apparent age difference only complimented each other because they each had their own target market. The downside to this is having 2 style cuts that are alike such as the FashionBikini and New FashionBikini because the product line lacks the diversity in styles and limits your target segment. Both of the Fashion Styles are not targeted to the economy buyer such as the BasicHipster would be and limits your wide range of pricing for consumers. Second, Sara Lee could consider the option to delete either the FashionBikini or the New FashionBikini and bring back the new and improved BasicHipster while keeping the FashionBrief. According to Kirk, he mentions that the sales of the BasicHipster were performing poorly but no graph or sales figures were provided in the case for a comparison. After charting the sales volume for the exact same year and periods of time between the FashionBikini and the New FashionBikini (see exhibit â€Å"A†), there was a sales increase $125,348 where the FashionBikini outperformed the New FashionBikini by 154%. Keeping in mind that the New FashionBikini was only being sold in 1700 store compared to 2300 stores, the increase was still significant. Since keeping both FashionBikini styles on the shelf along with the Fashion Brief and adding the new BasicHipster was not an option, Kirk would have to make a decision to delete at least one of the Bikini lines. Given the sales data, the one to cut would be the NewFashionBikini. This would give Sara Lee three distinct styles that include a new line of cut, the BasicHipster, which would diversify their product line an appeal to the economy priced buyer and retain the sense of the original hipster to the consumers while giving then a new sense of the market. The downside to this alternative would be risk losing market share. If the BasicHipster was not performing well to begin with maybe bringing the style back might repeat the same results. Again, without numbers to compare, the risk is still prevelant. On the other hand, the BasicHipster is the New BasicHipster with a new color scheme which could result in a greater market shre while appealing to consumers. 7. Recommendation Sara Lee should consider replacing the New FashionBikini with the New BasicHipster based on 3 reasons. First, I had to anaylze the sales of the FashionBikini and the New FashionBikini so I knew which one to elimanite in order to introduce the New BasicHipster. After careful anaylsis I found that the sales of the old FashionBikini were $125,348 or 154% higher than the sales of the New FashionBikini given the same time period. Also, by not having the BasicHipster style on the shelf for over a year, it would create a need for the product by the consumer. Second, a diverse product line in terms of price and cut would be available appealing to the ecomonic consuios buyer with the New BasicHipster, as well as those consumers who desired more colors and print themes as with the FashionBikini and Fashion Brief lines. Lastly, by keeping the FashionBikini and FashionBrief line, the two had already been in the market and would not require the intensive promotion demanded by a new product. In addition, the sales and market share should remain contstant and even increase while the promotion for the New BasicHipster takes hold. 8. Implementation By adding the new BasicHipster a whole new marketing campaign will be designed around the the new product including commercials aimed at young girls ages 4-12 . email marketing, free giveaways, Further analysis to determine possible cannibalization should first be conducted in the Sara Lee Wal-Mart Account to track the sales volume and market share. By introducing the already New BasicHipster, a new advertising and promotion effots will take place informing the consumer of this new line and style choice. Revising the NewFashionTh e for the first year to determine if any changes need to be made. If no changes are required, further analyses of the products lines will contunie for another 2 years until their life cycles are near the end whne 1 and continueof the 3 increase the chances of raising sales of the FashionBikini. Besides, Sara Lee should gradually increase the quantity of the FashionBikini to account for the added sales from the deleted New FashionBikini line while continuing to expand on the growth and promotion of the New BasicHipster to ensure a smooth transition. In addition to that, the corporation should intensify promotion of the FashionBikini to further inform and persuade consumers to buy it at Wal-Mart. Finally, a critical review of the FashionBikini should be maintained to seek consumers’ further preferences while making possible adjustments on their preferences. ———————– Surname 6 How to cite Sara Lee Corporation, Papers