By Kate Fraleigh

I thought I was reasonably educated, aware of what’s going on in the world, and responsive to social injustice.
But I haven’t been.

Here are the things I’m now paying attention to that in the past I could read and then overlook because of my
white privilege, because of my ability to avoid. Paying attention make these facts unbearable and lead me to
learn more. The truth and horror of racial injustice in the U.S. today is waking me up. Black lives don’t seem
to matter.

My UU faith in the inherent dignity of every person and the call to work for justice draw me to the necessity for
more knowledge and action. Silence is no longer an option. We brag that UUs have been active for racial
justice since slavery. But we haven’t done enough. This is not new. It is not better. We have to stop it. Black
lives do matter.

There are many racial injustices going on in the US. Education, poverty, the school to prison pipeline, health
care are a few. This article will focus on our broken criminal justice system and the lack of outrage when
African American communities suffer.

Blacks are 22 times more likely to be shot by police. Saying out loud the names of those who died in custody
or were shot by police recently brings the horror home. Sandra Bland, Michael Robinson, Freddy Grey, Eric
Gardner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Rekia Boyd, Mya Hall, John Crawford, Artago Damon
Howard, Jeremy Lett, Lavall Hall, Thomas Allen, Charly Leundeu Keunang, Naeschylus Vinzant, Tony
Robinson, Anthony Hill, Bobby Gross, Brandon Jones, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Frank Shepard, William
Chapman, David Feliz, Brandon Glenn, Spencer McCain, Kris Jackson, Salvado Ellswood, Albert Joseph
Davis, Darrius Stewart, Samuel DuBose, Victor Emanuel Larosa, Christian Taylor, Corey Jones. There are lots
more. We have to stop this.

Stop and frisk and three strikes laws disproportionately affect blacks. Stop and frisk policies have been
implemented in neighborhoods more densely populated by blacks. It’s called geographic policing. Here are
some statistics. In 2005 arrest rates during traffic stops were Black 4.5%, White 2.1%. Searches during traffic
stops were Black 9.5%, White 3.6%.

In Charlottesville an examination by Jeff Fogel, a lawyer, of the results of stop, frisk and arrest policies showed
that in 2014 African Americans were 78% of those who were stopped and frisked where the population is only
19%. Only 10% of the events led to a criminal charge. He believes these police actions violate the 4th
Amendment of the Constitution.

There are racial differences in the treatment of offenders. Whether children are charged as adults has little to
do with their crimes. Nine states automatically charge 17-year-olds as adults. But otherwise the decision is left
to judges and prosecutors who are often affected more by “hidden bias” than by real concerns about public
safety. “One national study found that in a single year, almost 10 times more black kids were committed to
adult facilities than white kids. Of 257 children prosecuted as adults in Chicago between 2010 and 2012, only
one was white.” (Huffington Post, July 1, 2015 in Credo Action)

“Black boys can be seen as responsible for their actions at an age when white boys still benefit from the
assumption that children are essentially innocent.” The cross-over age in a study of white female college
students was age 9. Juveniles sentenced to life without parole are 97% male and 60% black. Also, blacks
are twice as likely to get life without parole for killing a white person than a white person getting life without
parole for killing a black person.

One in ten black men in their 30’s is incarcerated. Black women are 13% of the population and 30% of the
female prison population.

The penalty for similar crimes is disproportionate. The “War on Drugs” targeted blacks. Blacks are 2.8 to 5.5
times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes than whites although the drug use rate is higher among whites
(except barely with marijuana and crack cocaine). The criminal sentence for crack cocaine (mostly used by
blacks) is much higher than the sentence for powder cocaine (mostly used by whites). For similar crimes
blacks get almost a 20% longer sentence than whites. Whites are more likely to support laws that
disproportionately affect blacks than if they disproportionately affect whites. This includes the death penalty.
And stereotypically black-appearing defendants are more often given the death penalty.
Public outrage about the atrocities heaped on the African American community is slight. Here are a few
examples. In 2015 EIGHT African American churches were burned. No one seemed upset when police raided
and arrested a group of African American young people at a pool party and threw one of them on the ground.
No one seemed upset when a group of African Americans was asked to get off a Napa Valley Wine Train tour
when they were laughing too loudly.

A group of armed (WHITE) militants, some known arsonists, seized an Oregon nature preserve in January and
have been left alone by law enforcement. In 1979, 40 unarmed members of the People Organized for Equal
Rights set up camp on a federal nature preserve south of Savannah, Georgia which their ancestors had owned
before the government took it over, first for a military base and then for a nature preserve. The ancestors of
Harris Neck, staged a “camp-in” to force the government to recognize their cause and turn the property back
over to them. Federal authorities asked them to leave. Four refused and were arrested and jailed for a
month.

Flint Michigan, a black majority city, was taken over by state authorities because it was failing economically. A
state-appointed city manager, decided to change the source of the city’s water to a cheaper vender. For the
past year African American children and adults have been using water highly contaminated with lead. It was
only just last week that the Governor asked for federal help. This delay in action would never have happened in
a white majority city. I’m beginning to learn that the set up for this for this kind of racial injustice is structural
and institutional racism that started with slavery and hasn’t stopped.

I’m trying to get educated and trying to be aware of racial injustice everywhere. I can’t be silent. I have to act.
Please join us here at TJMC working for racial justice and a “public witness.” Stop by the table after the
services any Sunday and pick up materials and talk with us. Black Lives Matter.