Recording-2025-01-28T18:43:30.461Z

Introduction to Social Control and Class Dynamics

• Criminal justice system focuses on lower classes, leading to significant incarceration rates.

• Necessity to understand historical context for modern policing.

Historical Context of Class during Slavery

Division of Society into Three Classes

• Elites: Slaveholders, similar to contemporary ultra-rich like CEOs.

• White Workers: Free but economically disadvantaged laborers.

• Black Workers: Enslaved individuals without rights or opportunities.

Dynamics Among Classes

• Elites control the social system to protect their interests.

• White workers are misled to believe they have little in common with black workers despite shared struggles against elite oppression.

The Role of Racism and Violence in Policing

Creation of Racial Divisions

• Racial discrimination fueled by elites to maintain control and divide the working class.

• Slave Patrols: Early form of policing where white men kept enslaved people in check, reinforcing identity as "white" through violence and power.

Concept of Whiteness as a Tool of Control

• Wages of Whiteness: White workers compensated not with money, but with a false sense of superiority over black workers.

• Historical instances where white workers benefited from subjugating black individuals, exacerbating class division and resentment.

Modern Implications of Historical Context

Transition to Contemporary Policing

• Today's police forces largely come from working to middle classes, often policing lower classes or black communities.

Structural Challenges in Policing

• Hiring from the working class leads to difficulties in maintaining elite control, especially during labor strikes.

• Community policing often fails to bridge the divide, perpetuating elite control over both classes.

The War on Drugs: A Continuation of Historical Patterns

Role of the War on Drugs

• Serves as a justification for policing disparities, targeting specific communities based on constructed narratives of crime.

• Reflects systemic inequalities where policies disproportionately impact black and brown communities.

Institutionalized Racism in the Criminal Justice System

Definition and Implications

• Institutionalized racism refers to policies that, while not explicitly racially discriminatory, yield racially biased outcomes.

• Example: 100:1 Crack vs. Powder Cocaine Sentencing highlights systemic disparities in criminal punishment that favor whiteness and criminalize blackness.

Historical Foundations of Modern Criminal Justice

• The 13th Amendment: Abolished slavery except for convicted individuals, exemplifying the transition of slavery into the prison system.

• Understanding the systemic setup of punitive justice necessitates addressing historical precedents and contemporary applications.

Conclusion

• The discussion emphasizes the importance of understanding the socio-historical context of policing.

• Historical and modern injustices are interrelated, revealing deep-rooted class divisions upheld through systemic racism and policing practices.