The Judiciary

Jasmin Palmer
Unit 4- The Judiciary
05.01.16

Chicago's Racist Cops and Courts

Summary: 

This article was about how in Chicago, racism doesn't just come from the cops, but also reaches throughout the court. The author of this article explains how they were once a court clerk for the prosecutor's office for Cook County and witnessed many despicable things while on the job. The author said that many of the officers would sit next to the judge and make comments on how "the black men were really 'dogs'." Prosecutors and judges also participated in this behavior by mocking defendant's "black sounding names" or tried to imitate their voices using "bastardized Ebonics." When anyone with black or brown skin came into court the judges/prosecutors would try to blame the defendant for their poverty. The author also stated that the judge that was training her never taught her about the Fourth Amendment or referred to the Constitution or criminal code. 

Analysis:

I thought that this article was a good pick to use for the Judiciary webpost because it didn't just explain what the courts are doing right, but it also explains that the courts are in the wrong in some areas such as criminal cases. Colored people are more likely to have criminal cases just because of the "bad neighborhoods" they live in or because they seem more suspicious to police officers while they're only just walking down the street. This article caught my eye because I am a person of color and just this article shows that colored people are still not treated equally even in courts as well with police officers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/15/opinion/chicagos-racist-cops-and-racist-courts.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FCourts%20and%20the%20Judiciary&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection&_r=0