Incarceration, Higher Education and Hypocrisy - Brief Article - Editorial

Black Issues in Higher Education, May 11, 2000 by Frank L. Matthews

In higher education studies, much of what is offered as research is later confirmed to be a mere pretext for racial bias and prejudice. But every now and then you run across research that you instinctively know is first-rate and a confirmation of you r reality.

Our March 16 edition featured a cover story entitled Nullifying Criminal Injustices. We spoke with Professor Paul Butler of the George Washington University law school, who persuasively argues for stemming the high incarceration rates for young Black men through jury nullification.

Many in the academy have unsuccessfully tried to dismiss his work as being irresponsible. But a landmark report, And Justice for Some, by the Youth Law Center and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency affirms what Butler and most levelheaded people already knew: The criminal justice system unfairly wreaks havoc on the Black community.

The report says that 1997 records indicate that among young people charged with a violent crime who have not been in juvenile prison before, Black teen-agers are six times more likely than Whites to be sent to state facilities. Further, for first-time drug offenses, Blacks are 48 times more likely to be sent to juvenile prison. And for the same crime and conviction, the sentencing goes something like this: Whites get 144 days, Blacks get 235 days and Hispanics get 306 days. (To see the full report, visit our Web site at www.blackissues.com.)

Now, many of you will likely say, "Frank, I know that you are not surprised by the report, and if you are, you have long since let your guard down." No, I'm not surprised. But I am perplexed by the unconscionable hypocrisy that runs rampant through today's higher education boards and policy makers. Where are the people who are so offended because a Black or Brown teen might get a slot in the freshman class at the University of California-Berkeley? Are they in any way bothered by this report?

Could they know that by incarcerating young Black and Brown men, we ensure that families of color will continue to suffer - that women of color will continue waiting to exhale and that the competition for economic and educational resources will, to a large extent, be eliminated?

Could they possibly be reasoning that there may be many first-rate scholars like Paul Butler among the young and the incarcerated?

In this edition, Pearl Stewart looks at one way concerned academics are responding to this madness - by leveraging their conference dollars against locales they find to be offensive. And Ronald Roach checks in on the pattern of Black leaders who are following their heads and their hearts away from predominantly White institutions and toward presidencies at Black colleges.

Paul Butler, the boycotting academics and this set of Black presidents all seem to be taking a hint from the old saying about going to the courts looking for justice and instead finding Whites who say, "just us." Only now it appears that "just us" will have to reverse this madness.

Frank L. Matthews Publisher/Editor-in-Chief