The Equal Protection Of The United States - 991 Words

Such discrimination goes against the 14th Amendment of our Constitution under the Equal Protection Clause, which states that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. This law should protect everyone regardless of race or ethnicity. This very much explains why in every single state of the U.S, poverty rates are higher for the African Americans than Whites. According to research done by the Kaiser Family Foundation in all 50 states, the poverty rates are higher for African Americans than whites. Blacks are also much more likely to be sent to jail for drug possession, even though they are not more likely to use drugs. According to the Constitutional Rights Foundation, â€Å"Blacks are only†¦show more content†¦As noted, 38 percent of blacks are in prison because of a drug related crime. The unequal sentencing that MacDonald claims helps blacks, is discrimination. Such discrimination goes against the exact principles of the equal protection clause. This law was created for the sole purpose of protecting everyone regardless of the color of his or her skin. Unequal sentencing equals unequal protection. Incarceration doesn’t just mean sentencing and fining, it means that they will spend their lives with a record that will not allow them to succeed. It is evident that they will fall back behind everyone else. It is unfair to systematically incarcerate one group and not another. Along with the high incarceration rates, many people face police brutality. Today , the police department’s use of excessive force is generating headlines everywhere. Headlines were of the fatal shootings of Michael Brown. More news showed Eric Garner, who was choked to death by a New York police officer concerned that Garner was selling untaxed, loose cigarettes. Both Garner and Brown were black and the officers in the cases were not indicted. This has many people questioning the system. According to Berteau Joisil’s book, Dream Builders, Dream Killers, from 1995 to 2000, there were almost 10,000 cases of police use of excessive force reported in the U.S.; African Americans made up 47.5