Systemic Racism

2016 overview article from the encyclopedia People of Color in the United States: Contemporary Issues in Education, Work, Communities, Health, and Immigration

Brief overview article published in 2017 in the encyclopedia Racial & Ethnic Relations in America

Substantial topic overview from Latinos and Criminal Justice: An Encyclopedia (2016) by authors José Luis Morín, Yolanda C. Martín and François Restrepo-Serrano.

Overview by Alberto Gutierrez on the prison-industrial complex, which refers to the economic interrelation between prisons and the various public and private job sectors that have become dependent on the expansion of the prison system. 2013, Encyclopedia of Race and Racism.

"EJI is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the U.S., challenging racial and economic injustice, and protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society."

Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay's examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country's history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America. Full film available at this link on YouTube.

From Films on Demand database.
From the Oscar®-nominated, Emmy®- and Peabody Award-winning team of directors/producers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner, Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland examines this story in depth, revealing previously unknown details. The film follows the Bland family and legal team from the first weeks after her death as they try to find out what really happened in that jail cell in Texas. Embedded with the family and their lawyers, the filmmakers tracked the story for two years, drawing on key documents, jail footage and interviews with those closest to the events. © 2018 (01:43:08)

From Films on Demand database.
After 1968, African Americans set out to build a bright future on the foundation of the civil rights movement’s victories, but a growing class disparity threatened to split the black community. As African Americans won political office across the country and the black middle class made progress, larger economic and political forces isolated the black urban poor. When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, many hoped that America had finally transcended racism. By the time of his second victory, however, it was clear that many issues, including true racial equality, remain to be resolved. (56 minutes)

From Docuseek: INCARCERATING US exposes America's prison problem and explores ways to unshackle the 'land of the free' through vital criminal justice reforms. The film begins with a brief overview of U.S. prisons and the flawed policies that fueled unprecedented overincarceration. 2016 (84 minutes)

The myth of racial difference created to sustain American slavery persists today. Slavery did not end in 1865, it evolved.