WHEN THEY SEE US:

Institutional Racism & the Justice System

Shreya Sorcar
21011242
"Wilding" stands as a classical and cultural conception of wilderness. It symbolises the
modern liberal safeguards and overall free spirit of people belonging to black communities. 1
However, "wilding" had a negative connotation by the popular press in 1989 following the
Central Park Jogger Case. The inability to overcome racial prejudice and unfamiliarity with
the term caused the biased populace to believe it stood for the worst. It was a direct effect of
the "animal" like imagery the press published that engaged the general public to perceive the
five teenage boys of colour as a spectre of a fundamentally lawless community who are not
from a civilised but rather a savage and untamed world. 2 The "Jogger Case" later, to
humanise the exonerated, "The Central Park Five Case" illuminates institutional racism,
assumed criminality and the miscarriage of the American justice system. Although this was
not the first time that the justice system failed the socially disregarded. In 1944, the wrongful
execution of George Stinney with the absence of due process at merely 14 years old and long-
overdue exoneration in 2014 stands as evidence for the same. 3 The 1930s to the 2000s
marked a significant time in America's legal system. Cases such as The Scottsboro Boys, The
Harlem Six, The Central Park Five all shared the same premise, helpless and innocent black
individuals who are railroaded by an all-white justice system.

The aforementioned cases are a sad testimony that the dysfunctionality of law regarding
racism is still persistent a century and a half later since the abolition of slavery. This paper
will comprehensively discuss the concept of institutionalised racism in India and the United
States.

Racism in India has been debated on the grounds of caste-based discrimination and violence;
however, a much lesser talked about racist occurrence is the intolerance of Northeast Indians.
Racial prejudice against the Northeast populace is acutely institutionalised to the severity
where their "Indian-ness" is questioned by many. 4 The death of Nido Taniam in Delhi in
20145, the brutal assault of two Manipuri boys in 2016 6, being called 'coronavirus' and
brutally attacked amid the COVID-19 outbreak due to their physical appearance 7 are all
symptomatic of a much larger systemic condition of how we as a 'secular' society deal with
such cultural differences. In a traditional sense, racism manifests as a hate crime. However,
essentially all the side-smirks, mockery, references to someone being 'chinki' or the
derogatory remarks on their attire and sexuality accurately reflects the everyday racist
phenomenon.

Indians have always held a holier than thou position when it comes to racism. They often
enjoy playing the victim and fume with indignation when we are discriminated against
abroad or in the 1800s by our colonisers. Ergo when Indians are confronted with this
allegation of being racist, it directly contradicts one of our most cherished social principles,
"unity in diversity". Cultural ignorance has its claws entrenched in Indian citizens. While
South Indians may be called 'Madrasis' and Kashmiri's 'Pakistani', the terms are still within
the Indian nationhood. In contrast, it is not uncommon for North-eastern Indians to be called
'Chinese' or 'Nepali'. In protests that have ensued, "We are Indians too!" 8 remains a recurring
slogan by the Northeast. It also casts a light on the issues Northeast Indians face with
citizenship. They are required to prove their 'sameness' rather than assert their right to be
different. Such a situation causes them to question their "Indian-ness" and sense of belonging.

The racism African-Americans and coloured individuals experience differs from what
Northeast Indians face. Racism has been theorised into three levels: 'footnote racism', racial
prejudices experienced in subtle forms in everyday life, 'frontpage racism', physical and racist
attacks that occupy the frontpages (or make headlines) in the media and 'institutional racism'. 9
While the bigotry experienced by Northeast Indians and coloured Americans differ, they both
fall into the ambit of institutional racism. When did institutional racism come to be in
America? To answer this, we must understand the history of slavery. Between 1690 and
1820, the start of the industrial revolution in the Southern States caused millions of black
Africans to be brought to America by ships and made slaves to white agricultural
households.10 With the upsurge of white supremacist attitudes among the southerners and the
illicit transatlantic slave trade (slave trade was abolished in 1808 by the U.S. Congress11), the
coloured were downtrodden and not entitled to fundamental human rights. The American
Civil War (1861-1865) caused some new developments in the ambit of slavery. In 1863,
President Lincoln issued an executive order known as the Emancipation Proclamation,
changing the legal status of all slaves in the Confederacy "free". 12 Even after the 'official' fall
of slavery, it has left profound, unsettling consequences for the succeeding generations,
creating disastrous conditions, social issues and overall cultural despair that developed into
systematic or institutional racism through all the minor instances of discrimination. The most
prominent account to discuss the oppressiveness of white supremacists is the conception of
'The Blues'.

'The Blues' was more than a genre drawing inspiration from African work and folk
music developed in the turn of the 19th-20th century 13; it was a social movement to tackle the
deep-rooted racist temperament the coloured community felt. While most slaves (free or not)
came from rich ethnic backgrounds, they were not permitted to speak their native tongue; an
effort slave owners took to suppress any ideas of revolt. Slaves were thus not only physically
and emotionally but also linguistically oppressed. The Blues music originated as a non-verbal
language to express feelings of pain and grief and as a tool of passive resistance. It became an
instrument of cultural affirmation among African Americans, and more importantly, made
explicitly for African-Americans. They did so by playing only black keys on the piano as if to
say, "we are still significant without you” metaphorically.

Unfortunately, time and again, members of the black community find themselves reiterating
the same slogan. The overall white racial superiority in the socio-political sphere continues to
be a growing concern. This challenges us to confront a bigger question: how do we expect the
judiciary to exercise unequivocal justice while unable to come to justice with itself? The
prejudice of law enforcement officers and their attempts to suppress relevant evidence and
shift their focus on other arbitrary matters makes it further challenging to address such issues
when coloured individuals have the rug pulled from underneath them incessantly. The
neutrality of social institutions like the police is quintessential to the smooth functioning of
justice, which in modern society has assumed a mythical position. When such institutions
succumb to the changing socio-political variables and indulge in trivial and arbitrary
predispositions, the lack of trust in such institutions to discharge their duties in a fair and just
manner makes it extra challenging for us as a society to bring in effective change. The
passing of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in 2020 stands as evidence for the
same.

The Black Lives Matter movement that began in 2020 gave a voice to the voiceless and
encouraged individuals to participate in a socially motivated conversation on systemised
racism. It discussed various instances of what constitutes racism, instances that are often
brushed aside. Racism will continue to be a predominant issue unless our law enforcement
officers are reformed and sensitised on such matters.

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