Why Are Black Men Being Sent to Prison so often?

As we know, African American men are being sent to prison at a very high rate. Most of them are young males who have not had the proper guidance growing up. Others may have just simply made the wrong choice and are facing the consequences. There is no single explanation for why African American men are being sent to prison. Many factors come into play such as: absence of parents, gang involvement, lack of discipline, neighborhood quality, upbringing, drug use/abuse and peer pressure. There are many other things that affect young black men and their lives. As a African American male, I admit that young blacks around my age have and are continuing to commit crimes and offenses that result in jail or prison time. Many African Americans claim that Police Departments are targeting minorities and trying to get them off the streets. This is not entirely true as every police officer is not racist. They are simply doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. We probably can all agree to certain cases where police brutality was present. But in other cases, a crime was committed and consequences were given.

For example, many of my friends smoke weed. They aren’t criminals, they just love to smoke. However, this can get them sent to jail, depending on how much drugs they have. Many of the black men are being arrested for drugs such as possession, use of drugs or possession with the intent to sale. This doesn’t mean these guys are criminal in any way. There are many people smoking weed no matter who they are, white, black, old young, rich, broke and so on. However, there are many black men who are criminal. These offenses vary from petty theft all the way up to capital murder. However, rarely do we see mass murders being African American. They usually are some other race. Still, blacks do commit murder. Sadly, in many cases its black on black crime. For many years, blacks have fought together for freedom and equal rights. Somewhere along the way, they decided to turn on each other. This matter has only become worst as gang beef continues to occur and grow everyday as new sets are formed. Why did blacks turn on each other? What can be done to stop African American men from being sent to prison? Change must occur at some point in order to solve this issue.