Showing posts with label Public square. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Public square. Show all posts

Friday, August 15, 2014

Public square - "Criminal" criminal justice system

Yesterday, we began, a new feature on the UU A Way Of Life online magazine, entitled, "The Public Square," which will examine how our UU faith might apply to public events and policies in our society.

Yesterday we commented on the killing of Michael Brown by Ferguson police in Ferguson, MO. In the editor's note I commented that racism seems more entrenched in the increasing militarizing of our police in our communities and the seeming obquitous phenomenon of police brutality against people of color.

Today, 08/14/14, the Pew Research Center re-published the results of a poll it did last year that found that blacks reported that police and the criminal justice system is the most racist institution in our American society.

Blacks are much more likely than whites to say that blacks faced unfair treatment in dealing with police or in the courts, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey. And blacks perceived racial biases to be greater in the criminal justice system than in other institutions.
For more information click here.

Unitarian Universalism is a very white denomination historically and currently. It also ignores, for the most part, the significant injustices in what I call our "criminal" criminal justice system. If Unitarian Universalists want to get serious about working on the issues of institutionalized racism in our society the local criminal justice system would be a good place to start.
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