“Laws are created to ensure […] white privilege stays in place.”
A photograph of the Hall of Justice in San Jose with graffiti spray painted on the front windows. The graffiti appears to read, in part, “protect constitutional rights.” Photo taken in winter 2022.
Excerpt from an interview with Nokosi, a Black and Native American man who faced a criminal charge in the Hall of Justice in San Jose, CA in summer 2021.
Interviewer: The next question is, generally, the court system treats all people fairly.
Nokosi: Um, huh --so, where do I begin with that?
Interviewer: [Laughs]
Nokosi: Have you ever heard of --? Have you ever asked yourself how many pronouns there are in the --in the Constitution?
Interviewer: In the Constitution --?
Nokosi: You ever ask yourself that?
Interviewer: Probably just one, right? He?
Nokosi: No, there's he, him, and his. There's no her. There's no she.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Nokosi: So, the Constitution is not written for you, right? Then, it said that in the beginning --the he, his --the he and the his and all that.
Interviewer: Yep.
Nokosi: And then, it says who, specifically? Because it's written for man --a man, right?
Interviewer: Right.
Nokosi: Right. Says that "all men." Then it says --then it defines some people that are around in that time period of […] of the Constitution. You have to be a man to have the Constitution, simply. But Blacks are only three-fifths of a man.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Nokosi: So, it's not for him. And then, it says it's definitely not for the Indian man --it says that right there.
Interviewer: Right.
Nokosi: Right? So, if you look around, who's left at that time?
Interviewer: Right (ha).
Nokosi: The white male.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Nokosi: So, those laws are created to ensure that that white privilege stays in place.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Nokosi: When they --when they abolished slavery, the laws that kept slaves enslaved legally was in --the codes were then switched around. There wasn't no three, four, five, seven, whatever. They recodified it, and they took out slaves and they said, prisoner.
Interviewer: Uh huh.
Nokosi: So now, they use those same laws to make it legal to send you to prison. So, in essence, they made the overseer --they gave the overseer, took his whip and a shotgun, and gave him a black robe.
Interviewer: Right.
Nokosi: So, the law is working in this country. That's why there's so many Blacks and minorities in prison.
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Related research:
Alexander, Michelle. 2012. The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York, NY: The New Press.
