Jim Crow Laws: Documentary Analysis

The Jim Crow laws were created as a way to segregate black people. Way back in our history, blacks were discriminated against and segregated from public spaces, public vehicles, and even employment. The documentary the Central Park Five points out to us what the newer and more hidden form of what may be called the new Jim Crow looks like today. Sure we no longer tell blacks to sit in the back of the bus, but we deny jobs to those who have a criminal records; we incarcerate innocent people because they are seen as easy targets; we give little to no media attention to victims who are black; we allow racism to occur right in front of our eyes and do close to nothing to stop it or argue it. These are only a few ways our society has collectively
Back then New York was like 2 New York’s divided where one half was wealthy while the other was poor and heavily drug infested. Young black kids back then were considered the most endangered species in America. As mentioned before, these young black kids were seen as easy targets that authority figures could easily lock up due to their incapability to pay for services that could possibly get them released. Raymond, Korey, Kevin, Antron, and Yusef were literally kids who were handled poorly by authority figures that we depend on and put all our trust in everyday. Most of us tend to see America as a country of fairness and justice when in reality it all tends to depend on who you are, how much money you have, and what skin color you have. As mentioned in the documentary, these 5 minority boys were falsely accused of raping and almost killing a white victim. It is crazy to think that all 5 of these boys were below the age of 18 and were treated worst then animals. This documentary is a perfect example of what the new Jim Crow looks like. These young minority boys were targeted; were forced to confess; were tortured for long hours; were yelled at; were tricked; were deprived of food and water; and were later released with criminal records like no mistake had ever been made at all. While all of this is happening not one authority figure throughout the documentary stops to realize that they were dealing with just young boys. Whether they committed the act or not they were just young boys. As Raymond mentioned in the documentary, “I was just 14 and scared to death, I never had handcuffs before.” No one deserves the kind of treatment they received not to mention that these authority figures collectively broke rules, later celebrated