Locking Up Our Own

Key Takeaways from Locking Up Our Own

• ✓In an effort to protect their communities from rising street crime and drug epidemics, Black policymakers in Washington, D.C., historically championed strict criminal justice laws that ultimately fueled mass incarceration.
• ✓Strict gun control measures passed in the 1970s aimed to reduce Black-on-Black violence, but they primarily punished low-income Black men without addressing the systemic root causes of crime.
• ✓Increasing the number of Black police officers did not eliminate police brutality, as class divisions often led officers of all races to heavily police and use excessive force against poor Black citizens.
• ✓Mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses were heavily supported by Black leaders and citizens terrified by the crack and heroin epidemics, leading to a massive spike in prosecutions with little impact on crime reduction.
• ✓Aggressive law enforcement strategies like 'warrior policing' and pretextual 'stop and search' traffic stops disproportionately targeted lower-class Black neighborhoods, resulting in high rates of non-violent arrests.