Between the articles of violence and the observations about the extent of injustice in the American prison system, there is a high level of injustice instigated by the U.S. government to the African Americans. The design and laws governing injustice in the country rely heavily on deeply entrenched racial prejudice used to undermine black Americans continuously. While both races, Caucasians and blacks, commit violence, the significant violence, as Afzaal (2012) shows, is being committed by the U.S. government and through its structural actors.
Structural violence is a means by which the government, while it might appear not to be directly involved in creating unequal chances, is now harming the black Americans. Through ethical and legal systems, the African American community has been preoccupied with intentional harm is concerned with portraying, punishing, or holding blacks as the guilty party (Afzaal, 2012). That is the reason why as Rich (2014) shows first, nearly half of the prisoners in the U.S. have been convicted and sentenced to lengthy nonviolent terms. Second, there is an increase in prisoners in state institutions that are serving life sentences without parole.
Some other institutions apart from schools, hospitals, and courthouses, where structural violence might exist, are the legislative arm of the government. In the U.S., almost one-quarter (23 percent) of the Senate and House of Representatives members belong to ethnic minorities and blacks (Schaeffer, 2021). Like in all other institutions, ethnic minorities and African Americans are denied equal representation, making it challenging for them to fight for equality in a heavily founded country on racial segregation. Meaning, the fight for equal rights between these groups will never be achieved unless there is a fifty-fifty representation in all groups in the political divide.
References
Afzaal, A. (2012). The Violence Triangle. Ahmed Afzaal. Web.
Rich, B. A. (2014). Observations on the Nature and Extent of Injustice in the American Prison System. American Journal of Bioethics, 14, 7, 1-3.
Schaeffer, K. (2021). Racial, ethnic diversity increases yet again with the 117th Congress. Pew Research Center. Web.