Georgia Douglass Johnson makes bold claims about the challenges facing black people in America in her poem “Old Black Man.” According to Ms. Douglass Johnson, black men die young, and their dreams do not come true. The poet claims that “They have seen as others saw. Their bubble burst in the air” to mean black men have confronted what others, including the white men, have encountered, only that the black men’s experiences are negative (Johnson, n. d.). Thus, Douglas Johnson believes societal situations plague the black man and prevent him from advancing to old age, evident from mass incarceration and drug laws.
Most African Americans do not live their life freely to the fullest due to incarceration. The U.S. has the highest prison population in the world, with African Americans making up a significant portion of the prisoners. While black people contribute to 13% percent of the U.S. population, they make up more than 40% of the incarcerated (Hinton & Cook, 2021). Moreover, statistics show that one in three African Americans is incarcerated in their lifetime. On the other hand, one in seventeen white men and one in six Latino people are incarcerated in their lifetime. That means Ms. Douglass Johnson’s sentiments are true that most black men do not advance to old age as others.
Discrimination is also a factor limiting black men from advancing in old age. There is a significant discrepancy in the discharge of the superficially race-neutral policies. For example, the degree of substance abuse is the same across the various ethnic groups in the country, but African Americans are arrested and charged for drug-related cases more than Latino or white people (Hinton et al., 2018). In most cases, black people are imprisoned without sufficient evidence. Therefore, many African Americans spend much of their time in prison, which prevents them from advancing in old age.
References
Hinton, E., & Cook, D. (2021). The mass criminalization of Black Americans: A historical overview. Annual Review of Criminology, 4(1), 261-286. Web.
Hinton, E., Henderson, L., & Reed, C. (2018). An unjust burden: The disparate treatment of Black Americans in the criminal justice system. Vera Institute of Justice, 1-20. Web.
Johnson, G. (n. d.). Old Black Men. Academy of American Poets. Web.