In this final article of my three-part academic analysis of When They See Us, I specifically want to talk about the subject that relates to the title of this short series, and discuss how the adultification of young black boys is a serious threat to our communities. I also want to take a reflection on all of the subjects discussed over each part and directly relate them to the Netflix series. If you are reading this, and haven’t already read part one and part two, I highly suggest you go back and read them, as they provide valuable background information and context. By the end of this, I want us as a community to recognize how the criminal justice system is, in fact, not equally just at all, and question how we can make reforms that will genuinely create justice and equality for all people.
Boys No More
The sad reality is that a lot of times, the consequences of blackness in society presents itself just as much to children as it does to adults. Often times, young black boys deal with this reality to a greater degree, as it puts them in serious hostile situations with law enforcement. In “Who’s Afraid of the Big Black Man?” by Jason Kyle Johnson, he points out how black males, in particular, are “often perceived as being aggressive, violent, and physically larger than their White counterparts” (229), which in turn causes negative interactions with society as a whole. He also points out how “Black boys are often perceived by police officers as being older than they are and, thus, are treated far more harshly than their White counterparts” (230). This was an integral part of the message seen in When They See Us. One particular instance was in the first episode, whenever detectives were gathering young black boys off the street to take in for questioning and they came across Yusef and Korey. Yusef was trying to correct the officers and assure them that he was only 15, but they refused to believe him and proceeded to treat him under the rights of a 16-year-old (00:21:18). Throughout the episode, they also physically assaulted the boys, kept them awake for up to 18 hours without food or bathroom breaks, and questioned them without a guardian present, which is illegal. History has shown that law enforcement does not have concern for age whenever it comes to the lives of young black boys. This was true for Tamir Rice who was just a young 12-year-old black boy who was playing at a park and was “murdered in 2014 within 2 seconds of the police arriving” (Johnson 232). It is the point of taking natural features that define traditional masculinity and putting an emphasis on it in the black community that causes so much fear towards the black male. So, just due to the chance of being born a combination of black and male, society fears these characters, and since the abolishment of slavery, have sought out to control this character as was done in slavery through whatever horrific means possible, more than likely leading to criminal injustice today.
Through the evidence provided, it can be determined that the negative aesthetics black males possess in our society subject them to facing many criminal and social injustices due to the lingering influences of slavery. All these themes were heavily emphasized in DuVernay’s When They See Us. Through this cinematic retelling of true events, the truth of the struggle young black boys face when they fall victim to the injustices of the criminal system were revealed. The damage that this mass incarceration of black males does to the black community is detrimental. Just like Johnson mentioned in his article, the war on drugs “decimated Black and brown families by sending thousands of men to prison while leaving mothers to raise children on their own” (230). This often causes a cycle of poverty, young children growing up without fatherly figures, leaving them susceptible to “objectification and fetishism of Black American bodies” which manifests into them being “bartered, sold, branded, disfigured, castrated, degraded, raped, and treated as any other commodity” which reinforces colonial values (Powell 201). This intentional deconstruction of an entire group of people based on race alone is inhumane and wrong. Not only does this criminal injustice just affect the community, but it also irreparably destroys the lives of those who are incarcerated. Not only is the experience of going to prison traumatic, enduring physical and mental abuse that can never be reversed, but then there are laws in place that strip these men of almost all their rights once released. This on top of pre-existing racism makes opportunities for assimilation back into society impossible. The worst part about the Central Park 5, which is true of all young black children who are incarcerated, are the years of childhood stolen, which are so precious and can never be given back no matter what amount of reparations. That is why even though these five young boys were awarded $41 million 25 years later (DuVernay 01:19:06), the true problem cannot be rectified for them, as well as for all other black people who have had to go through wrongful incarcerations and criminal injustices, until systemic racism is weeded out and policies are changed so that these wrongful occurrences never happen again. Only then can the black community be liberated after all these years.
