Then, as now, policing and incarceration target people of color to the benefit of white officers and officials. The continued operation of this system deprives Black people of equal justice under the law and is, in short, simply unacceptable.
As we occupy a world of increasing plenty, we must concede that the way we distribute resources is a choice. We choose to let our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico starve. That is our collective failure, not theirs.
In this climate of hostility towards assertive black men, the court would have viewed all of Pompeyo’s actions as crimes against the natural order of society, rather than merely a dispute between two individuals.