Editor's note: After the killing of a Black man by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was caught on video in May, nationwide protests and outrage erupted that show no signs of letting up four months later. 

The Asahi Shimbun examined the racial inequity that Black peope must contend with in their daily lives in the United States, which ignited the current powder keg, in a three-part series. 

* * *

TO LIVE AS A BLACK MAN

In May, George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, spurring a national outcry over police violence and systematic racism. What is systemic racism? What does it mean to live as a Black man in the United States?

A photographer at The Asahi Shimbun's American General Bureau in Washington, D.C., interviewed a man who served 15 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted at age 19.

MASS INCARCERATION IN U.S.

2.2 million--the number of people who are incarcerated in the United States. Twenty-five percent of the world's inmate population is concentrated in the United States, which is by far the highest in the world, according to the online database World Prison Brief.

Despite making up around 13 percent of the total U.S. population, Black inmates make up a disproportionately large 40 percent of the inmate population.

The rate at which Black people are subject to police’s “stop-and-frisk” (the act of stopping a person, who police officers determine to be suspicious, and inspecting their belongings or checking for weapons) is extremely high compared to whites.

There is no end to the number of cases where mere questioning escalates to excessive violence and shootings by the police. In the United States, where systemic racism pervades every institution, what awaits Black Americans who are racially profiled and unjustly arrested by the police who are supposed to be protecting them?

“I was born and raised in a slum,” says Glenn Davis Jr., 46, of Avondale, Louisiana. Avondale is located in the suburbs about a 30-minute drive from New Orleans, a city synonymous with jazz music.

Louisiana's population is more than 60 percent white, but it is rare to see white people in the area where Davis was born, and according to him, even from a young age all his friends were Black.

His mother, who lived in Section 8 housing (public housing for qualified low-income tenants), gave birth to Davis at 16. Having limited financial means, she decided to raise him at Davis' grandmother's house. Davis, nicknamed “Chocolate,” grew up surrounded by uncles, aunts and cousins at his grandmother’s house. 

"I've loved to exercise ever since I was little and grew up playing various sports such as football and basketball. Of all the sports, I was the best at baseball," says Davis.

Davis’ childhood dream was to become a lawyer because he was longing for justice. As his family struggled financially, he hoped to one day find a high-income job.

At the age of 18, he learned that his girlfriend was pregnant, and he would become a father. Soon after, during the last summer of high school, a fateful incident seriously altered his plans for his future and the future of his child.

THE CASE THAT UPENDED A LIFE

On Aug. 3, 1992, a man was killed in a drive-by shooting in the neighboring town of Westwego, Louisiana, about a 10-minute drive from Davis' house. Police officers later went to Davis’ home and told his grandmother that Davis had been spotted at the scene. Davis’ grandmother immediately called his father. She screamed into the phone, "The police came with a gun, looking for Chocolate!”

Davis was not home at the time of the police visit. When he learned that the authorities were looking for him, he went to the police station with his father. Davis expected that he would be questioned about his whereabouts or asked to give a statement. Instead, he was arrested. The next day, his daughter was born.

His bail was set at over $100,000 (10.6 million yen), so Davis’ family  sold everything they could to raise the money for him. Davis, who had maintained his innocence from the beginning, refused a plea deal. However, he was not prepared for how he would be treated during his trial, in which the prosecution’s case relied on the testimony of only one person.

Davis’ sole accuser turned out to be another Black man, a drug addict with a criminal record. He testified that Davis’ cousin fired a gun from the passenger’s seat of a car driven by another cousin, while Davis sat in the back seat of the vehicle. 

Davis became worried as this man appeared in the courtroom and clearly stated, “I saw the shooting with my own eyes.”  “What if any of the jurors believed him?” Davis wondered. After testifying, the accuser left the court with his head bowed, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

Davis was nowhere near the scene on the day of the incident; yet, he wasn’t heard. It was as if everyone in the system regarded him as a criminal from the beginning.

Davis recalls, “I felt like my voice wouldn't come out no matter how much I screamed.” 

He gradually got used to being ignored. One day outside the courthouse, he was accosted by the victim's family members who struck him several times. He appeared in court with puffy eyes from the beating.

'SPECIAL RULE' IN LOUISIANA

At the final stage of his trial, Davis' fate was heavily influenced by a law that was practiced in Louisiana. Normally, the U.S. jury system requires the collective opinion of all 12 jurors. If even one juror disagrees, a mistrial will be declared and the defendant cannot be convicted.

Louisiana, on the other hand, allowed for split-verdict decisions, colloquially known as the “10-to-2 rule.” If a jury could not reach a unanimous verdict, 10 out of 12 jurors could vote to convict someone.

The selection of juries is intended to reflect racial composition, so a trial in a majority-white state will often feature a majority-white jury. The application of the 10-to-2 rule subverts the balance further, and in cases with Black defendants, this rule can allow the opinions of Black jurors to be suppressed by their white counterparts.

The origin of this law dates to the revision of Louisiana’s state Constitution in 1898. After the abolishment of slavery under the 13th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Black people gained citizenship and the right to vote through the 14th and 15th amendments.

But during the Louisiana state convention, the delegates meticulously discussed ways to reduce the power of Black voters. The official record of the convention states that the law will be made to “perpetuate the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race in Louisiana.”

Since then, this system, which codified racial discrimination into law, has been deeply rooted in Louisiana. It was widely called the “afterimage of Jim Crow," the racist laws that existed until the 1960s.

During Davis' trial, nine of the 12 jurors were white; the remaining three were Black. From the beginning, the trial was completely divided by race, but one Black juror was ultimately persuaded to change his vote.

As a result, the 10-to-2 rule was applied, and 10 members of the jury, 90 percent white, voted to convict Davis.

“The moment I heard the word ‘guilty,' my whole body went numb, and I couldn't see anything. All I could hear were the cries and screams of my family. I don't remember anything after that,” Davis recalls.

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

“Innocent Black people are more likely to be wrongfully convicted than white people,” explains professor Barbara O'Brien of Michigan State University, a member of the National Registry of Exonerations, which compiles and studies data on wrongful convictions.

According to O’Brien, the total number of the victims of wrongful convictions who have proven their innocence is as many as 24,000, with about half of those being Black people.

Combined with the difference between population rates and conviction rates, this strongly suggests that Black people are more likely to be mistreated in the criminal justice system. For example, according to a study by the National Registry of Exonerations, innocent Black people are about seven times more likely to be convicted of murder than innocent whites. Why is there such a big disparity?

“The disadvantages for Black people lie at every step of the criminal justice system,” explains O'Brien. Many are associated with economic disparity and racism.

“African Americans are more likely to come into contact with the police," she says. "And they're more likely to be heavily policed. So you have increased contact with police, which means you're more likely to get arrested and more likely to be wrongfully arrested.”

Black people are often specifically targeted by police. Arrestees are often pressured to accept plea deals to avoid costly trials or the threat of life imprisonment by admitting guilt. In these cases, the stigma of a criminal record can have a major impact on employment and other aspects of life.

Individuals with criminal records are often marked by the police and may become "go to" suspects of crimes in the future. On the other hand, if arrestees refuse plea deals and go to trial, they may be unable to hire a good lawyer and are more likely to be found guilty. Also, in many cases, arrestees are unable to pay bail and are held for several months before their trials.

In some cases, investigations have revealed police misconduct that determined the victim’s fate, including concealment of evidence, loss of evidence and the falsification of eyewitness testimonies.

According to the study of the National Registry of Exonerations, the convictions that led to murder exonerations with Black defendants were more likely to include misconduct by police officers than white defendants. White and other non-Black witnesses often misidentify Black suspects, which is a significant factor in the number of false charges.

In addition, there are many cases in which a Black defendant is disadvantaged by the jury's selection procedure, in which only white jurors are selected.

Davis, who was convicted, was imprisoned at one of the most violent prisons in the United States.

* * *

The writer is a photographer at The Asahi Shimbun's American General Bureau in Washington, D.C.