James Forman Jr. Quotes

We have this long history of racism in this country, and as it happens, the criminal justice system has been perhaps the most prominent instrument for administering racism. But the racism doesn't actually come from the criminal justice system.

We've got to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system.

The reality is we have allowed systemic racism to continue through all these years.

America should be ashamed to say they have the best justice system in the world when, every day, race plays a part in who goes to prison, who don't go to prison.

We have to face up to systemic racism. We see it in jobs, we see it in education, we see it in housing. But let's be really clear; it's a big part of what we're facing in the criminal justice system.

If you're African American, you are forced into making different choices, in a lot of cases, than you are as a white person.

We're not willing to give black leaders second chances because, in most cases, we're not willing to give them first chances.

The greatest problem is not with flat-out white racists, but rather with the far larger number of Americans who believe intellectually in racial equality but are quietly oblivious to injustice around them.

Ours has not been a racially democratic society for 300 years.

Our criminal justice system affirmatively depends on inequality.

The Supreme Court has made it nearly impossible to prove race discrimination in the criminal justice system.

Black and brown communities are significantly and disproportionately impacted by deficiencies in our criminal justice system.

The justice system isn't meant to work for people of color in this country.

When I travel and speak across the country, I often tell college students that we are making a significant mistake when we say to each other that this criminal justice of ours is broken. To say it's broken would be to suggest that it was well designed and had good intentions from the start.

When one in three Black men are in prison, those larger systemic injustices become a part of what it means to love our neighbor as ourself. We care about dismantling institutional racism. That begins in relationships when you see injustice happen.

The fate of millions of people—indeed the future of the black community itself—may depend on the willingness of those who care about racial justice to re-examine their basic assumptions about the role of the criminal justice system in our society.

Mass incarceration is a policy that's kind of built up over the last four decades and it's destroyed families and communities, and something we need to change. And it's fallen disproportionally on black and brown communities, especially black communities, and it's kind of a manifestation of structural racism.

The patterns have become unmistakable and undeniable. ... We have to come to terms with some hard truths about race and justice in America.

There's no such thing as reverse racism.

If you're black in America, race is a factor in your life. Start with that assumption.

I believe in the law. I think we have a great system of justice. But I do think that system of justice has been corrupted by racism and classism. I think it's difficult for 'poor people' - poor white people, brown people - to be treated fairly before the law in the same way that upper-class people are.

What becomes a crime deserving capital punishment when the tables are turned is a matter of small moment when the negro woman is the accusing party.

If you want to know if racism is a problem in your country, you might not want to ask white people.

When you allow racial disparity and institutional inequity to affect one part of the country, eventually it's coming back to get everyone.

We think it's OK for us to have the world's largest prison population and for one racial group to be overrepresented therein.