TED Prison Sentences

<p>The video was about how the people can change the system that is being used to incarcerate people primarily of ethnic minorities. He opened with his background and a storyof his grandma to entice the audience. He used the story to lead into what he was going to be talking about because of his family's history in slavery. he then told of how his grandmother would tell each of the children that they were special and that they could do anything and make them promise that they would always love their mother and do the right thing and never drink alcohol. That story is what grabbed my attention and made me pay more attention to the video. He then started with the true intentions of the speech which was how the court system is incarcerating more people and the tie that it still has to ethnicity. He shared a story of a court case in which he said that the judge must have some sort of magical powers to change the status of the child in the court case allowing them to be tried as an adult. So he thought that if that was true then it could be the same for the opposite, he asked the judgeif he would be able to try the child as a rich white man which only angered the judge. The final part of the speech was about him being asked questions about the subject and what people can do to help. The speaker answed with reference to the problem with the use of the three strike rule in California and that he is working to get that law removed. The final question asked was about the decrease in the crime rates. The speaker replied with that the decrease is not in the violent category of the offenders but the majority of the people incarcerated are there due to the crackdown on drugs.