John Legend oscar speech was ignorant and insulting to slaves

Sorry blackalaureate,but the OP is mostly on the money.The criminal justice system is NOT comparable to slavery.There are no slave patrols,that was during slavery times.There were 'black codes' after Reconstruction,but that ended in the early 20th century.Yes there was convict leasing in parts of the South,not in the North.It lasted until WW2. Institutional racism ended after the Civil Rights movement.Its against the law for any institution to discriminate against any American.That means in schools,jobs,government or housing.That includes the police also. Are there abuses,yes there are,but its not part of who we as Americans are.
As for criminals,there aren't thousands who are being released because of new evidence.That is 96% of those convicted are guilty!Lets not forget that criminals also walk because of lack of evidence,it doesn't mean there are innocent.
PS Let me amend what I stated in my first sentence,the OP IS ON THE MONEY!

Sorry blackalaureate,but the OP is mostly on the money.The criminal justice system is NOT comparable to slavery.There are no slave patrols,that was during slavery times.There were 'black codes' after Reconstruction,but that ended in the early 20th century.Yes there was convict leasing in parts of the South,not in the North.It lasted until WW2. Institutional racism ended after the Civil Rights movement.Its against the law for any institution to discriminate against any American.That means in schools,jobs,government or housing.That includes the police also. Are there abuses,yes there are,but its not part of who we as Americans are.
As for criminals,there aren't thousands who are being released because of new evidence.That is 96% of those convicted are guilty!Lets not forget that criminals also walk because of lack of evidence,it doesn't mean there are innocent.
PS Let me amend what I stated in my first sentence,the OP IS ON THE MONEY!

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I understand your arguments, but it was a topic was worth discussion in at a big time public event. The prison population is excessive compared to other developed countries, and you have to wonder what our people are doing that makes them so much "less moral." Most of the excess guys back to the drug wars and the inequality. You can equate slavery to the prison system because you're so much more likely to go to prison if you were born black and/or poor. You're virtually guaranteed to not go to a hard prison in your lifetime if you were born into an affluent family, or are currently wealthy (you can avoid jailtime for pretty much everything short of murder with millions to spend on legal fees, and if anything, you get put in a country club prison).

And going to a non-country club prison is a fate similar to slavery. Even the minimum security prisons take away your freedom, destroy your chances of future employment, and are suffering major budget cuts.

It just raises the question of why in a country with so much wealth, education, and "freedom" this is happening.

I would suggest watching 'The House I Live In' on Netflix if you have a subscription. I finally got around to watching it recently and it was a fantastic documentary.

The film is about America's failed war on drugs and examines the negative impact this war has had on all facets of society. A large part of the film is spent exploring the racial injustice that came with the war on drugs, delving deeply into the broken systems in the United States that have resulted in the disproportionate numbers of minorities caught in the system.

The United States locks up more citizens per capita than any other country in the world, and over 2/3rds of the prison population in the US are serving time for non-violent drug offenses. The vast majority of these are black or hispanic men, despite equal numbers of privileged white men involved in the same types of crimes.

You are absolutely right in the sense that these men (or any man) sent to prison are still responsible for the laws they've broken, and I don't believe John Legend was implying they are not. But there is an undeniably disproportionate number of black people locked in prison, in a system that is designed to keep them trapped in the cycles of poverty, desperation, and crime, rather than rehabilitate and provide them with the tools they need to be successful in the world. There is a reason for this, and it's not because black people commit more crimes. It's a much deeper, systemic problem with our society.

And John Legend's comparison to slavery isn't all that farfetched, either. You should do some research on the "Prison Industrial Complex", and how private prisons has become a multi-million dollar industry built around free labor of prisoners, and how that actually provides incentive for the government to lock people up for profit (minorities being the easiest targets for arrest, prosecution, and incarceration).

It's all quite fascinating once you realize how utterly *beep* up and corrupt the justice system in the United States is. John Legend was on the money with his speech. Black people are still being persecuted in the United States today, albeit in different ways.