I recently found out that the Netflix series Orange is the New Black is actually based off a true story. The main character, Piper Chapman (real name Piper Kerman) is incarcerated years later because she laundered money for a drug operation, a crime she committed after graduating college.
When I found out that this story was true, I couldn't help but think about the part in Tim Wise's speech when he focuses on racial profiling. Tim Wise states that whites are four times more likely to have drugs on them when getting pulled over, but blacks and mexicans get searched more often. Going back to Chapman, it only caught up to her because her ex girlfriend gave her name. Otherwise, Chapman would have been an unlikely candidate because she was considered "well off" and "well educated" and "we would never expect anything like this from someone with her status."
Chapman's story is a perfect example of white privilege. She was only sentenced to 13 months, and I truly believe that if she would have been a minority, her sentence would have been longer. Furthermore, it is very unlikely that a minority who has gone to prison for the same crime would have also ended up with her own Netflix series and a book.
I really like your connection to Orange is the New Black. Not only would she have not been suspected before going to jail, in jail she initially received benefits from her CO, Healy. He used phrases like, "people like us", and "civilized" when talking about the difference between Chapman and the other inmates.
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