The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander published in 2012, is a 261 page book detailing how mass incarceration has become the new form of legalized discrimination. BACKGROUND A large cause for the writing of this book is that there is currently not much research or call for a criminal justice reform. According to Alexander the main goal of the book is to “stimulate a much-needed conversation about the role of the criminal justice system in creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy in the United States” (2012:16). Another premise for this research is that it is no longer socially correct to use race to discriminate against people, and Alexander argues that society as a whole is now using the …show more content…
This causes most laymen to not know or recognize the problem of colorblindness. Because the Jim Crow era is what we think racism looks like, it becomes easy for people to deny that it is still around today. The New Jim Crow operates from the War on Drugs in a seemingly race neutral fight. It begins with police being able to choose who they think should be stopped and questioned, continues into formal control where the defendant is put into prison or jail or put on parole or probation, then finishes with a time of “invisible punishment” which is when the ex-offender is barred from reentering society by norms and laws. Although incarceration has always been a problem, and has always been a racist system, it is not affecting more people than ever before—incarceration rates have been rising steadily and will continue to increase. One of the biggest parallels between the old Jim Crow and the new is that they both have defined the meaning and significance of race in America. However, one of the biggest differences between the two is that while Jim Crow seemed overtly race-based, but did have some key politicians who were in fact colorblind, mass incarceration is
The New Jim Crow was written by Michelle Alexander and was created to educate people on the new “caste system” that is being ignored by those it has no effect on. It is a serious discussion that has been avoided for far too long. Michelle Alexander did a great job getting the ball rolling on this topic in her book. To touch on some of the points made I will be looking at the foreword, introduction, chapter 1, and chapter 6.
What constitutes the New Jim Crow and how does it impact the
In Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow, she analyzes the use of the War on Drugs to not truly be against crack, but those of a minority; as well as considering the shift of using race to describe and discriminate in the Criminal Justice System, and in society. On top of the switch of who is able to define someone as colored, the Criminal Justice System is in a sense, the new Jim Crowe, seeing that the system affects those in the minority groups more than those who are not. It used to be that the everyday person could describe a person by their race or skin tone, which would then group minorities by their described race. Grouping these people made discrimination stronger, especially when history of how these people were treated is
In Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow she states that there is a new racial caste system—mass incarceration—in America. Alexander argues that the prior racial caste system, Jim Crow, has not ended—it’s merely been redesigned. Alexander’s main argument is that in this current era of colorblindness, it is not permissible to discriminate on the basis of race hence mass incarceration labels people of color as criminals and then uses all the practices that were “supposedly left behind”. Alexander uses the term racial caste because mass incarceration, like Jim Crow and slavery, were systems that denoted a stigmatized racial group and forced them into a permanent inferior position by law.
AP ENGLISH Per-7 Rajdeep SIngh The New Jim Crow By, Michelle Alexander Publisher-The New Press The book I have chosen is The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. This novel is basically telling us (the readers) that racism back then and the racism now has not changed much but it is improving.
one person, it may not be evil to another. Nonetheless, social evil, evil acts, are done everyday and will continue to happen. Also because evil can be considered anything nowadays with an abundance of different belief systems in this country, and all over the world, evil acts are always happening and will continue to happen. Mass incarceration and police brutality are just a few social evils that are being committed in the United States that are really changing us as a society and what ‘The New Jim Crow’ has to do with it. As I stated before, social evils are issues in which in one way or another affects members of a society and is often considered controversial or problematic in terms of moral values.
Not even countries known for locking up its citizens, like China, Iran, or Russia come close to the United States’ 700 people living behind bars for every 100,000 people (Kelley & Sterbenz, 2014). Unfortunately, the problem with mass incarceration is not limited to living behind bars. Alexander expertly guides the reader down the rabbit hole of the additional ramifications of being labeled a felon in American society: the complexity of laws that prohibits felons from public assistance, like housing or food stamps, legislation that take away felons’ voting rights, regulations that make it legal for employers to discriminate against felons, and statutes that control felons’ movements and their affiliations. The New Jim Crow further highlights a series of court precedents that make it impractical for defendants to claim the police, the prosecutors, or the justice system is undeniably racist as a defense. Arguably, being a person of color, who is labeled a felon, makes it legal for the rest of society to prevent you from participating in a free society
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander, M. (2012). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: The New Press. Michelle Alexander in her book, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" argues that law enforcement officials routinely racially profile minorities to deny them socially, politically, and economically as was accustomed in the Jim Crow era.
After reading the Jim Crow pieces, I conclude that the government and the people had a backwards way of thinking about race. One reason I think this is based on the scenario in the picture. In the V., E. picture the African American man was dressed in rags while Caucasian people in the background wearing fancy new clothes walked right by him without giving him a second glance. The second way I came to this conclusion was how the article painted the picture of how life was back then for African Americans. For example, the Supreme Court undermined the constitution so Caucasians could legally discriminate African Americans (Pilgrim 2).
In many large urban areas in the United States, the majority of working-age African American men have criminal records. It was reported in 2002 that, in the Chicago area, if you take into account prisoners, the figure is nearly 80%” (Alexander, page nuber?). The Jim Crow Law was a set of state and local laws enacted in the Southern and border states of the United States between 1876 and 1965. The laws mandated the segregation of public facilities and services, such as schools, public transportation, restrooms, and drinking fountains, based on race, in order to maintain white supremacy and racial segregation in the South.
Mass Incarceration Through the Era of Colorblindness In the New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander portrayed a strong and provocative evaluation of the mass incarceration in the United States. When writing this book Alexander wanted to achieve to bring up a much needed conversation of the role that the criminal justice system had in the creation of this new racial caste system as well as show how the consequences of being labeled a felon have simply redesigned the old Jim Crow. She aimed towards the audience of other civil rights activists who hope to work towards racial justice, those of which she believes will be skeptical of what she has to say.
It highlights the system's persistent racial biases and systemic inadequacies, suggesting that racial superiority was maintained by discriminatory laws and practices even after slavery was legally abolished. Mass incarceration is shown in the movie as a modern form of racialized social control that promotes poverty, disenfranchisement, and institutional racism. Through interviews, it analyzes the catastrophic impact on individuals and communities, challenging viewers to critically evaluate the relationship between race, politics, and criminal justice, and arguing for serious reform and a reevaluation of cultural
Annotated Bibliography Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York: The New Press. Alexander opens up on the history of the criminal justice system, disciplinary crime policy and race in the U.S. detailing the ways in which crime policy and mass incarceration have worked together to continue the reduction and defeat of black Americans.
Slavery is over therefore how can racism still exist? This has been a question posed countlessly in discussions about race. What has proven most difficult is adequately demonstrating how racism continues to thrive and how forms of oppression have manifested. Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, argues that slavery has not vanished; it instead has taken new forms that allowed it to flourish in modern society. These forms include mass incarceration and perpetuation of racist policies and societal attitudes that are disguised as color-blindness that ultimately allow the system of oppression to continue.
The current criminalization often leads to a great amount of racial disparity in arrests and prosecutions, which is a large factor in America's economically and ethically atrocious incarceration rates.