Racism in Michelle Alexander´s The New Jim Crow Essay

Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, examines mass incarceration in the United States, why the criminal justice system works the way it does towards minorities, the detriments associated with mass incarceration as it relates to offenders, and much more. In the introduction of her book, Alexander immediately paints the harsh reality of mass incarceration with the story of Jarvious Cotton who is denied the right to vote among other rights because he, “has been labeled as a felon and is currently on parole” (1). Other information Alexander presents in her introduction are her qualifications as an author of the book, and gives a brief summary of each chapter and how each one is laid out. Her qualifications are she is African-American civil rights attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and is also an Associate Professor at the University of Stanford Law School. From a critical standpoint, Alexander seems very qualified to write on the topic, being part of the marginalized group and also being an expert in the legal field of which the topic covers, enhances her ethos to where one could consider her an expert in mass incarceration topics, as they relate to African-Americans. Overall, the introduction of her book does a great job starting out giving a stark reality of topic at hand, giving brief statistical references about mass incarceration in the United States, and giving an outline for her book.

The third critical book review for this class takes a look at “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander published in 2012 by the New York Press. This book analyzes the problem with the incarceration system in the United States today that unfairly affects the African American community. This incarceration system is continuing to separate families, strip men of their freedom, and effectually make them into second class citizens upon release from prison as “free” men. She even describes that those who are convicted of these crimes are “relegated to a racially segregated and subordinated existence” (Pg. 4). Michelle Alexander is not only a published author but is also an active Civil Rights activist all while currently employed as an associate professor of law at Ohio State University. It is a very interesting read that coincides with where our class discussions have recently been. It argues that we as a country have not ended racial discrimination but just transformed it into a new type of caste system. It is an eye opening book that created an uncomfortable feeling while reading due to my level of ignorance on this topic prior to taking this class. I believe that this book will serve as an important narrative into fixing the race problems in this country because it brings to light what needs to be fixed. If any progress is made it will be because of books like this that expose the problems but starting to fix them will be the next step.

Racism in the United States has not remained the same over time since its creation. Racism has shifted, changed, and shaped into unrecognizable ways that fit into the fabric of the American society to render it nearly invisible to the majority of Americans. Michelle Alexander, in her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness shatters this dominantly held belief. The New Jim Crow makes a reader profoundly question whether the high rates of incarceration in the United States is an attempt to maintain blacks as an underclass. Michelle Alexander makes the assertion that “[w]e have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it” using the criminal justice system and colorblind rhetoric. (Alexander 2). The result is a population of Black and Latino men who face barriers and deprivation of rights as did Blacks during the Jim Crow era. Therefore, mass incarceration has become the new Jim Crow.

During the Civil Rights Era, many black power movements strived to prevent the New Jim Crow from happening. The black man was being oppressed during segregation and treated like animals. The white supremacy, only visualize African Americans as slaves, people who should not be a part of the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X drove men and women to fight for his or her rights. However, that was not enough to stop the white supremacy from oppressing African Americans. The Civil Rights movement did put an end to public segregation. It did not put not put an end to the laws being made by the government, which is dominated by the white race. In the book, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander discussed how the Civil Rights and black power movements helped African Americans gain their equal rights, but did not help to gain political power. Mass Incarceration is where the African Americans’ lives end because of the social structure created by the government. Blacks are mostly in the lower class because after the Great Depression, Roosevelt only created laws for whites. This allowed the white community to build and move out the cities into better neighborhoods. Leaving the black community behind. The government placed businesses and built big buildings to keep all the blacks in one place. Base on how the black community was viewed as a race and social status, gives this race a higher chance of being behind bars.

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander is a very poignant piece. Throughout the work Alexander makes it a point to draw parallels between the current judicial systems implementation of declarations coming out of the executive branch and the lack action from the legislative branch to correct the overbroad execution that has ultimately lead to a disproportionate amount of Blacks currently incarcerated. The book was interesting to say the least. I feel as if Alexander did a proper job of laying the historical foundation down for the reader and describing that from the earliest time in American history the Black people were invited into the land merely as a compromise and because the Blacks seemed to be the most economic choice for the

Mass Incarceration of African American men has become a social injustice of our time. It can also be proclaimed to be known as a civil rights issue of our time. From the first time Africans were taken from their homeland and stripped of all human rights to become slaves, they- or we perhaps- have never truly possessed any real social justice. What does mass incarceration really mean to our black America? How does it affect our communities? When we really look at it, mass incarceration means a lot more than being placed in the back of a police car with handcuffs clinching your bones. It means a lot more than sitting in a jail or prison cell waiting for your time to be served.

Alexander’s main argument in the New Jim Crow is that the War on Drugs is offering whites who are opposed to racial reform an exclusive opportunity to express their hostility toward blacks and their progress without being exposed to the charge of racism. She mentions this several times throughout the whole reading. The basis of her argument are these: the questionable purpose of the drug war and the dramatic increase in mass incarceration rate in the United States with racially disproportionate prisoners.

Alexander asserts that this mass incarceration is not a response to an actual surge in violent crime among the African-American community, but a calculated effort to offset the gains made by the civil rights movement—penalizing millions of African Americans behind bars, on probation or parole (mostly for non-violent offenses), and millions more with criminal records. Professor Alexander singles out the Nixon and Reagan administrations for particular criticism, for aligning the criminal justice system against the African-American community. “It’s easy to be completely unaware that this vast new system of racial and social control has emerged,” she says. “Unlike in Jim Crow days, there were no ‘whites only’ signs. This system is out of sight, out of mind.”

In Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow, Alexander ties the history of the United States with social issues that exist between races in the modern era including examples of the racial caste system, racial segregation, and white privilege. One of the social injustices followed by many in order to create a discriminatory barrier between those who aimed for superiority and others were the Jim Crow laws. These laws focused on sustaining the power and authority of those who thrived off their inferiors economically and socially. When reformists attempt to change living situations for the better and equality, the American history shows that chaos often follows after and elite whites rise to power to retake order and control over those who were

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander expresses how there are more African American adults living today imprisoned through the war on drugs, enslaved behind bars, then released on probation and parole to spend the rest of their lives fighting for the same rights that once were.

Socially, the institution of slavery allowed white slave owners to believe they had not only physical control, but physical and mental superiority over the slaves. With only a few exceptions, all slaves were Africans. This fact placed the label of inferiority on black skin.

African Americans have always been degraded ever since slavery. We are looked upon as the scum of the earth. In today’s society, racism is shown towards African Americans the U.S. strongly. Especially when it comes to prison. African Americans are in prison darn near six times the rate of whites. African Americans and Hispanics make up 58% of prisoners in prison. This data was taken back in 2008 but statistics show that there are more African American men in college than in prison. This chart shows the number of African American in college outweighs the number of African Americans in prison. These results also show that the negative thing society says about African Americans is becoming less and less true each day.

Racism is very much alive in modern day America. Although African Americans are no longer enslaved or segregated, after reading this book I do believe that they definitely have a harder time than a white person does in society. In Michell Alexander’s book, “The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” she touches on the many injustices that African Americans face in everyday life. While she makes good points throughout the book, there are some things that I did not completely agree with.

Almost anyone you talk to has heard the name “Jim Crow.” Yet, not everyone will be able to tell you what that name implies. Jim Crow refers to the unjust and harsh laws enforced upon men and women of color in the time after the Civil War, up until the 1960’s. Men and women of color were finally free from slavery, but the Jim Crow laws assured that they were still unfairly treated and oppressed. Michelle Alexander claims, in her work, The New Jim Crow, that the justice system we have today still discriminates and unfairly punishes men and women of color. She claims that the policies set in place by our government officials have led to African Americans being seen as only criminals and has developed a racial caste system that is similar to the one created by the former Jim Crow laws. She is determined in her belief that the biggest cause of this was the “War on Drugs” that focused on cocaine usage in the 1980’s, which has resulted in racial profiling of African Americans as criminals. This racial profiling has thus resulted in a mass incarceration of African Americans. So, is Michelle Alexander right? Are the claims she makes credible? Is there a racial caste system created by U.S. government policies to inhibit, discriminate, and oppress African Americans? If so, what can be done to change things, and how will it be accomplished? What is the best way to go about solving this problem? I will answer these questions and more with my own arguments in this book

Mass incarceration is now coming to headlights because so many blacks are behind bars.In the recently published book ¨The New Jim Crow” author Michelle Alexander exposes how communities of color are negatively affected by mass incarceration. In twelve of the following states more than half of the prison population is black: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. In the state of Maryland, their prison population is 72% African American. The state of Oklahoma has the highest overall rate of blacks that are incarcerated. 1 out of every 15 black males from ages of 18 and up are in prison. Latinos are detained at a rate that is about 1.4 times the rate of whites (The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons), African americans have 21% more of a chance to receive the mandatory minimum sentence. 80% of those black that are arrested on the criminal justice system receive a public defence lawyer fresh out of law school. Most blacks never get a chance at a trial in front of their peers which violates their Sixth amendment right. Black are in many cases illegally excluded from jury services in criminal court. 3-5% of the criminal cases go to trial the rest get plea deals.