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The New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration

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In 2013, Michelle Alexander published her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, hoping it served as a call to action. Immediately this book received a huge amount of attention because of the controversial topics presented. This book opened a lot of people’s eyes to the term colorblindness, a sociological perspective referring to the disregard of racial characteristics. There is no racial data or profiling, no classifications, and no categorizations or distinctions based upon race. The race of an individual will not be considered when being chosen to participate in an activity or other type of service. The author connects the term colorblindness to the presidency of Barack Obama, and studies the racial caste system in America. Throughout her book, Alexander argues that “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.” To support her argument, Alexander targets black men through the War on Drugs and the U.S criminal justice system. The New Jim Crow argues that our country’s federal drug policy unfairly targets people of color, which keeps millions of young, black men behind bars, and in a cycle of poverty. The book starts off by disproving claims about racism being dead. Alexander goes on to state an enormous amount of African Americans are still not allowed to vote because of the rule, felons cannot vote. This is unfair because thousands of African Americans have served time in prison as a result of drug

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