The Redemption And Rejection Of Michelle Jones Summary

The American Dream has never been available to minority citizens as easily as it is to American-born citizens. Affirmative action was first implemented around the year 1972, however it was not widely accepted or practiced. During this time society was just getting used to including women in higher education institutions so the concept of including minorities in higher education was almost non-existent. My Beloved World, by Sonia Sotomayor shows the challenges that a first generation, Puerto Rican, lower socioeconomic female had during this time. Through her autobiography she shows the struggles she faced throughout her life, focusing on her application to college, college experience and insight into her cultural background. My Beloved

Furthermore, Jacoby mentions experts within his essay to gain credibility and point out the flaws within the idea of imprisonment. He uses experts such as John DiIulio, a noted Princeton criminologist who states that “about three of every four convicted criminals are on the streets without meaningful probation or parole supervision.” (193) Jacoby specifically addresses a criminologist from Princeton, a well-known ivy league school, with the intent of providing information that people can trust. Moreover, the quote from DiIulio helps Jacoby to argue once again, that our current criminal justice system is incapable of imprisoning many criminals, and goes on to say that not only are these criminals free from doing time in jail, they are also free from any form of punishment. Jacoby uses the injustice within the quote to further persuade his liberal audience to agree with the flaws of imprisonment on account that liberals will not stand for injustice. Similarly, Jacoby refers to the former Supreme Court justice, Harry Blackmun to talk about the potential danger that inmates face within prison cells. Blackmun states that “The horrors experienced by many young inmates, particularly

Even though affirmative action does not entail direct payments for past discrimination, most supporters view it as a compensatory program; the greater economic opportunities it affords its beneficiaries do constitute a kind of reparations and are intended as such. After more than 30 years of affirmative action -- and my work on a comprehensive article on this subject in 20 Yale Law & Policy Review 1 (2002) -- several effects seem clear. (Many other effects, both good and bad, are more debatable).

Being admitted into college is a difficult process, one that requires students to be diligent in their studies, engage in a number of extracurricular activities, and overcome the everyday pressures and challenges that high-schoolers face across the country. Admittedly, not everyone in the United States is born with the same opportunities as socioeconomic factors as well as historic injustices have contributed to a society in which some people are far more likely to achieve upward mobility – of which, obtaining a college degree is a necessary part – than others. While there is need to rectify this reality,

Even when people do terrible things, such as Carter, who received the death penalty because he was accused of rape, I still feel that our prison system does nothing to help these people become better citizens, but rather only pushes them towards more corruption. In prison, the atmosphere does very little to promote rehabilitation, which I believe is something that all prisons should focus on the most. If the people in prison are not taught how to return to society as improved citizens, but are rather sent to a place where their personalities become more corrupted, the system will continue to be stalled. This is where Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative can help because they are fighting against mass incarceration, which tries to prevent unreliable convictions and excessive

Affirmative action policies are passionately debated by everyone from educators and politicians to ordinary citizens, all who hold differing opinions on both the necessity and validity of the policies. There is no doubt affirmative action is an emotional topic and deals with the

This case shows how men and women of all races can be affected by the two headed monster called affirmative action. Affirmative action was established so that members of society such women, minorities or those with handicaps would be guaranteed an honest opportunity to achieve goals, professions or pursue higher education without discrimination. However, when a person’s sex, nationality, social settings and race compete against one another even those the act is intended to protect become

Summary: This paper is based on an article called "I'm Black You're White Who's innocent" by Shelby Steel. The article takes a position that is against affirmative action because it takes the independence away from people of color.

I had first heard about Michelle Alexander’s engaging, yet sobering, book about two years ago from a very good friend of mine, who suggested that I read it immediately. I would see it on bookstore shelves and at online stores and I would always tell myself that I would “get it next time”. But, after reading the introduction of the book, for this class, I immediately purchased a copy online and once it arrived I moved it to the top of my reading list. Michelle Alexander does a commendable job of distilling the abstract ideal of a Prison Industrial Complex into something palpable; exploring more about the societal implications of mass incarceration in our country as opposed to the political. It also raises important questions, such as, why do we as American’s feel comfortable with the incarceration of large groups of our population predicated along racial lines? The answer, while multi-faceted, can be

In today’s world, we treat criminals and offenders that are out of prison in a similar manner to how people were treated in the Jim Crow era. One example of the new Jim Crow Era is Sonya Jennings. Sonya is a felon as well as an African American mother. She was given an eight years probation after being arrested for possession of narcotics. Since Sonya is now tagged as a felon, she does not have the right to vote, she cannot receive public welfare, and she faces job discrimination (Alexander). The Jim Crow system has been planned in America today, legalizing discrimination for people with past criminal activity’s and records (Alexander).

As stated above, Lagemann believes in the transformative power of a liberal arts education and believes that it should be available to everyone, including the prison population. She has experienced first hand, the immense value that a prison education program can provide for inmates and wishes to utilize the lessons learned at BPI to benefit all. BPI not only illustrates the effectiveness of a college prison program in decreasing dicividism rates, and ultimately decreasing the financial burden of an exploding prison population, it also highlights the importance of higher education for all and how BPI’s specific approach towards education can help more traditional colleges with their low completion rates.

A problem in the United States today is that there are too many people in prison, especially African American males. “African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is 5.1 times the imprisonment of whites” says FARS News Agency. Many conservatives say “ do the crime do the time”, but are African-Americans committing as much crime as the incarceration reports tell us? Michelle Nealy’s Diverse Issues in Higher Education “Black men: left out and locked up” informs the reader “There are an estimated 1.5 million African American men in prison and another 3.5 million on probation. Black males make up more than 70 percent of the total prison population, even though they make up only 6 percent of the U.S. population.”(Nealy). Majority of African American men are put in an environment where there are high rates in poverty, availability of drugs, low employment rates, and low graduation rates. These are all important factors to consider because they all

As a testament to the next discussion point of opportunities, especially within the realm of college admission, I have experienced firsthand the opportunities presented by affirmative action. As a low-income, first-generation college student, Virginia Tech had offered me a full scholarship based solely on merit and financial need. As a “minority” according to Virginia Tech, I had an

Many critics of affirmative action believe it has failed to achieve its stated goal of equal employment opportunity. A few even believe that it has done more harm than good. A review of the statistics, however, shows

Affirmative action supporters make one large assumption when defending the policy. They assume that minority groups want help. This, however, may not always be the case. They fought to attain equality, not special treatment. To some of them, the acceptance of special treatment is an admittance of inferiority. Some would include me. I believe I can become successful on my own. I don’t need laws to help me get a great job. I along with many others who are against affirmative action want to be treated as equals, not as incompetent. Although discrimination is not placed in a well-distant past, affirmative action is an unneeded and drastic remedy for today’s world (Farron, Steven, 2005)