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Michelle Alexander Slavery By Another Name Analysis

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“More African Americans are under the control of the criminal justice system today – in prison or jail, on probation or parole – than were enslaved in 1850.” For this reason I decided to write my essay reflecting the documentary of Slavery By Another Name. Even though the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, it had an exception. Slavery was still legal as a form of punishment for a crime. With the abolishment of slavery many jobs were left unfilled. There was a great need for workers in America. After years of free labor, slave owners were not ready to pay decent wages to workers. For African Americans hope did not last long.
After losing their slave labor, many slave owners were faced with a dilemma. They still had the exception to fall back on. Many laws were passed that targeted African Americans. Only a year after slavery was abolished vagrancy laws were passed. These laws criminalized being homeless or jobless. With more laws targeting African Americans, convict leasing became widespread in the United States. Prisoners …show more content…

In her book she states mass incarnation is the new Jim Crow as it targets African Americans. She discusses racial profiling and the impact it has on the African American community. In class we watched a video on the black lives matter movement. Michelle Alexander made many good points of unjust practices that make it evident why such a movement is needed. I have seen many reactions on Facebook that support police brutality because they claim that the person should have just obeyed the law. People fail to realize that as Americans we have certain rights and it is never okay to tell a person to just give up their rights. From slavery, to convict leasing, to the Jim Crow Laws, to now mass incarceration, many Americans still see African Americans as inferior. When I read these comments all I get from them is that they are saying that black lives do not

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