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Book Analysis: The New Jim Crow

770 Words4 Pages

Zach Bova
Professor Leguizamo
Core LLC: Human Behavior in Perspective
20 October 2015
Summary of “The New Jim Crow” In Michelle Alexander’s book “The New Jim Crow” she analyzes how there is a pattern of young black men getting incarcerated because of the war on drugs, and how the policies that have been set by the federal government are discriminatory. She is suggesting that law enforcement is abusing their power in black communities and that the war on drugs is actually giving them the right to do so. With these policies set in place police are allowed to stop and search a person if they believe that they look suspicious in any way. Throughout the book the author presents the readers with a point of view showing the discrimination that still exists in America today. The original Jim Crow Laws enforced segregation in America; she is interpreting the war on drugs as “The New Jim Crow.” The author begins by explaining how she thinks that although as a country …show more content…

The section is opened by a quote from Frederick Douglass, a famous abolitionist, stating that white citizens of America don’t truly understand what it is like to be an African American in that time period and how they are “ignorant.” The author’s message is that she understands that these criminals are doing something wrong in the first place, but she realizes that these people are already struggling to begin with. These individuals are selling drugs to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads. By doing this they are digging themselves in a hole that that can not get out of. Once convicted for dealing drugs it is nearly impossible to return a good life after you are released. This creates a pattern that can’t be altered. The war on drugs creates no second chances for African American

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