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Review Of Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness By Michelle Alexander

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The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is a non fiction book written by Michelle Alexander, a well known civil rights lawyer, is a book that every American citizen should read. Alexander’s book cover is of three metal bars and two strong black hands holding them tightly. The book spent multiple weeks on The New York Times bestsellers list and has a foreword written by Cornel West, he is a well known and respected social activist. The book discuss how the new system of oppression for people of color in the United States is mass incarceration. Jim Crow laws were a systematic way to segregate and discriminate against black people. The new systematic way to oppress black people is prison. Alexander clearly states that her book was not written for everyone and that it has a “specific audience in mind-people who care deeply about racial justice but who, for any number of reasons, do not appreciate the magnitude of the crisis faced by communities of color as a result of mass …show more content…

A good example, of how she demonstrated this was on the very first page. Alexander gives an example of one man’s family, where no men for generations have been able to vote. First because of slavery, then Jim Crow, fear of the K.K.K., and now because he has been labeled a felon (1). She also successfully shows demonstrates how America’s drug war, poverty, and jail all go hand in hand. I think that one of the main points was that “the Age of Colorblindness”. This current time period is supposed to be post racial and the new generations much more accepting. The book proves that racism is not over, and it is just now carried out in a new way. Black men are the group that are most affected by the prison system and are more likely to be stopped by the police than any other group of

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It portrays how times have changed for white and African Americans in the American justice system. Suzanne Lebsock did a very thorough job of explain through a story of how different the courts acted depending on a person’s race. It shows the discrimination people showed to other people who were not like them. The way that Lebsock wrote the book is a little confusing at times, because she goes back and forth between ways of explaining a subject. Also, she repeats the same trial base line throughout the entire book, in thus repeating a majority of the book multiple times.

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The book was very informative of life when racism was more apparent. I think that books like this show that standing up to racism is an option. It shows that even children of a younger age were involved in the situation.

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Michelle Alexander explains how our society uses Mass Incarceration to control those in the African American community starting with the War on Drugs. She discusses how slavery and Jim crow were used to control the African American community, and when those ideas became stale government officials were searching for a new way to control the community. Thus, Mass Incarceration became the new caste system. This book has opened my eyes in various aspects. I have a better understand of the justice system after reading this book that I have had from watching the news and other media outlets.

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She mentioned that in the year 2004 more black men were disfranchised than in 1870's, the year 15th amendment was ratified. It also has a huge effect when black individuals take the decision to fight for their rights because the "criminal" label puts their arguments in question and makes it almost impossible for them to win a case, even if they are innocent. One of the complexities of finding a solution to this matter is the stereotypes that influence even the "well-intentioned" officers to suspect by just looking at their physical aspects and create these racial disparities. Another factor that plays a major role is the economic

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Watching Michelle Alexander’s book discussion was such an eye opening experience for me to a matter that I was blind to till now. Watching her discussion brought feelings of anger, shock, shame, but most of all hope. I was completely unaware to the mass incarceration of minorities. I was aware of the increase of mass incarnation but not to the extent that Michelle explained in her discussion. I believe that Michelle’s description of the birth of a caste like system in the US to be extremely accurate.

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In today’s society, people are defined by their ethnic, gender and class affiliations. For this reason, inequality and discrimination are factors in how minorities are treated in American society. John Iceland’s book, “Poverty in America A Handbook” discusses how even though the United States has the largest-industrialized economy; it has more poverty than any other country that has similar standards of living. Iceland focuses and examines why poverty is prominent to this day, what groups are affected, what defines being poor in America, and the causes and effects of the poverty. Michelle Alexander’s book, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” discusses the issues specifically related to African-American males

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She first supports her claim by chronicling America 's history of institutionalized racism and systematic disenfranchisement of African Americans. Then, she discusses America 's War on Drugs that disproportionately targets minorities and finally as she examines the hardship faced by felons she compares and contrasts Jim Crow Laws to mass incarceration. Alexander surmises that mass incarceration is designed to maintain white supremacy and sustain a racial classification system. Alexander 's book is relevant to my research paper because she provides evidence that the criminal justice system is rooted in racism and directly linked to the racist agenda of the white supremacist. Broussard, B. (2015).

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Her thesis coins the term the “New Jim Crow” as a way to refer to the discrimination and inequity of the prison-industrial complex as a new form of bondage against poor people, and people of color. The New Jim Crow is a caste system which puts poor people and people of color into second class citizenship by incarcerating them and stripping them of their rights

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Slavery is over therefore how can racism still exist? This has been a question posed countlessly in discussions about race. What has proven most difficult is adequately demonstrating how racism continues to thrive and how forms of oppression have manifested. Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, argues that slavery has not vanished; it instead has taken new forms that allowed it to flourish in modern society. These forms include mass incarceration and perpetuation of racist policies and societal attitudes that are disguised as color-blindness that ultimately allow the system of oppression to continue.

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