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Summary Of The New Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander

1028 Words5 Pages

The book “The New Jim Crow” Written by Michelle Alexander, Specifically chapter 5 compares and contrasts the two different eras of Jim Crow. When comparing the new vs. the old Jim Crow, the motives are similar, while their methods and means are different. The old Jim Crow is the blatant discrimination, exile, and removal of rights geared towards African Americans or people of color. While the effects are the same for the new Jim Crow, the methods of achievement are more ambiguous. The new Jim Crow utilizes incarceration to achieve their goals. Michelle alexander states in her book that “1 in every 14 black men was behind bars in 2006, compared with 1 in 106 white men” (61). The idea of incarceration, in this situation, mass incarceration is …show more content…

In society people have gathered and formed opinions and beliefs on what oppression is. “Governor Wallace of Alabama blocking the schoolhouse door; we think of water hoses, lynchings, racial epithets, and “whites only” signs” (108) are things, explained by michelle, are things that formed the incorrect idea of what oppression actually is. While this form of oppression is during the original Jim Crow era is face forward and very obvious, it has altered and skewed our views on oppression and racism as a whole. Mass incarceration has formed this idea of a bird cage, with the idea that If “one thinks about racism by examining only one wire of the cage, or one form of disadvantage, it is difficult to understand how and why the bird is trapped” (108). The system that traps and oppressed African Americans during the modern era is a much more structural intricate system. Rather than being oppressed by governors or signs, the modern day Jim Crow oppresses people by a larger systematic system. This system consists of shutting down businesses and job opportunities in poorer communities which then leaves a need for income. This income is then fixed by false hope in the form of crack cocaine. Crack cocaine is then attacked and then becomes the main target in a war on Drugs set by the President. The appeal of targeting this drug becomes incentivized by money and benefits. Which in turn leads to the Mass incarceration of these poorer communities (African Americans). After going through the penal system these people are then legally allowed to be discriminated upon, leaving them without housing, jobs, work, or simply a voice in society. Which ultimately leaves these people oppressed and exiled from society. The oppression of African Americans is very prominent, whether it is obviously blatant actions from governors and signs or a complex structural system that traps these people in a

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