The New Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander is a non-fiction introduction in the novel

“They say, I say” by Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. The New Jim Crow is written to educate society on the discrimination and exclusion that African Americans are facing in the United States; the same discrimination and exclusion they faced when the Jim Crow laws took place. Michelle Alexander forms her evidence from her own experience fighting for the civil rights of others and she also uses people of colors experiences with losing their civil rights from being labeled a “felon” and she uses statistics to help her readers better visualize the extent of African American incarceration, these techniques provide the readers with accurate

Alexander also states, “They are denied the ability to obtain employment, housing, and public benefits- much as African Americans were once forced into segregated, second-class citizenship in the Jim Crow era.” Alexander provides information she obtained by working with the criminal justice system. Working closely with the source,

Alexander can get more accurate information and be more trustworthy to the readers.

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Furthermore, Michelle Alexander sets the image of being hopeful after the election of

Barack Obama, also her believing that the racial caste system would no longer be an issue, but her hopes were quickly crushed. Alexander writes the image of a black man on his knees in the sewer, hands cuffed behind his back, as she walked out of election party, she saw bystanders walking past without so much as sparing a glance at the African American man. Alexander states

“the widespread belief that race no longer matters- has blinded us to the realities of race in our society and facilitated the emergence of a new caste system.” Racial discrimination is so regularized to our society that we fail to see the issues African Americans face around us.

Also, Michelle Alexander discusses the statistics of how black men are more likely to face harsh punishment for drug charges while white men get a mild reprimand. She states, “In some states, black men have been admitted to prison on drug charges at rates twenty to fifty times greater than those of white men.” Alexander also writes that America has the highest rate of incarceration in the nation; the majority incarcerated inmates are racial or ethnic minorities.

She also adds that mass incarceration is seen as a justice issue when it really is a racial and criminal justice issue. Alexander uses the statistics of how a black man is more likely to face punishment from law enforcement. By using proven facts Alexander better informs the readers how the racial caste system works in law enforcement.

Ultimately, Michelle Alexander persuades the audience with stories of the injustice

African Americans face because of the wrongful use of incarceration in the United States of

America. She also uses the statistics for her readers to have a full understanding that she is

Ray 2 finding the evidence to support her claims that America has the highest incarceration rate in