The New Jim Crow was written by Michelle Alexander and was created to educate people on the new “caste system” that is being ignored by those it has no effect on. It is a serious discussion that has been avoided for far too long. Michelle Alexander did a great job getting the ball rolling on this topic in her book. To touch on some of the points made I will be looking at the foreword, introduction, chapter 1, and chapter 6.
The foreword was written by African American political activist, Cornel West. This section begins with West calling The New Jim Crow a “secular bible for a new social media movement” (Foreword). He then goes on to talk about how although this is a sensitive subject, it is a discussion that needs to be held. He mentions how African Americans haven’t fought back hard enough against these injustices against our people, despite the efforts of freedom fighters such as Angela Davis, Marc Mauer, or Marian Wright Edelmen. West also mentions Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in reference to the topic of colorblindness and how we should be “lovestruck with each other” instead (Foreword).
This section is important because this is the first time the reader is
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Immediately Alexander comes in with a real life case to show how “The more things change, the more they remain the same” (Alexander). She mentions how at one point she would have been skeptical to believing that there was such a thing that could compare to Jim Crow. I believe she made an effort to include this because often people are afraid to admit that they are, or once were, ignorant. By admitting this she was able to see the bigger picture that she now can not “unsee” (Alexander). Another thing that I found interesting was how the “victim” whose story she shared had the last name Cotton. Typically cotton is supposed to symbolize luck, healing, and protection, but for African Americans it’s a symbol of the pain and struggle that we once went