The new Jim Crow

mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness

by , ,

312 pages

English language

Published Nov. 6, 2012 by New Press.

ISBN:
978-1-59558-643-8
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
948311982

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5 stars (10 reviews)

This work argues that the War on Drugs and policies that deny convicted felons equal access to employment, housing, education, and public benefits create a permanent under caste based largely on race.As the United States celebrates the nation's "triumph over race" with the election of Barack Obama, the majority of young black men in major American cities are locked behind bars or have been labeled felons for life. Although Jim Crow laws have been wiped off the books, an astounding percentage of the African American community remains trapped in a subordinate status - much like their grandparents before them. In this incisive critique, former litigator-turned-legal-scholar Michelle Alexander provocatively argues that we have not ended racial caste in America: we have simply redesigned it. Alexander shows that, by targeting black men and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, even as …

9 editions

reviewed The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

2022 #FReadom read 20/20

5 stars

At the beginning of 2022, I set a goal to read at least 20 books this year that had been banned or threatened in Texas libraries or schools. My 20th book in that #FReadom journey was the 10th Anniversary edition of The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. newjimcrow.com/

After finishing Alexander's profound work, I went back and reread her updated preface to the new edition, in which she captures the urgency of how the business of mass incarceration has evolved through privatized "e-carceration" and immigration detention.

Then I came across this deep dive by @aaronlmorrison published last month by AP, with personal stories of the impact of the drug war & mass incarceration. But I needed the context of Alexander's book to truly understand the massive scale of the whole story. apnews.com/article/war-on-drugs-75e61c224de3a394235df80de7d70b70

reviewed The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Review of 'The New Jim Crow' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I was really looking forward to reading this. The content is so wildly important. Systemic racism in the USA is real, and it has far-reaching consequences.

The writing left a lot to be desired. The author was incredibly repetitive, both in terms of topics, stats, and wording. Passages were repeated so often that I really wondered if I had lost my place and gone backward (several times). Better editing would have changed my rating markedly.

reviewed The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Review of 'The New Jim Crow' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I was really looking forward to reading this. The content is so wildly important. Systemic racism in the USA is real, and it has far-reaching consequences.

The writing left a lot to be desired. The author was incredibly repetitive, both in terms of topics, stats, and wording. Passages were repeated so often that I really wondered if I had lost my place and gone backward (several times). Better editing would have changed my rating markedly.

reviewed The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Review of 'The New Jim Crow' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I spent the day in a maximum security prison last week meeting with inmates, and was motivated to read this book to better understand the circumstances that produced such a dramatic rise in the prison population over the last 40 years.

Of all prisoners in the world, 1 in 4 are in prison in the United States. We have just 5% of the world's population, but 25% of the world's prisoners. This is almost entirely a result of the war on drugs, which was largely a political strategy designed to sway white voters in the 70s. Mass incarceration got worse under Reagan, and then got progressively worse under each successive administration. Including Clinton and Obama.

Perhaps the most jarring facts for me? The disparity between the criminal approach to drunk drivers vs. drug users. Though drunk driving was killing more people by 1990 than all deaths from all drugs combined, …

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Subjects

  • Administration of Criminal justice
  • Race relations
  • Race discrimination
  • Discrimination in criminal justice administration
  • Social conditions
  • African American men
  • African American prisoners

Places

  • United States