The New Jim Crow - Colby M.

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Part IV - "The New Jim Crow"

Hello again, welcome back to yet another one of my blog posts! In this post, I will be further discussing The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Specifically, I will be discussing the sixth chapter; also called: "The New Jim Crow." In this chapter, Michelle Alexander focuses on further discussing the racially oppressive system of Mass Incarceration, particularly as it relates to the Jim Crow South. Alexander begins the chapter by challenging the notion that African-American men render themselves unable to perform in a paternal role. She challenges the rhetoric of Barack Obama, who criticized Black men's struggle with fatherhood in a Father's Day campaign speech to African-American constituents. Barack Obama giving his 2008 Father's Day Speech Image from The Spokesman-Review Alexander writes: "The fact that Barack Obama can give a speech on Father’s Day dedicated to the subject of fathers who are “AWOL” without ever acknowledging that the maj

Part III - "The Cruel Hand"

Hello again and welcome back! In my third posting, I will be discussing how The New Jim Crow , and the topics it addresses, is relevant and applicable to current society. I want to thank you again for joining me, and I hope that you enjoyed my previous post(s)! This post is specifically focusing on issues discussed in the third chapter: "The Cruel Hand" "The Cruel Hand" is a reference to American civil rights author and advocate Frederick Douglass. Image of Frederick Douglass from The New York Times Alexander begins this chapter with the following quote from Douglass: A heavy and cruel hand has been laid upon us. As a people, we feel ourselves to be not only deeply injured, but grossly misunderstood. Our white countrymen do not know us. They are strangers to our character, ignorant of our capacity, oblivious to our history and progress, and are misinformed as to the principles and ideas that control and guide us, as a people. This quote serves

Part II - "The Color of Justice"

Hello again, and welcome back to my blog! In this post, I will be reflecting on the fourth chapter of Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow . Specifically, I will be discussing how she structures her argument in this chapter. Thanks for joining me! "The Color of Justice," in my opinion, is the most powerful section of text that I've read so far. I think this is due to the fact that it exposes the blatant neglect on the part of our judicial branch of government. Alexander details the ways in which people of color are denied protection from discriminatory adversities with regard to how they interact with law enforcement. This section is highly related to the War on Drugs, which I discussed extensively in my last post, so if you're new to my blog I recommend you stop reading this post and head on over to Part I: Click Here! In "The Color of Justice," Alexander argues that the Criminal Justice system as a whole is intrinsically discriminatory. She supp

Part I - "Introduction", "The Rebirth of Caste" and "The Lockdown"

Hello readers and welcome to my analysis of The New Jim Crow; a book by writer and civil rights advocate Michelle Alexander. I greatly appreciate your presence, even though it may only be digital, and I hope to alleviate any confusion among the complex facets of race/racial issues that you may have. The New Jim Crow is a text that certainly pertains to America's failure to achieve racial equality. In this book, Alexander examines the methodology and effects of discriminatory practices occurring throughout America's history, such as Slavery, the Jim Crow South, and most prominently Mass Incarceration. In this post, I will discuss the first 97 pages of this book which includes "Introduction", "The Rebirth of the Caste" and "The Lockdown." Introduction Alexander begins her book with an anecdote regarding an African-American man: Jarvious Cotton. "Jarvious Cotton cannot vote. Like his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-g

Important Quotations

"We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." (2)

"Any candid observer of American racial history must acknowledge that racism is highly adaptable." (21)

"Members of Congress who voted against civil rights measures proactively designed crime legislation and actively fought for their proposals." (43)

"The act also expanded use of the death penalty for serious drug-related offenses and imposed new mandatory minimums for drug offenses, including a five-year mandatory minimum for simple possession of cocaine base—with no evidence of intent to sell. Remarkably, the penalty would apply to first-time offenders. The severity of this punishment was unprecedented in the federal system." (53-54)

"The level of public concern about crime and drugs was only weakly correlated with actual crime rates, but highly correlated with political initiatives, campaigns, and partisan appeals." (55)

"During Clinton's tenure, Washington slashed funding for public housing by $17 billion (a reduction of 61 percent) and boosted corrections by $19 billion (an increase of 171 percent), 'effectively making the constructions of prisons the nation's main housing program for the urban poor.' " (57)

"Despite all of the new procedural rules and formal protections, the law does not address the single most serious problem associated with drug-war forfeiture laws: the profit motive in drug-law enforcement. Under the new law, drug busts motivated by the desire to seize cash, cars, homes, and other property are still perfectly legal." (83)

"This caste system extends far beyond prison walls and governs millions of people who are on probation and parole, primarily for nonviolent offenses." (101-102)

"Drug use, once considered a private, public-health matter, was reframed through political rhetoric and media imagery as a grave threat to the national order." (105)

"Decades of cognitive bias research demonstrates that both unconscious and conscious biases lead to discriminatory actions, even when an individual does not want to discriminate." (106)

"In other words, the [Supreme] Court barred any victim of race discrimination by the police from even alleging a claim of racial bias under the Fourth Amendment." (109)

"Once you have that felony stamp, your hope for employment, for any kind of integration into society, it begins to fade out. Today’s lynching is a felony charge. Today’s lynching is incarceration. Today’s lynch mobs are professionals. They have a badge; they have a law degree. A felony is a modern way of saying, ‘I’m going to hang you up and burn you.’ Once you get that F, you’re on fire." (164)

"The unfortunate reality we must face is that racism manifests itself not only in individual attitudes and stereotypes, but also in the basic structure of society." (184)

"[African-American men] will be discriminated against, legally, for the rest of their lives—denied employment, housing, education, and public benefi ts. Unable to surmount these obstacles, most will eventually return to prison and then be released again, caught in a closed circuit of perpetual marginality." (186)

"The Supreme Court’s famous proclamation in 1857—“[the black man] has no rights which the white man is bound to respect”—remains true to a significant degree today, so long as the black man has been labeled a felon." (194)

"It is fair to say that we have witnessed an evolution in the United States from a racial caste system based entirely on exploitation (slavery), to one based largely on subordination (Jim Crow), to one defined by marginalization (mass incarceration). While marginalization may sound far preferable to exploitation, it may prove to be even more dangerous . . .'It’s actually better to be exploited than marginalized, in some respects, because if you’re exploited presumably you’re still needed.' " (219)