A pew research study conducted in January of 2018 went to show that while African Americans make up only 12% of the total adult US Population they represent 33% of the US prison population where as white Americans who make up 64% of the US adult population only represent 30% of the US Prison population. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of colorblindness Michelle Alexander chooses to illuminate the systematic oppression of people of color by the prison and law enforcement systems essentially comparing the war on drugs as a system of racial control comparable to that of the Jim Crow laws of the 19th century. Michelle Alexander reviews the policy and practices of law enforcement, law makers, and the criminal justice system and how it has effected the black community for generations. Her research takes an in depth look at specific policies and the ramifications they have over the life cycle of a person as they become a part of the criminal justice system.
Alexander uses semi-structured interviews to connect her legal research with actual people. This technique of placing a person behind the actual ramifications of policies helps to connect the reader and make them more inclined to do their own research on the topics outlined in the book. Alexander uses several different people to highlight different aspects of what she feels is the new Jim Crow. She also tries to branch out and discuss how the war on drugs has effected white people in a similar fashion to that of people of color. She structures the book in a somewhat chronological timeline based on the status of a person before, during and after conviction. Alexander makes the case that being a convicted felon serves as a lifetime sentence equivalent to that of slavery and she extrapolates this through her research and application in the book.
Kanye West recently met with President Trump and while majority of what he said was nonsense he did have some valid points on how the 13th amendment was essentially legal slavery. While I don’t believe abolishing the 13th amendment would be a good thing I do think that a new amendment structure around convicted felons and reestablishing their rights after they have paid their debt to society would be a good thing. The Ruffin v, Commonwealth rules that convicts had no rights and were “slaves of the state” despite the 13th amendment. To understand where Alexander is coming from we first need to know what exactly Jim Crow laws were and how they effected black people. Jim crow laws help to keep black people in the system of white supremacy by legalizing segregation and discriminatory practices. These laws extended from where black people could be buried, go to school and whom they could get married to, which toilets they could use, even the prison system as segregated under Jim Crow laws. While these laws were eventually struck down due to the civil rights movement they have had lasting effects on the black community with the ‘War on Drugs’ essentially taking the place of those laws in todays society.
“The War on Drugs, cloaked in race-neutral language, offered whites opposed to racial reform a unique opportunity to express their hostility toward blacks and black progress, without being exposed to the charge of racism”(Alexander 2010 p.53). Drug use across the nation is engaged in similar rates but only poor neighborhoods inhabited by people of color are subject to drug raids, and swat team lead drug busts. The war on drugs focuses mainly on the targeting of people using and distributing crack cocaine which is primarily black people and in most cases crack carries a sentence 100 times that of cocaine sentences. This type of racial profiling is rampant in minority communities and go unnoticed by most sub urban communities as this would be more of a publicized issue. Alexander makes the case that people of color are likely to experience discrimination at every stage of the criminal justice system due to the war on drugs and tough on crime policies.
Alexander writes about Bill Clintons tough on crime policies and the sentencing disparagement between racial groups is a direct effect of those policies. Clinton cut funding for welfare by seventeen billion dollars while allocating ninteen billion for the prison system. Prison became the new housing system for poor people of color who were targeted by stop and frisk policies then thrown in the criminal justice system and having their lives and development as people essentially put on pause. Our criminal justice system does nothing to help or reform people who have been convicted of crimes. Other countries such as Norway take time to rehabilitate and provide assistance for their prisoners after they have served their time so that they do not become repeat offenders. Our profit for prison system does nothing but encourage people to commit more crimes so that people can make money off of them being in prison much like slavery. While they are prisoners they are given no training or actual correction, the habits they had for being criminals are not curved and some are there because of exaggerate charges for drug use. This system continues even after they have been released creating a cycle of prison based slavery.
In the recent election Florida voted to restore the voting rights of one and a half million former felons. This is a huge win for people who are still trying to escape the prion system. Alexander talks about how being labeled as a felon is essentially becoming an untouchable in the hindu caste system. Former felons are unable to vote in some states, unable to attain jobs, and are looked down upon nationwide. While in prison they aren’t given the chance to attain new skills or make money and instead are thrust back into a world that wants them even less. When someone is not allowed to make a living for themselves what other solution do they have then to turn back to crime. This is how the criminal justice system is seen as new age slavery. Commit a crime go to jail and you are renounced by the world.
The criminal justice system is not perfect and needs to be reformed however Alexander does not offer many solutions beyond that of litigation. Some people are wrongfully convicted and giving much longer sentences based on race but we can not have a system that switches and only favors people of color. We as a society need to take responsibility for the actions of our government from the perspectives of both black and white people. Alexander wrote this book in 2010 when Barack Obama was still president and the type of impact he was expected to have on minority communities wasn’t there. He did pardon a lot of nonviolent drug offenders but that simply puts them back into the system. We need to do more on prison and criminal reform.
The New Jim Crow offers an in-depth look into the world of black people who have suffered at the hands of the criminal justice system. It takes you through the life cycle of people before and after prison and how that affects people on a generational level. This system is indeed the new Jim Crow and how it keeps people of color in the same discriminatory practices of previous generations.
