Racism in Michelle Alexander´s The New Jim Crow

The New Jim Crow
In this book The New Jim Crow Michelle Alexander gives a look at history racism of African-Americans in relations to slavery and brings us to into modern day racism. Not racism as a form of calling people names or by the means of segregation which would be considered overt racism condemned by society but by colorblindness and by a racial caste system. Alexander argues African-Americans are being discriminated against in the form of mass incarceration. “Mass incarceration refers not only to the criminal justice system but also to the larger web of laws, rules, polices, and customs that control those labeled criminals both in and out of prison” (Alexander 2012, pg 14). Upon reading The New Jim Crow I believe African – Americans continue to be discriminated against in silent ways that are deemed acceptable by society and the criminal justice system.
If you ask someone why do people go to jail you will most likely get the answer – because they are bad people. Then the counter question would be then how is it even though whites and African – Americans commit the same amount of crime there are more African – Americans under the watch of the prison system? The “Human Rights Watch reporting government data revealed that blacks were no more likely to be guilty of drug crimes than whites and that white youth were actually the most likely of any racial or ethnic group to be guilty of illegal drug possession and sales” (Alexander 2012, pg 99). The War on Drugs Nixon gave
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images of poor African – American men as the typical drug dealer and user. The stereotype gained momentum throughout the years. The War on Drugs was continued in the Regan administration and followed by cash incentives for the polic...

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...ers about this topic. It has truly made me think. This book has also angered me. It has angered me by just the mere thought of the government condoning this behavior even though they condemn racism. If more people realized this was going on perhaps there would be more of an up rise.
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Although it might be a challenge to have an uprising due to the fact that we are an individualistic society. It is harder to see society issues when we are only concerned about ourselves and the fact that people are happy drug dealers are off the streets. But drug dealers and users do get out of prison. Of course we are not all like that there are those out there that truly do care about social issues. But it will be a challenge to make that spark in the fire.

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Works Cited
Alexander, Michelle. 2012. The New Jim Crow. The New Press, NY.