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Alexander The New Jim Crow Analysis

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Alexander The New Jim Crow Analysis
Michelle Alexander author of "The New Jim Crow" argues that Mass Incarceration has regenerated laws similar to Jim Crow; Alexander believes these caste systems such as Jim Crow and slavery are similar to the existing system of mass incarceration. In addition, Alexander alleges the U.S. criminal justice system created laws that mainly target African Americans through the War on Drugs. In comparing mass incarceration with Jim Crow, Alexander points to compelling parallels regarding political disenfranchisement and legalized discrimination, but her comparison regarding the symbolic production of a race weakens her argument. Alexander, moreover, effectively offers a rebuttal to the counterargument that the New Jim Crow does not carry the same level …show more content…
critique "Racial Critiques of Mass Incarceration: Beyond the New Jim Crow," argues that while Alexander focuses on the injustice of mass incarceration, she is ignoring the history of Jim Crow putting aside the violence African Americans lived in the past. For instance, Forman, Jr. shares a touching story, this story involves him and his father, back in 1984, he mentions they had a trip to San Francisco to attend the Democratic National Convention, while approaching Louisiana, on their way back to Atlanta where he lived with his mother, he noticed his father's mood begin to change and seemed tense and quiet. Afterward, he decided to call his mom so he turned to an exit in Mississippi and pulled over at a gas station, the lights went out and his father panicked as he turned on the car and screamed, "Get in the car! Now!" Subsequently, Forman, Jr. mentions feeling ashamed to see his father in that condition. To conclude, he mentioned his understanding, there was no better explanation of his father reaction than The Old Jim Crow, where it was permissible for white men to torture and kill a black man on a regular day basis. Seeing that Forman, Jr. experience perfectly fulfills his argument as his father reaction to the situation mentioned before is an example of the trauma created among African Americans that lived in The Old Jim Crow era. Moreover, Alexander explains her stand regarding the absence of racial hostility. Subsequently, she argues that racial hostility and violence still exist and manifest through accusations of police brutality comparing the fear of African Americans to the police and the fear of older relatives to the Ku Klux Klan. However, she points out that racial hostility does not necessarily defines racism neither suggest violence against individuals of different race, yet implies racial indifference. For Instance, she mentions, "Most Plantation owners supported the institution of black slavery not because of a
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