Preview

The New Jim Crow Michelle Alexander Summary

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
155 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The New Jim Crow Michelle Alexander Summary
While working for the American Civil Liberties Union, Michelle Alexander’s perspective changed as she gained insight on the racial bias in our criminal justice system and how it has been altered throughout time. In The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindless, Alexander compares our current justice system to the Jim Crow laws of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which enforced racial segregation, by calling our system “The New Jim Crow.”
Alexander describes America’s racial history in depth by covering slavery, the Civil War, reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Movement. The author also explains that The War on Drugs in the 1980s was not based on correct statistics about drug use, but rather to satisfy white

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In this modern take on Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander presents the evolutionary roots of racism in the United States. She argues that racism is no longer based solely on race, but has transformed to more covert and legal forms through the criminalization of African Americans in the criminal justice system. As soon as a person of color is classified as a felon, it is legal for establishments to discriminate against them virtually as much as it was at the height of the Jim Crow era.…

    • 99 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Michelle Alexander uses her book, The New Jim Crow to prove to society that mass incarceration is a form of racialize social control. I agree with her because a predominant amount of African American males are with held behind bars more than any other race especially caucasians. Everyone faces discrimination is some type of way because it happens within classrooms and public places. The main factor is showing how breaking the law is the new…

    • 76 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.” The ”New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander, published in 2010, explains the development and constant change of the current racial caste system and its effects on African-Americans and other minorities. She offered a persuasive analysis on why our society is the way it is and how those who are affected can change it.…

    • 70 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Chapter 2 of The New Jim Crow focuses on how the system of mass incarceration works. Alexander concentrates on the "War on Drugs," because "convictions for drug offenses are the single most important cause of the explosion in incarceration rates in the United States." Early on, she exposes myths, noting that the war is not "aimed at ridding the nation of drug 'kingpins' or big-time drug dealers," and the drug war is not "principally concerned with dangerous drugs" (60).…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina 1896-1920, Glenda Gilmore exposed the benefits of adjusting our angle in studying the southern political narrative of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In studying elite, educated, black and white women, Gilmore found sources that voiced the opinions and views of these women. By placing educated black and white women at the center of her study, Gilmore revealed how the political activism and mutual cooperation by women of both races influenced southern progressivism. Gilmore remarked that her focus on educated female leaders slights the working class point of view, as other stories “remain to be told.” Wilmington’s working class females served…

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the new Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, She talked about how the prison system makes it harder for African Americans. When prisoners leaves from prison there mentally still imprisoned there not used to the real world like most of us there more used to be inside of a cell they have to understand the rules and regulations and now they're being put as a felon. My first claim talks about they lost their right to vote and the reason for that is they show they don't respect the society it's a continued punishments there not given chances to earn their freedom back. Criminals violated laws of government and they have to take back in government when people chose to commit serious crimes they showing that there willing to damage the laws abiding people's…

    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In chapter five of Michelle Alexander’s book entitled, “The New Jim Crow”, she tackles the topic that most of the Americans ignore. In the beginning of this chapter, she mentioned president Barack Obama’s speech on father’s day. In Obama’s he stated that many fathers are missing or MIA, and AWOL with their responsibilities. This scenarios can perfectly describe African Americans family, where many children does not have their fathers by their side. As Alexander argues, “a black child born today is less likely to be raised by both parents than a black child born during slavery.” Though it may be true that many fathers are MIA, it can be argued that these fathers did not leave their families voluntarily. The reason why these men are missing…

    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The New Jim Crow Summary

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The New Jim Crow, written by Michelle Alexander, gives a brief history recount of the past caste systems that have oppressed African-Americans and proposes that today there is a new caste system. She suggests that today’s caste system is created by the U.S. criminal justice system by targeting black men and incarcerating them. In other words, she says that today’s racial caste is based on the mass incarceration of African-Americans.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Capitalism and mass incarceration have had a deep connection since the start of the Clinton administration. Not to undermine the the incarceration efforts of previous administrations, but Clinton’s had a specifically terrible impact. Previous administrations- like Nixon’s and Reagan’s- used subtle contexts as a political strategy to win the votes from the south. After the rage left over from the loss of slavery, political leaders needed to find alternate ways to control minority groups, legally, to gain the southern vote. The Nixon administration coined with the idea of evil drugs being present in black and hispanic communities, persuading the American public that harsher laws should be taken to put these people in place. The Jim Crow laws…

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Summary: The New Jim Crow

    • 1652 Words
    • 7 Pages

    I must say that I may have been completely wrong about the state of diversity in our country. I have worked in public service for literally my entire working life (30 years) and in public safety for all of it. I have worked in inner city areas and subsidized housing plans. But my opinion has been similar to that of most white Americans; that people of color do not want a hand up, they want a hand out. Not to be derogatory but that’s what I concluded based on what I experienced. That minorities, especially African-Americans, were using their race and situation to justify their poor choices. After reading The New Jim Crow, by Michelle…

    • 1652 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the New Jim Crow written by Michelle Alexander, Alexander reminds us of the retrospect of what we once knew, the grating truth hidden behind the land of freedom, racial prejudice towards the colored. Although today, America guarantees liberal rights to every individual of color. Alexander argues that the cateism still lingers beyond the lines of our society. Michelle supports her argument through the rebirth of the Old Jim Crow, War on Drugs and the racial caste system.…

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander examines our current criminal justice system and the mass incarceration of African Americans in the United States. She argues that the War on Drugs and drug offense convictions are the single most compelling cause for the magnitude of people of color behind bars. Prisons are used as a system of racial and social control that function in the same way as Jim Crow laws. It is no longer legal to discriminate against people based on race. By targeting black and minority communities through the War on Drugs and labeling them as felons, all the old forms of discrimination became legal. The racial caste systems of slavery and Jim Crow have not disappeared, but…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    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…

    • 1610 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Alexander, who for many years worked as a civil rights lawyer, uses her vast experience and knowledge concerning the criminal justice system to craft a meticulously researched argument that “colorblindness” is this generation’s most important civil rights issue. As the title indicates, she makes the bold claim that mass incarceration is the 21st century version of Jim Crow. This era in our racial history was one in which brutally devastating laws discriminated and segregated black populations. During Jim Crow, the idea of justice did not exist for black people within law enforcement or court systems. Though her argument is daring, Alexander successfully proves it by analyzing the criminal justice system. She discusses multiple ideas to formulate a case for individuals who are interested in social justice that refocus efforts to tackle the issue of over-populated prisons. In the books introduction, Alexander asserts that she is writing for an audience that cares deeply about racial justice, but also, she wants to empower individuals who have a impression that our nation’s criminal justice system is flawed, but do not have the data or evidence to back up their assumptions.…

    • 1161 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Porter’s academic article, the author discusses the collective impact of justice involvement on communities of color and how recent social movements are challenging the issue of mass incarceration. Nicole D. Porter’s background includes managing The Sentencing Project’s state and local advocacy efforts on sentencing reform, voting rights, and eliminating racial disparities in the criminal justice system. The article stresses that the purpose of the movement is not to ignore or excuse criminal offences, but rather offers a new view of justice and how marginalized communities are disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system. Porter emphasizes that the movement “offers an opportunity to deepen the organizing narrative that will hopefully reverse harsh criminal justice practices and policies and shift public spending to social interventions that reduce law enforcement contact in the first place.” Her argument is centered around how mass incarceration has impacted the youth and how social movement like Black Lives Matter have influenced a push for social justice. Porter continues with her argument highlighting the disparities communities of color face as a result of mass incarceration including the inequities present within these areas and its collective impact on the…

    • 1803 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays