Deconstructing The New Jim Crow: How Systemic Racism Continues to Imprison Minorities’

• Welcome readers, it has been a LONG time since I’ve posted a long-form blog post and I’m glad to return with a book review that is on a topic that should be known but is often neglected. Leave a like if you enjoyed this post and learned something new. Lastly, if you feel inclined to comment then please chime in so we can create a dialogue. I am because we are, that’s Ubuntu. As always, peace and keep it real.

TNJC Summary:

  The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander is a riveting, profound, and groundbreaking book that explains the underbelly of mass incarceration in the U.S. Alexander drew from her experience as a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Northern California to bring attention to the existence of a new caste system. Furthermore, this new caste system is (it’s ongoing) designed to control and monitor the use of stringent policies to subjugate black men in the United States penitentiary and once they are released into the free world. She argues throughout the book that this new caste system is difficult for free citizens to observe or even fathom the depths and cruelty that exist within the confines of the justice system. Regarding that, government-funded policing, employing, and implementing methods used for racial profiling, all lead to many black men being arrested and subsequently transforming them into criminals and felons. As a result, society (USA) then justifies the inhumane treatment while it absolves itself and avoids overtly racist language and actions when describing who they perceive as “undesirables”. 

  Society constantly changes as it releases felons and they have to reintegrate with the stigma of being a felon for the rest of their lives. This inescapable label results in a challenge for redemption when looking into the eyes of the free world. With that in mind, returning home to what feels like a brand new society can be daunting, and reuniting with family and friends can hurt because they sometimes might not have the means to support an ex-convict. As a matter of fact, things get even more arduous when felons are barred from applying for benefits, housing, and education which hinders their chances to succeed in normal society. If all else fails they sometimes resort to what they know since they have been disregarded. Everything stated thus far is what Michelle Alexander calls “The New Jim Crow”.

   To truly reach a level where we can live in an equitable society, the United States must acknowledge the existence of the new racial caste that it has created and then execute a plan to dismantle it but to hold a nation whose conception perpetually enforces racism to be held accountable will be extremely challenging. Moreover, what’s needed is a collective acknowledgment of each other’s humanity and grassroots organizations that promise to advocate for the impacted individuals and communities. In addition, a sense of urgency and an execution of strategies are needed to help those who languish behind bars despite their racial or socio-economic background. There will need to be an emphasis on accomplishing this through means of additional funding at a federal level for basic education, healthcare, and housing so that once inmates are released they can have an easier transition into the free world. As mentioned before, we all have to acknowledge that these are basic rights to which ALL citizens of the U.S. should have access.

Book review

   The New Jim Crow is an exceptionally well-written and researched book by civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander. Before reading any book, I always read the reviews written by the authors’ peers and the overwhelming consensus was that The New Jim Crow was an “Instant classic” and “The Bible of the social movement”. Upon finishing the book I can attest to these sentiments for how riveting, influential, and how disheartening it is to know the devastating fact that mass incarceration has gone color-blind. A myriad of factors have contributed to the degradation of the American “ghettos” one of the primary ones being the “War on Drugs” which began in the 1970s under President Richard Nixon who wanted to put an end to violent drug crimes. In the 1980s under Ronald Reagan, the U.S. government implemented the “War on Drugs” policy once again and exacerbated it to the point where it would torment lives in the inner city. Speaking of which, the “War on Drugs’ was not a euphemism, it was literal in the sense that the targeted neighborhoods, or in other words Regean’s presidency terrorized “the hood”. His presidency used military shakedowns where drug activity was supposedly happening. Needless to say, this resulted in many Black and Latino men being arrested and convicted for nonviolent drug offenses which makes up a majority of the prison system today. Not to mention, some individuals who weren’t involved with any drug use had the misfortune of being collateral damage during the home raids. To put things in context, stronger law enforcement during Regean’s era led to stiffer sentencing policies for drug crimes but not for violent crimes and this caused the U.S. prison population to quadruple between 1980-2000. Equally important, and this wasn’t anything new to me but nonviolent drug offenses make up about half of the prison population. More black men were imprisoned for nonviolent drug crimes every year from 1993 to 2009 and it continues to this day. Believe it or not, Alexander states that white people are more likely than Blacks and Latinos to sell drugs, and not only that, they consume drugs at similar rates, yet the scapegoat for all drug crimes is black men (Nonviolent Drug Offenses, Black 58.7, White 61.7). By the same token, this essentially preconditions people to associate all drug activity with black men because the U.S. media has propagated this perception relentlessly about black men. Regarding this, depictions of the “drug game” in shows like “The Wire ” demonstrate the parallel lives from the point of view of the Baltimore police officers, street characters, and government officials who implemented policies so they could curtail the violence committed by street-level characters. Furthermore, the street characters would do everything in their power to not only avoid but to defeat the government in “the game” which created obstacles for their failure. In other words, there isn’t truly a way to be victorious in the “drug game” because there’s no end in sight for a low-level drug dealer or a kingpin to exit the game unscathed. To put it another way, there’s only the beginning and middle, and whatever point in the “game” you get caught at, it will send you directly to either death or prison, therefore the drug game is like “the House ” in a casino, and your loss is inevitable. The nuances this series provided were a realistic depiction of the main character, the city of Baltimore, and how the government saw street characters in Baltimore as ‘monsters’ who would destroy the lives of the participants in “the game’ ‘. About the label “monsters”, what I mean by this is that their existence in “the game’ ‘ was by design. They did their business all while being in an intimidating environment that hampered their opportunities to aspire to seek positive endeavors or to put it differently, legal work. Additionally, they had to contend with and avoid the masterminds behind these devious plans, the U.S. government. The government can always ensure that its “Frankistiens’ ‘ are active and influencing new ones to enter “the game” so they can subsequently fill the prison system.

   One must remember that even though the 13th Amendment ended chattel slavery in the U.S. there was a stipulation in the declaration that said slavery could still exist only under the circumstances of punishment for a crime. Consequently, prisoners enter a system where they’re relegated to a number (the enslaved Africans were numbered) and they enter an unforgiving prison system that will deteriorate them psychologically and physically. With that being said, the enactment of the 13th Amendment was from my standpoint an aspect of white supremacy that has caused the subjugation in these industrialized prison complexes to be immutable. In terms of the criminal demographic that consists in prisons, I think it’s safe to say that prisons will always have an abundance of inmates convicted of nonviolent drug offenses due to the unfair mandatory sentencing, and therefore, they’ll never have to worry about the well running dry so to speak.  

  Given these points, I appreciate how Michelle Alexander summarized the entire book in a way that not only encapsulated the book’s theme but made it comprehensible using a poignant passage from James Baldwin’s essay “The Fire Next Time”. The color blindness of mass incarceration is a perilous situation for all those who were and are still affected because they continue to experience hardships due to the absence of a viable way to live in peace. To put it differently, the impact felt is due to the traces of what the “Drug War” left behind. I would like to say this message to all the ones locked up for nonviolent drug offenses. The U.S. society devised a plan to place you in ghettos and intended for you to perish and not only that, it classified you as a worthless human being, incapable of aspiring to reach excellence. In fact, you were expected to be content with mediocrity, and not supposed to reach excellence. Having said that, I believe the vision of mass incarceration has dimmed to the point of darkness. However, I believe with determination, light can alleviate the pain through the efforts of those who have the opportunity to return to the “free world” and become campaign advocates for not only themselves but for the ones still negatively impacted by the damage inflicted on them and their families. Additionally, awareness of the brutality of the new caste system needs to address the issues without any manipulation or misinformation because stories can be altered to make the victims be seen as antagonists and favor the true antagonists as heroes. I believe one can see this book as a guide to establishing a blueprint that advocates can utilize when they set out to coalesce toward their quest for justice. All things considered, I highly recommend this book not only to individuals who are interested in Criminal Justice but to those who care to see changes made under this insidious, rapacious, and racist government.  

Book Grade: A

Book Score (Out of 5): 5/5

Non Fiction

Genre: Criminal Justice, Sociology