The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Paperback – January 16, 2012

If you really want to know the extent of white privilege and how it survives given that most Americans are not outwardly racist anymore, this is the book for you. As Michelle Alexander points out in great detail, white privilege exists today in America in the form of mass incarceration, the generic term for the fact that despite being a supposedly "free" country, we manage to imprison more of our citizens than any other country on earth, even Russia or China. But more than that, a very high percentage of these people are black, and in fact they go to prison at a rate disproportionate to the frequency with which they commit crimes. To be blunt, if you are caught selling illegal drugs in most states, you are likely to go to prison if you are black, but you will more likely get treated more leniently if you are white. It's worse than that, because, unlike most other developed nations, we make certain that once someone is convicted of a felony, he loses the vote, his right to public housing, the ability to get a job, in other words, he can be discriminated against for life. But he committed the crime so he deserves it, right? Not so fast - whereas whites commit many crimes at the same rate as blacks or even higher, especially drug crimes, they go to prison much less often. Blacks have to be perfect - dot their i's and cross all their t's. It's not realistic, and it's unfair.

Alexander points out that this is nothing more than a new system to marginalize and discriminate against blacks, and calls it "the new Jim Crow". If anything, it's more accurate to call it the new slavery. Just go to Angola State Prison in Louisiana and watch all the black prisoners working in the cotton fields. Look familiar? Now how did this happen? How did the number of Americans behind bars go from 350,000 (still a high number) to over 2 million in the last 30-40 years? A large part of it was the War on Drugs, started by Nixon around 1970. Alexander traces the history of the drug war, and describes how it became a vehicle for mistreating blacks even in the face of prevalent "colorblind" attitudes of most Americans today. We don't directly label blacks as inferior and make them ride the back of the bus today, we just try real hard to get them labeled as felons, then we can discriminate. And most Americans don't realize we're doing it and how much damage this causes. It's also expensive and a waste of taxpayer dollars.

In the final chapters Alexander offers some ideas on how to dismantle this system. It's very hard, and it's not enough to file lawsuits in individual cases. It requires a major protest movement. Many things have to be undone, such as the entire drug war, disenfranchisement laws, the management of prisons by private corporations to name a few. But the resistance will be huge because many jobs would disappear, and no one wants to be seen making life better for criminals. Also, colorblindness won't do - we need to be conscious of racial differences yet driven to treat everyone with respect, fairness and kindness. It's a totally different mindset for most Americans. Especially fascinating was her description of how such concessions, or "racial bribes", as affirmative action serve to justify continuing the system as it is. Affirmative action has helped a lot of blacks become successful, but it glosses over the main problem. The fact that we have a black President also obscures the real issues.

Alexander states also that a full treatment of how to fix this problem would require another book, and I eagerly await that. In the meantime, please read this one.

I am so grateful to Michelle Alexander for writing this book. She presents the reader with uncomfortable and sometimes truly painful facts about race in America and she does it in a way that neither pulls punches nor distracts from the meat of the message. I have learned so much from reading this book, for example while I recognized "color-blindness" I never understood how detrimental it is to combating racism and race issues. After reading this book there is a lot more that I want to learn, to ask, and to engage in. And now I will. I highly recommend this book to anyone.

Everyone should read this book. All the feelings we have about race, privilege and "the system" but find hard to articulate...this book brings the explanation together. Straightforward, easy format....building blocks of information and history....captivating and lively writing. Thank you Michelle Alexander.

Michelle exposing age old mind set who sole purpose is the continual incarceration of the under class....Now, "what we must we do now that we know the facts" is the most important question of this generation.

Only half thru it, but see it as a "must read." Have a good history just in living thru most of this since the 60's. Ties things together well; cohesive; helps fill in the blanks. Should be used in history classes. Well written, simple presentation for complex topic, well documented, finding compelling reading.

This is a very eye opening read. To say the least it shocked me, maybe I am clueless on this topic, but this book really opened my eyes and educated me about race and incarceration in this country. I felt that Michelle Alexander really did her research; she had a lot of facts and information to share. Others I know who read it said it was hard to read and a little dry because of all the research and facts presented. However, I also got the audio to this book and listened to it while reading and I felt that kept me engaged. I would definitely recommend this to book to anyone, but especially those interested in this kind of topic.

A must read for every committed Christian. Let's begin by restoring the vote for every person, including felons (starting with non violent offenders). There will be a mighty backlash against ending the war on drugs, but end it we must. Jesus was a most dedicated liberal. His last set of instructions (cf Matt. Chapter 25) tells all His followers that treatment of 'the least of these' is to be their major work. He thus counters 'social Darwinism' well before it was invented by modern ultra conservatives. This book has inspired me to work harder to remove the immense obstacles in the way of black men to become fully able to support their families in modern American society. Time to have another talk with my local elected officials, especially my police chief.

This book has so much information. Pretty easy to absorb the content, may be hard to digest the stats. Michelle Alexander's voice is very readable and she did a fine job with composing a great book.

I am inspired by and hopeful for the possibility of change. This could truly be the next big social movement (one of many, I pray). The New Jim Crow points arrows and gives clues toward where the focus of penal reformation in the United States needs to go. This book will arm you confidently with enlightenment if you should ever get into a discussion with someone who defends mass incarceration.

Don't sleep on this book.