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.

One of the more important and insightful books about race ad crime in America. Some of the data is getting a little dated, but the gist of it is still all too relevant, especially in the age of Trump and god knows what will be happening with race and crime. If you care about justice and equal treatment under the law, and even if you are white and you think you have nothing to fear from all the emphasis on law and order, think again. This book points out how we all, though people of color much more so than whites, are having our rights trampled while police powers are routinely expanded.

It's excellent she is a great writer /person/activist...it's tough for me as I am so impacted my heart breaks every page. I read, then stop collect myself and go on. I encourage people to read this as it's valuable in every aspect for people interested in a deeper understanding of the plight of the male african american. It's harsh and unflinching and devastating but truly this needed to be told. It makes you so angry you will never look at the American Judicial system the same again. I hope it is a textbook and required reading in high schools if not college. I think it may be.

This is a very tough read for me as I identify as a black American, and I have relatives who've been incarcerated. I haven't finished it--it's just that tough to get through--but it's very insightful and eye-opening. At the most I feel this book will incite you to action. Only a few pages in I found myself trying to come up with ways to improve the justice system (because thinking of solutions is how I cope with the anxiety of perceived injustice). At the least, if you find yourself reading and don't believe, it will at least cause you to question the justice system we're governed by. It fills me with a grave distrust for the American system and really makes me yearn to leave the country again. I plan to finish it at some point, as I hate to leave any book unfinished, but I think at this point I'm not entirely prepared.

she really did her homework on this one. i refuse to believe anyone could read this book, check all of her sources (THERE'S SO MANY), and still not believe in the modern racial undercaste created by mass incarceration.

This entire book is a MUST read, especially for every US citizen! It takes you from the very beginnings of the War on Drugs, through how the laws are unequally applied (both by law enforcement & the legal system) to the mass incarceration we have today. It then goes on to explain how this new labeling system is then used to discriminate against a large portion of the population, from housing to voting. It's a fascinating & disheartening book that I'll be recommending to everyone for a long time.

It also explains a great many of the news stories we've seen exploding across our screens in recent days. How our local police departments became so heavily militarized. How so many of our citizens are being stopped for a motor vehicle stop, where a broken tail light can so quickly escalate into a shooting. Honestly so much of this book hit home with regard to the current news stories about Philandro Castile and others, that I had to stop reading this book for a little while and just watch the story play out across my TV screen for what became days. I seriously cannot recommend this book enough, it is very timely indeed!