Welcome to America: Home of the Oppressed Many people in society today believe one can excel in life simply because of the color of their skin. While some people, whites, excel in life, there are is an opposite group who are suppressed, blacks. Since the beginning of American history, white individuals have suppressed the black race by slavery, segregation, and even mass incarceration. Even though the addition of the Civil Rights amendments guaranteed equal rights for blacks in the United States, a new method of racial segregation in the United States exists. The author of The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander, believes blacks are still suppressed in today’s society. Over the past thirty years, a lot of black people have been killed,
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Black people were still oppressed and dominated by white society. The white society made black people go to different schools, sit in the back of the bus, drink from different water fountains, and even have different entrances to stores for them. The laws went hand in hand with previous customs during the slave era that tried to preserve white supremacy as well as keep the color line in place that would separate blacks and whites forever. “The unforeseen by product of the systematic enslavement and dehumanization of Africans and their descendants on north American soil was the creation of a racial caste line separating what would later become labeled ‘blacks’ and ‘whites’”. As Wacquant explains due to the line that separates slave from slave owner the notion of a person being labeled black or white was created. Michelle Alexander would agree with Wacquant because she believes the seeds for a new controlling institution were planted long before the new dominant institution grew. The idea of segregation and the Jim Crow laws were instilled into society during the chattel slavery era. Even during the Jim Crow years, black people live beyond the pale into segregated areas called ghettos or slums. If black people crossed into the pale zone, white areas, the Ku Klux Klan, or the police would radically punish them. During this time, plantations were still needed …show more content…
After white police officers surveyed the area, they immediately arrested five African American teenagers who crossed the transgression zone that was 110th avenue. The five African American teenagers lived beyond the pale and trespassed into the pale, which was Central Park. The mayor of New York called Central Park “ Holy” and having African American teenagers that lived beyond the pale cross over into the pale and rape a white woman was seen as malicious. The new institution that would oppress black people in America would be the mass incarceration of black people in the United States. Mass incarceration to Michelle Alexander and Wacquant would be considered the new Jim Crow Laws of the modern day era. Even during the chattel slavery era, black men were feared for they might rise up and attack white males and rape their women. The thought of black men attacking white women has been feared ever since the slave era and transcended to the modern day era. The officers who arrested the teenagers were quick to judge them based on their color and arrested them. Simply because they were black in the “holy” area, they were arrested and simply labeled as felons, rapists, and animals. “There are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics.” This wasn’t an accident that occurred once, according to the sociological survey conducted in 1998 by Sealock and Simpson 47.3 % of black males
Black people were still oppressed and dominated by white society. The white society made black people go to different schools, sit in the back of the bus, drink from different water fountains, and even have different entrances to stores for them. The laws went hand in hand with previous customs during the slave era that tried to preserve white supremacy as well as keep the color line in place that would separate blacks and whites forever. “The unforeseen by product of the systematic enslavement and dehumanization of Africans and their descendants on north American soil was the creation of a racial caste line separating what would later become labeled ‘blacks’ and ‘whites’”. As Wacquant explains due to the line that separates slave from slave owner the notion of a person being labeled black or white was created. Michelle Alexander would agree with Wacquant because she believes the seeds for a new controlling institution were planted long before the new dominant institution grew. The idea of segregation and the Jim Crow laws were instilled into society during the chattel slavery era. Even during the Jim Crow years, black people live beyond the pale into segregated areas called ghettos or slums. If black people crossed into the pale zone, white areas, the Ku Klux Klan, or the police would radically punish them. During this time, plantations were still needed …show more content…
After white police officers surveyed the area, they immediately arrested five African American teenagers who crossed the transgression zone that was 110th avenue. The five African American teenagers lived beyond the pale and trespassed into the pale, which was Central Park. The mayor of New York called Central Park “ Holy” and having African American teenagers that lived beyond the pale cross over into the pale and rape a white woman was seen as malicious. The new institution that would oppress black people in America would be the mass incarceration of black people in the United States. Mass incarceration to Michelle Alexander and Wacquant would be considered the new Jim Crow Laws of the modern day era. Even during the chattel slavery era, black men were feared for they might rise up and attack white males and rape their women. The thought of black men attacking white women has been feared ever since the slave era and transcended to the modern day era. The officers who arrested the teenagers were quick to judge them based on their color and arrested them. Simply because they were black in the “holy” area, they were arrested and simply labeled as felons, rapists, and animals. “There are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics.” This wasn’t an accident that occurred once, according to the sociological survey conducted in 1998 by Sealock and Simpson 47.3 % of black males