Book review: The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
In the book, the New Jim Crow, Alexander Michelle gives a descriptive information of how the American government is set up to put down the Black community. She argues that the current system is just a successor of the other past system of slavery. For each chapter, the author makes detailed explanations of her points. With subtitles, she is able to touch on every component within her topics. She gradually divides the issues and systematically reviews each part involved.
Michelle Alexander in the first chapter, reviews the history of racial control in the United States. She describes the different forms and patterns of the racial caste system. The author maintains that the racial …show more content…
She also gives the reader an opportunity to form his own perspective on the topic.
Alexander describes how rules and laws have been changed and modified over time to fit the bias towards persons of color. She also mentions how laws can be twisted around to fit the circumstances in play. Alexander discusses, the Fourteenth Amendment as an integral part of the criminal justice system and how it has been used to target persons of color. Also, she mentions how mass incarceration has deeply affected black families, and the development of the black community. The author also noted the impossible conditions faced by ex-convicts when they are released from prison.
The author touched on the difficulties experienced by ex-convicts who have been incarcerated for much longer than necessary. She mentions that there is a great absence of fatherhood in the African-American community because a lot of fathers are being thrown into jail for unjust reasons. She goes further to explain the afterlife of men when they are released from prison. According to Alexander, “Nearly every state allows private employers to discriminate on the basis of past criminal convictions. In fact, employers in most states can deny jobs to people who were arrested but never convicted of any crime.”. She explains that ex-convicts find it …show more content…
Even though the author made each point seem new with different wordings and told a different story for the same issue, it sometimes felt like the same page was reprinted all over the book. For instance, the author makes mention of how blacks were constantly victimized by police officers. She first makes mention of the unwarranted searches done by police officers on black drivers. Later, she mentions how the police would rather patrol black communities because they felt drug-related crimes were more likely to occur there. Again, she mentions how racial profiling was used as a method for stop and search. All these had an underlying message of race playing a role in the mass incarceration and victimization of blacks. She mentions these points in almost all
In the book, the New Jim Crow, Alexander Michelle gives a descriptive information of how the American government is set up to put down the Black community. She argues that the current system is just a successor of the other past system of slavery. For each chapter, the author makes detailed explanations of her points. With subtitles, she is able to touch on every component within her topics. She gradually divides the issues and systematically reviews each part involved.
Michelle Alexander in the first chapter, reviews the history of racial control in the United States. She describes the different forms and patterns of the racial caste system. The author maintains that the racial …show more content…
She also gives the reader an opportunity to form his own perspective on the topic.
Alexander describes how rules and laws have been changed and modified over time to fit the bias towards persons of color. She also mentions how laws can be twisted around to fit the circumstances in play. Alexander discusses, the Fourteenth Amendment as an integral part of the criminal justice system and how it has been used to target persons of color. Also, she mentions how mass incarceration has deeply affected black families, and the development of the black community. The author also noted the impossible conditions faced by ex-convicts when they are released from prison.
The author touched on the difficulties experienced by ex-convicts who have been incarcerated for much longer than necessary. She mentions that there is a great absence of fatherhood in the African-American community because a lot of fathers are being thrown into jail for unjust reasons. She goes further to explain the afterlife of men when they are released from prison. According to Alexander, “Nearly every state allows private employers to discriminate on the basis of past criminal convictions. In fact, employers in most states can deny jobs to people who were arrested but never convicted of any crime.”. She explains that ex-convicts find it …show more content…
Even though the author made each point seem new with different wordings and told a different story for the same issue, it sometimes felt like the same page was reprinted all over the book. For instance, the author makes mention of how blacks were constantly victimized by police officers. She first makes mention of the unwarranted searches done by police officers on black drivers. Later, she mentions how the police would rather patrol black communities because they felt drug-related crimes were more likely to occur there. Again, she mentions how racial profiling was used as a method for stop and search. All these had an underlying message of race playing a role in the mass incarceration and victimization of blacks. She mentions these points in almost all