In todays’ society does race matter? Who in society thinks that race matters and who thinks it no longer matters? In our daily living we experience different types of racism. Some of us experience racism because of the color of our skin, the country we migrated from or just because we speak a different language. Additionally, people can be judged by the way they dress, or the food they eat. People witness many types of discrimination and injustice; however, sometimes they choose not to get involved. Michelle Alexander addresses this issue in her book the New Jim Crow, where she claims that almost everyone has forgotten what justice is. Further proof of Alexander’s argument is provided in Julia Craven’s article, “More Than 250 Black People Were …show more content…
If society can’t change these discriminatory laws and make it equal for all races then society is colorblind. People should be judged by the crimes they commit and not by the color of their skin. In todays’ society blacks are being classed as a new kind of slave as stated in the New Jim Crow. Alexander mostly talks about the birth of Jim Crow and War on Drugs. The birth of Jim Crow is to prevent African Americans from obtaining political power, greater social and economic equality (Alexander 30). The Jim Crow Law which started in the 1900s affected innocent black people just as it is affecting those in society today. In the 1900s blacks were being treated unfairly and unjustly without any civil rights, although we have the Declaration of Independence that states all “Men are Equal” it is not so for today’s black …show more content…
Ta-Nehishi Coates argues that people in today’s society should take a stand for equal justice for all. Additionally, his viewpoint corresponds with Alexander and Craven because the authors present facts that show that justice is not equal for everyone. It can be argued that mass incarceration is related to slavery because blacks are still being treated unfairly and without equal justice. Slavery is related to mass incarceration today because the majority of African Americans are unable to obtain political power, and social and economic equality (Alexander 30). Innocent blacks are still being denied their rights to fair and just treatment in the criminal justice system. African Americans are human just as everyone else in today’s society and they should be treated with equally and without discrimination in the criminal justice
Michelle Alexander explains how our society uses Mass Incarceration to control those in the African American community starting with the War on Drugs. She discusses how slavery and Jim crow were used to control the African American community, and when those ideas became stale government officials were searching for a new way to control the community. Thus, Mass Incarceration became the new caste system. This book has opened my eyes in various aspects. I have a better understand of the justice system after reading this book that I have had from watching the news and other media outlets.
Jim Crow was not a person, it was a series of laws that imposed legal segregation between white Americans and African Americans in the American South. It promoting the status “Separate but Equal”, but for the African American community that was not the case. African Americans were continuously ridiculed, and were treated as inferiors. Although slavery was abolished in 1865, the legal segregation of white Americans and African Americans was still a continuing controversial subject and was extended for almost a hundred years (abolished in 1964). Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South is a series of primary accounts of real people who experienced this era first-hand and was edited by William H.Chafe, Raymond
During the Cold War and Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement experienced some of its greatest successes. In chapters 12 and 13 of the book Creating Black Americans: African-American History and its meanings, 1619 to the present by Nell Irvin Painter, the author shows the pushes for African American rights during the wars and how there were multiple types of movements, both successful in their own ways, ultimately leading to legislation being passed in favor of African Americans. Blacks began to make significant changes in their societies and embraced their culture which further pushed the Civil Rights movement, and allowed them to have triumphs such as Brown v The Board of Education, and The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights
It is an existing theory that our society is constructed via racial dimensions, and that racial equality is a figment of the imagination. This very principle is highlighted in Michelle Alexander’s novel, “The New Jim Crow.” The specific dimensions covered within the text include the unjust aspects of the federal drug policy, and by connection that of mass incarceration as well. Alexander claims that racism is still very prominent in present day society and is direct and frank about the heavy influence of white supremacy. One of the main arguments pushed by Alexander in this book is that mass incarceration is “ a stunningly comprehensive and well-disguised system of racialized social control that functions in a manner strikingly similar
Scottsboro Boys PB’s American Experience has impacted the view of racism towards blacks immensely. This event was a very prominent turning point in American history. The Scottsboro boys case has been one of the largest cases involving a black man (men) and a white women in the case of rape. This event has affected how people are judged now including taking age into consideration, not getting the facts correct, and the fact that black’s used to be very unfairly treated just because of the color of their skin. Laws, punishments, and law enforcement have changed very much since the 1930’s.
Chapter 2 She wrote “uncultivated barbarian from Africa” could be civilized, that enslaved Africans “may be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train” (Wheatley, 1773). The timeline ends in the 2010’s with “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” by Michelle Alexander. The author wrote” Two years after Obama’s election, Alexander put the entire criminal justice system on trial, exposing racial discrimination from lawmaking to policing to the denial of voting rights to ex-prisoners. This best seller struck the spark that would eventually light the fire of Black Lives Matter(KENDI,2017).” Ibram X Kendi also wrote a booked called “Stamped from the Beginning” which David Olusogo wrote about in his article posted on the Guardian
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander, M. (2012). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: The New Press. Michelle Alexander in her book, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" argues that law enforcement officials routinely racially profile minorities to deny them socially, politically, and economically as was accustomed in the Jim Crow era.
Alexander raises questions against the idea of colorblindness, she argues that, “The colorblindness ideal is premised on the notion that we, as a society, can never be trusted to see race and treat each other fairly or with genuine compassion.” She writes that the idea of colorblindness makes issues like mass incarceration in which race plays a hefty role nearly invisible. I also support Alexander in her argument that the idea of colorblindness has made society blind to racial discrimination. Race is something that an individual uses to identify themselves and by saying that you’re a being colorblind is also imposing that you do not care about that individual 's culture and their cultural history. “King recognized that it was this indifference
Race is one the most sensitive and controversial topics of our time. As kids, we were taught that racism has gotten better as times has passed. However, the author, Michelle Alexander, of The New Jim Crow proposes the argument that racism has not gotten better, but the form of racism that we known in textbooks is not the racism we experience today. Michelle Alexander has countless amounts of plausible arguments, but she has failed to be a credible author, since she doesn’t give enough citations or evidence for her argument to convince people who may not have prior agreement with her agreement.. Alexander’s biggest mistake when it came to being a credible author was starting off the book with a countless number of claims without any evidence in her Introduction.
Michelle Alexander, similarly, points out the same truth that African American men are targeted substantially by the criminal justice system due to the long history leading to racial bias and mass incarceration within her text “The New Jim Crow”. Both Martin Luther King Jr.’s and Michelle Alexander’s text exhibit the brutality and social injustice that the African American community experiences, which ultimately expedites the mass incarceration of African American men, reflecting the current flawed prison system in the U.S. The American prison system is flawed in numerous ways as both King and Alexander points out. A significant flaw that was identified is the injustice of specifically targeting African American men for crimes due to the racial stereotypes formed as a result of racial formation. Racial formation is the accumulation of racial identities and categories that are formed, reconstructed, and abrogated throughout history.
Blacks (I use this word because I am speaking about the black community as a whole, not only African Americans) face racial discrimination from the criminal justice system as well. Treyvon Martin was gun down because of a hoodie he was wearing. When George Zimmerman went on trial for his actions, he was “innocent” and he said it was in self defense. “The Justice Department announced today that the independent federal investigation found insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman for the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida” (justice.gov) . This was very devastating for the black community as a whole.
5th Hour Cause and Effect Essay Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were unfair and unjust to all African-Americans by making them unequal. The Jim Crow laws are laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. It used the term separate but equal, even though conditions for African Americans were always worst than their white counterparts. They could not eat at the same restaurant as white people, they could not used the same restrooms, and they couldn't even use the same drinking fountain.
The Fight Against Colorism in African American Communities Colorism is defined as a practice of discrimination among African Americans against other African Americans because of their skin complexion, for instance being too light or too dark. Colorism plays a large role in the low self-esteem in the African American community, from individuals, relationships, and employment. Colorism can cause psychological effects. Children are more affected because skin biased develops at a younger age.
Annotated Bibliography Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York: The New Press. Alexander opens up on the history of the criminal justice system, disciplinary crime policy and race in the U.S. detailing the ways in which crime policy and mass incarceration have worked together to continue the reduction and defeat of black Americans.
For example, open Black support of harsh punishment and law enforcement may seem hypocritical because in reality these policies and practices contribute to mass incarceration of Blacks. Alexander clarifies that Black support is more complex than it appears and can be attributed to a combination of complicity and wanting better safety for their communities and families (Alexander, 2012, p.210). Alexander also offers a unique perspective throughout the entire book by explaining how the systems of slavery and oppression have affected White individuals and not merely in the form of privilege or the dismissal of White people as simply as racist individuals. I resonated with one particular section discussing the "White victims of racial caste" (Alexander, 2012, p.204); the author 's anecdote of a white woman falling in love with a Black man and due to miscegenation laws could not have children. I could relate to this story on a deeply personal level in that my own parents experienced extreme and countless hurdles due to their interracial relationship and having biracial