Michelle Alexander Chapter 1 Summary

Michelle Alexander in the first chapter, reviews the history of racial social control in the United States. She describes the different forms and patterns of the racial caste system. The author maintains that the racial prejudice and hierarchy has been sustained as a result of the insecurities of the lower-class whites. Her main point was that "racial segregation would soon evolve into a new caste system" (p. 40). Alexander explains that even though slavery ended after the Civil War, it left a big impact on the American community. She rightly explains that when the Civil Rights movement turned toward economic justice, a "search for a new racial order"began (38-40).

Alexander describes how rules and laws have been changed and modified over

Alexander also discusses how unhelpful the Obama Administration has been in quelling all the problems encountered by Black people in America. She questions the need for someone like Obama in the government by criticizing President Barack Obama for his failure to revamp the laws that have made it difficult for African Americans, that suffer from the increase efforts in with his support for the drug war. She argues Obama picked people who have zero tolerance for drug wars and blacks to handle the issue. To back this up, she makes mention of Joe Biden and Rahm Emanuel, who are both known for their defiant and unforgiving attitude towards drug wars. She explains that the measures and funds set in place to combat these problems did not accomplish

These stories were crucial in highlighting the effectiveness of her points within the context of the book. She argued that as racial segregation occurs, the Fourteenth Amendment, because the Supreme Court crossed the law. To explain this, she mentions the case of Adolph Lyons v. City of Los Angeles. Lyons is an African-American man who was choke-hold by the LAPD and he tried to sue the city police. He succeeded at first before the Supreme Court dismissed the case due to the absence of "standing". Therefore, she believes that it is indeed hard to challenge the presence of conscience and unconscious bias in the law enforcement. (p. 128-129)

The author, Alexander, also used research to back up her explanations. For example, on her explanation of Unconventional Wisdom, she mentions the evidence provided by a group of researchers from the University of Washington in 2002 that conducted a study about the relationship between drug and law enforcement in Seattle. With this research, she was able to prove her point that the police think that drug problems are related to the Black and Latino communities. Also, by mentioning the research, she proves her point about the relation of drug crimes with the black