ipl-logo

The New Jim Crow Essay

421 Words2 Pages

Even before our nation’s founding, people of color have been discriminated. Decades pass and the criminal justice system is still “racist” labeling people of color as criminal, meaning black equal criminals therefore is fine to discriminate people of color just because they’re criminals. In “The New Jim Crow” the system targets black men because they are associated with crime, meaning crime stands in for race. In the other hand, As Heather Mac Donald writes in her book “The War on Cops”, “The criminal-justice system does treat individual suspects and criminals equally, they concede. But the problem is how society defines crime and criminals” (154). Society is the one who chooses who is criminal. In this case society is stripping off the rights of people of color. As Barack Obama say in “The War on Cops”, “blacks and whites are arrested at very different rates, are …show more content…

Making The War on Drug a top priority meant that other serious crimes like rape and murder would not be considered important as drug crimes. The federalization of drug as crime violated beliefs of states’ rights as street crime is what necessitates law enforcement. In the breathtaking book, “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander, “Huge cash grants were made to those law enforcement agencies that were willing to make drug-law enforcement a top priority”(73). Putting money on agencies to go towards a specialized narcotics task force meant that other more serious crimes are not taken as serious as drugs crimes. There are grand theft and violent assaults, which are a greater threat to communities than illegal drug use and abuse. The federal dollar began to flow and agencies were getting equipment and training. Local police forces used their funds to get military equipment. A retired police in New Haven said, “I was offered tanks, bazookas, anything I wanted”(74). Obviously, we as a society are not getting what we need from our nation’s police. Justice system

Show More
Related

  • War On Cops Summary

    1131 Words  | 5 Pages

    “...Much of the recent crime increase threatens the vitality of America’s cities–and thousands of lives–it is not, in itself, the greatest danger in today’s war on cops. The greatest danger lies, rather, in the delegitimation of law and order itself’ (Mac Donald). In the book “The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe,” published in the year of 2016, author Heather Mac Donald provides credible evidence to expand on her viewpoint of our country’s current criminal crisis. In addition to “The War on Cops, Mac Donald has written two other books. Her works “Are Cops Racist?”

    Read More

  • Summary Of The New Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander

    1255 Words  | 6 Pages

    No matter what they have done, small to large crimes, they are labeled as criminals and prisoners and seeing nothing more than that causing a permanent a second-class citizenship. Once release out of prison, former prisoners enter a world that is invisible to others where discrimination and permanent social exclusion is legalized. In addition, police brutality also constitutes the New Jim Crow where police officers racially profile African Americans civilians usually ending in violence and death. With police brutality happening over the U.S. it places a fear amongst communities fearing the authorities. The old Jim Crow was not stated in the constitution however they knew of this existence because due to the fact that African Americans were openly segregated in stores, schools, and many other public places.

    Read More

  • Richard Wright The Ethics Of Living Jim Crow Analysis

    509 Words  | 3 Pages

    “She would impart to me gems of Jim Crow wisdom” (Wright 2). In “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow,” Richard Wright, speaks of his own experiences growing up in the half century after slavery ended, and how the Jim Crow laws had an effect on them. Wright’s experiences support the idea that a black person could not live a life relatively free of conflict even if they adhered to the ethics of Jim Crow. The first experience that Wright describes came when he was only a young boy living in Arkansas. He and his friends had been throwing cinder blocks and they found themselves in a ‘war’ against a group of white boys.

    Read More

  • Summary Of The New Jim Crow

    251 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the opening of the introduction of The New Jim Crow the author clearly outlines the power of one race to another for example how the great-great grandfather of Jarvis’s Cotton was denied to vote for being a slave (Alexander 2010). The great grandfather of Jarvis’s beaten to death by the Klan for attempting to vote (Alexander 2010) and Jarvis himself could not vote because he was labeled as a felon. Most offenders today that get out from prison face discrimination in voting, employment, housing and receiving public assistance linking toward the Jim Crow era. Most incarcerated individuals are still racially segregated which racial bias still exist in our criminal justice system today not only in the Southern states. Some people still believe

    Read More

  • The New Jim Crow Summary

    453 Words  | 2 Pages

    In light of my freshman year summer reading assignment of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, I found intergroup theory to be an intriguing solution to Alexander’s assertion. Intergroup theory proposes that both organization groups and identity groups affect one’s intergroup relations and thereby shape one’s cognitive formations (Ott, Parks, Simpson, 2008). Alexander exchanges her views on the correlation between race related issues specific to African American males and mass incarceration in the United States. Further, Alexander goes on to provide statistics to show how African American males are predisposed to mass incarceration. I feel the solutions to the problems Alexander raise in her

    Read More

  • Racial Disparities In The Criminal Justice System

    1107 Words  | 5 Pages

    Through the years, the world has made substantial progress towards ensuring equal treatment under law for all citizens. However, the cycle continues, as disparities within the justice decision making process is growing at each level of the criminal justice system. Although the drug policies and sentencing guidelines that are put into place by our legislators are said to be “race neutral,” they have actually shown to be pervasively biased, affecting both innocent as well as guilty minority citizens. There is no question that the most important stage of the criminal justice system is the sentencing phase. It is at this stage where prosecutors, along with law enforcement personnel, attempt to determine who will or will not be granted leniency

    Read More

  • Review Of Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness By Michelle Alexander

    983 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Racial Disparity In Criminal Justice Case Study

    1151 Words  | 5 Pages

    America’s criminal justice system is marred by a startling and unfair impact on marginalized communities. People of color are arrested, sentenced and incarcerated when compared to white people accused of similar

    Read More

  • Michelle Alexander The Lockdown Analysis

    718 Words  | 3 Pages

    We live in a society where ethnic minorities are target for every minimal action and/or crimes, which is a cause to be sentenced up to 50 years in jail. African Americans and Latinos are the ethnic minorities with highest policing crimes. In chapter two of Michelle Alexander’s book, The Lockdown, we are exposed to the different “crimes” that affects African American and Latino minorities. The criminal justice system is a topic discussed in this chapter that argues the inequality that people of color as well as other Americans are exposed to not knowing their rights. Incarceration rates, unreasonable suspicions, and pre-texts used by officers are things that play a huge role in encountering the criminal justice system, which affects the way

    Read More

  • The Jim Crow Thesis

    148 Words  | 1 Pages

    After reading the Jim Crow pieces, I conclude that the government and the people had a backwards way of thinking about race. One reason I think this is based on the scenario in the picture. In the V., E. picture the African American man was dressed in rags while Caucasian people in the background wearing fancy new clothes walked right by him without giving him a second glance. The second way I came to this conclusion was how the article painted the picture of how life was back then for African Americans. For example, the Supreme Court undermined the constitution so Caucasians could legally discriminate African Americans (Pilgrim 2).

    Read More

  • The New Jim Crow Analysis

    1721 Words  | 7 Pages

    In the eyes of Martin Luther King Jr., Justice within a society is achieved through the implementation of just laws. Furthermore, “just laws are regulations that have been created by man that follow the laws of God for man” (“Clergymen’s Letter”). Any law that does not correspond with the ideals of God and morality are considered to be unjust or a form of injustice. King identifies that injustice is clearly evident within the justice system. This injustice can truly be seen through the misconduct imposed toward the African American community.

    Read More

  • Racial Bias In Criminal Justice Essay

    2795 Words  | 12 Pages

    Racial bias has played a significant role in the criminal justice system throughout history, and it continues to play one to this day. Whether it comes to police brutality, sentencing, rehabilitation, bail, etc., race is a relevant factor in so many of these criminal justice topics. The criminal justice system was not built to help those who are low income or those who are a person of color. Unfortunately, being low income and a person of color often go hand in hand in the criminal justice system. When there are statistics to prove how people of color are treated differently than those who are not, it has become a problem.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography: The New Jim Crow

    1343 Words  | 6 Pages

    Coker gives great evidence that supports racial injustice in the criminal justice system. She discusses on the Supreme Court’s rulings and accusations of racial preference in the system. This article is helpful because it supports my thesis on race playing a role on the system of criminal justice. Hurwitz, J., & Peffley, M. (1997). Public perceptions of race and crime: The role of racial stereotypes.

    Read More

  • New Jim Crow Thesis

    562 Words  | 3 Pages

    Slavery is over therefore how can racism still exist? This has been a question posed countlessly in discussions about race. What has proven most difficult is adequately demonstrating how racism continues to thrive and how forms of oppression have manifested. Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, argues that slavery has not vanished; it instead has taken new forms that allowed it to flourish in modern society. These forms include mass incarceration and perpetuation of racist policies and societal attitudes that are disguised as color-blindness that ultimately allow the system of oppression to continue.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of The New Jim Crow

    223 Words  | 1 Pages

    The piece of writing which I felt was unsuccessful for me was the Rhetorical Analysis of an article relating to a topic from our course book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. This piece of writing was difficult for me to organize my ideas around. The article that I decided to use for my rhetorical analysis highlighted mass incarceration among African American and the effect of civil liberties being are taken away from these individuals. I had a lot of repetition because many of the examples I used demonstrated more than one type of appeal. I found myself repeating what the purpose of the example was and how it demonstrated proper use of ethos, pathos, and logos.

    Read More

More about The New Jim Crow Essay

Open Document