7/28/2019 POLS 3040 LR 6-1

1/3

Jeffrey Crawford

POLS 3460

Literature Review 628 June 2013

The New Jim Crow byMichelle Alexander

Has our nation freed itself from the stigma of being racist? According to Michelle

Alexander, we have not. She titles her article after the old Jim Crow laws African-

Americans were subject to. She says the fairy tale assumption that the fact Obama is in

the Oval Office is proof that the land of the free has made its promise of equality, is one

of the greatest lies ever told (Alexander,www.huffingtonpost.com). Alexander says the

people are in a era of colorblindness, and there is a fanatical desire to cling to the myth

that we have moved beyond race (Alexander, www.huffingtonpost.com). Many people

would probably disagree with her, until they read some of the statistics on African-

American discrimination in the prison system.

Michelle Alexander believes we as a country are still bound in a racial society.

The idea that there is hope for you if you're poor, marginalized, or relegated to an

inferior caste does not exist according to the author (Alexander,

www.huffingtonpost.com). She gives some statistics as to why she believes we have not

moved past this social dilemma. There are more African-Americans under correctional

control today, in prison or jail, than were enslaved in 1850 (Alexander,

www.huffingtonpost.com). Another statistic is as of 2004, more African-American men

were disenfranchised (due to felonies) than in 1870, the year before the 15th Amendment

was ratified (Alexander, www.huffingtonpost.com). The explanation for this of course is

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

7/28/2019 POLS 3040 LR 6-1

2/3

crime rates. The public is told that the reason so many black and brown men are behind

bars is because they just happen to be the bad guys (Alexander,

www.huffingtonpost.com).

Imprisonment rates have consistently risen, and the vast majority of the increase

is due to the War on Drugs (Alexander,www.huffingtonpost.com). Drug offenses account

for two-thirds of the increase in the federal inmate population, and more than half of the

increase in the state prison population (Alexander, www.huffingtonpost.com). This War

is exclusively waged in poor communities of color, even though there are consistent

studies showing that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs (Alexander,

www.huffingtonpost.com). Some studies even show that white youth are more likely to

engage in illegal drug dealing than black youths (Alexander, www.huffingtonpost.com).

One statistic shows that white youth have about three times the number of drug-related

visits to the emergency room as their African-American citizens (Alexander,

www.huffingtonpost.com). It also seems apparent that racial inequality is still existent

when Reagan declared the War on Drugs in 1982 when drug crime was on the decline

(Alexander,www.huffingtonpost.com). It was part of a successful Republican party

strategy of using crimes issues and welfare to attract poor and working class voters

(Alexander,www.huffingtonpost.com).

It becomes especially apparent when you have a President's Chief of Staff saying

the whole problem is really the blacks (Alexander, www.huffingtonpost.com). Not only

is that comment appalling to hear from someone you'd expect to be a role model, you

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

7/28/2019 POLS 3040 LR 6-1

3/3

then have Democrats and Republicans using it to their advantage (Alexander,

www.huffingtonpost.com). The issue of crime now becomes a competition of who can

get the harshest legislation passed (Alexander, www.huffingtonpost.com). Research

shows that much of black progress is a myth, with nearly a quarter living below the

poverty line (Alexander, www.huffingtonpost.com). When we look from the outside in,

laying the facts on the table, we see a similar racial caste as was present in the early

1900's. This is not a progression in societies ability to adapt and overcome, and instead is

an evolutionary way to keep the oppressed where they are, and the privileged even more

enlightened.

Works Cited:

1. Alexander, Michelle. "The New Jim Crow: How the War on Drugs Gave Birth to

a Permanent American Undercaste." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 08

Mar. 2010. Web. 26 June 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-alexander/the-

new-jim-crow-how-the_b_490386.html.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-alexander/the-new-jim-crow-how-the_b_490386.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-alexander/the-new-jim-crow-how-the_b_490386.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-alexander/the-new-jim-crow-how-the_b_490386.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-alexander/the-new-jim-crow-how-the_b_490386.html