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A review by ralovesbooks
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
5.0
This book is required reading for adulthood.
After the deaths in Baton Rouge, St. Paul, and Dallas in July 2016, it became blatantly obvious that I am incredibly ignorant about race in America. I did a bit of digging, asked for recommendations, and formed a study group to help me process and learn, and The New Jim Crow was the first book on the docket. Holy crap. It is so difficult to read. It's basically a textbook, but I learned so much. I also became really sad. I'm still working through it all, but I'm glad I read it. You should read it, too.
Notes/Quotes:
Foreword, Cornel West
Martin Luther King, Jr. called for us to be lovestruck with each other, not colorblind toward each other. To be lovestruck is to care, to have deep compassion, and to be concerned for each and every individual, including the poor and vulnerable. (x-xi)
Introduction
Rather than rely on race, we use our criminal justice system to label people of color "criminals" and then engage in all the practices we supposedly left behind. Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans. ... We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it. (2)
Sociologists have frequently observed that governments use punishment primarily as a tool of social control, and thus the extent or severity of punishment is often unrelated to actual crime patterns. (7)
...mass incarceration tends to be categorized as a criminal justice issue as opposed to a racial justice or civil rights issue (or crisis). (9)
The struggle to preserve affirmative action in higher education, and thus maintain diversity in the nation's most elite colleges and universities, has consumed much of the attention and resources of the civil rights community and dominated racial justice discourse in the mainstream media, leading the general public to believe that affirmative action is the main battlefront in US race relations - even as our prisons fill with black and brown men. (9)
The colorblind public consensus that prevails in America today - ie, the widespread belief that race no longer matters - has blinded us to the realities of race in our society and facilitated the emergence of a new caste system. (11-12)
I use the term *racial caste* in this book the way it is used in common parlance to denote a stigmatized group locked into an inferior position by law and custom. Jim Crow and slavery were caste systems. So is our current system of mass incarceration. (12)
The current system of control permanently locks a huge percentage of the African American community out of the mainstream society and economy. The system operates through our criminal justice institutions, but it functions more like a caste system than a system of crime control. (13)
The system of mass incarceration is based on the prison label, not prison time. (14)
The fate of millions of people - indeed the future of the black community itself - may depend on the willingness of those who care about racial justice to re-examine their basic assumptions about the role of the criminal justice system in our society. (16)
What do I think the role is?
What is the difference between a prison and a jail?
Ch. 1: The Rebirth of Caste
Any candid observer of American racial history must acknowledge that racism is highly adaptable. (21)
Concept: preservation through transformation
*white privilege is maintained through changing rhetoric
*other institutions as well: the church, education
*adaptation has a positive spin, but this doesn't
Concept: roots of racial caste are complex (social, economic, educational), so we are left with a similarly complex problem as a legacy
Jim Crow was seen as final, sane, permanent, natural (35, paraphrased)
While dramatic progress was apparent in the political and social realms, civil rights activists became increasingly concerned that, without major economic reforms, the vast majority of blacks would remain locked in poverty. (38)
[1964] As the Civil Rights Movement began to evolve into a "Poor People's Movement," it promised to address not only black poverty, but white poverty as well - thus raising the specter of a poor and working-class movement that cut across racial lines. (39)
Ch. 2: The Lockdown
Every system of control depends for its survival on the tangible and intangible benefits that are provided to those who are responsible for the system's maintenance and administration. (72)
Ch. 3: The Color of Justice
*Take the implicit bias test?
P. 116: quote from Yick Wo case about the denial of equal justice
Immunizing prosecutors from claims of racial bias and failing to impose any meaningful check on the exercise of their discretion in charging, plea bargaining, transferring cases, and sentencing has created an environment in which conscious and unconscious biases are allowed to flourish. (117)
Although prosecutors, as a group, have the greatest power in the criminal justice system, police have the greatest discretion - discretion that is amplified in drug-law enforcement. (123)
P. 124: Read American Apartheid?
Ch. 4: The Cruel Hand
The "whites only" signs may be gone, but new signs have gone up - notices placed in job applications, rental agreements, loan applications, forms for welfare benefits, school applications, and petitions for licenses, informing the general public that "felons" are not wanted here. (141)
When someone is convicted of a crime today, their "debt to society" is never paid. (163)
During Jim Crow, blacks were severely stigmatized and segregated on the basis of race, but in their own communities they could find support, solidarity, acceptance - love. Today, when those labeled criminals return to their communities, they are often met with scorn and contempt, not just by employers, welfare workers, and housing officials, but also by their own neighbors, teachers, and even members of their own families. (165)
If we had actually learned to show love, care, compassion, and concern across racial lines during the Civil Rights Movement - rather than go colorblind - mass incarceration would not exist today. (177)
Ch. 5: The New Jim Crow
It is far more convenient to imagine that a majority of young African American men in urban areas freely choose a life of crime than to accept the real possibility that their lives were structured in a way that virtually guaranteed their early admission into a system from which they can never escape. (184)
The nature of the criminal justice system has changed. It is no longer concerned primarily with the prevention and punishment of crime, but rather with the management and control of the dispossessed. (188)
This system of control depends far more on *racial indifference* (defined as a lack of compassion and caring about race and racial groups) than racial hostility - a feature it actually shares with its predecessors. (203)
...the inclusion of some whites in the system of control is essential to preserving the image of a colorblind criminal justice system and maintaining our self-image as a fair and unbiased people. (205)
Ch. 6: The Fire This Time
The colorblind 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. A commitment to color consciousness, by contrast, places faith in our capacity as humans to show care and concern for others, even as we are fully cognizant of race and possible racial differences. (243)
What is concerning is the real possibility that we, as a society, will choose not to care. We will choose to be blind to injustice and the suffering of others. We will look the other way and deny our public agencies the resources, data, and tools they need to solve problems. We will refuse to celebrate what is beautiful about our distinct cultures and histories, even as we blend and evolve. That is cause for despair. (243-244)
Seeing race is not the problem. Refusing to care for the people we see is the problem. ... We should hope not for a colorblind society but instead for a world in which we can see each other fully, learn from each other, and do what we can to respond to each other with love. (244)
P. 245: concept - "cosmetic" racial diversity
After the deaths in Baton Rouge, St. Paul, and Dallas in July 2016, it became blatantly obvious that I am incredibly ignorant about race in America. I did a bit of digging, asked for recommendations, and formed a study group to help me process and learn, and The New Jim Crow was the first book on the docket. Holy crap. It is so difficult to read. It's basically a textbook, but I learned so much. I also became really sad. I'm still working through it all, but I'm glad I read it. You should read it, too.
Notes/Quotes:
Foreword, Cornel West
Martin Luther King, Jr. called for us to be lovestruck with each other, not colorblind toward each other. To be lovestruck is to care, to have deep compassion, and to be concerned for each and every individual, including the poor and vulnerable. (x-xi)
Introduction
Rather than rely on race, we use our criminal justice system to label people of color "criminals" and then engage in all the practices we supposedly left behind. Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans. ... We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it. (2)
Sociologists have frequently observed that governments use punishment primarily as a tool of social control, and thus the extent or severity of punishment is often unrelated to actual crime patterns. (7)
...mass incarceration tends to be categorized as a criminal justice issue as opposed to a racial justice or civil rights issue (or crisis). (9)
The struggle to preserve affirmative action in higher education, and thus maintain diversity in the nation's most elite colleges and universities, has consumed much of the attention and resources of the civil rights community and dominated racial justice discourse in the mainstream media, leading the general public to believe that affirmative action is the main battlefront in US race relations - even as our prisons fill with black and brown men. (9)
The colorblind public consensus that prevails in America today - ie, the widespread belief that race no longer matters - has blinded us to the realities of race in our society and facilitated the emergence of a new caste system. (11-12)
I use the term *racial caste* in this book the way it is used in common parlance to denote a stigmatized group locked into an inferior position by law and custom. Jim Crow and slavery were caste systems. So is our current system of mass incarceration. (12)
The current system of control permanently locks a huge percentage of the African American community out of the mainstream society and economy. The system operates through our criminal justice institutions, but it functions more like a caste system than a system of crime control. (13)
The system of mass incarceration is based on the prison label, not prison time. (14)
The fate of millions of people - indeed the future of the black community itself - may depend on the willingness of those who care about racial justice to re-examine their basic assumptions about the role of the criminal justice system in our society. (16)
What do I think the role is?
What is the difference between a prison and a jail?
Ch. 1: The Rebirth of Caste
Any candid observer of American racial history must acknowledge that racism is highly adaptable. (21)
Concept: preservation through transformation
*white privilege is maintained through changing rhetoric
*other institutions as well: the church, education
*adaptation has a positive spin, but this doesn't
Concept: roots of racial caste are complex (social, economic, educational), so we are left with a similarly complex problem as a legacy
Jim Crow was seen as final, sane, permanent, natural (35, paraphrased)
While dramatic progress was apparent in the political and social realms, civil rights activists became increasingly concerned that, without major economic reforms, the vast majority of blacks would remain locked in poverty. (38)
[1964] As the Civil Rights Movement began to evolve into a "Poor People's Movement," it promised to address not only black poverty, but white poverty as well - thus raising the specter of a poor and working-class movement that cut across racial lines. (39)
Ch. 2: The Lockdown
Every system of control depends for its survival on the tangible and intangible benefits that are provided to those who are responsible for the system's maintenance and administration. (72)
Ch. 3: The Color of Justice
*Take the implicit bias test?
P. 116: quote from Yick Wo case about the denial of equal justice
Immunizing prosecutors from claims of racial bias and failing to impose any meaningful check on the exercise of their discretion in charging, plea bargaining, transferring cases, and sentencing has created an environment in which conscious and unconscious biases are allowed to flourish. (117)
Although prosecutors, as a group, have the greatest power in the criminal justice system, police have the greatest discretion - discretion that is amplified in drug-law enforcement. (123)
P. 124: Read American Apartheid?
Ch. 4: The Cruel Hand
The "whites only" signs may be gone, but new signs have gone up - notices placed in job applications, rental agreements, loan applications, forms for welfare benefits, school applications, and petitions for licenses, informing the general public that "felons" are not wanted here. (141)
When someone is convicted of a crime today, their "debt to society" is never paid. (163)
During Jim Crow, blacks were severely stigmatized and segregated on the basis of race, but in their own communities they could find support, solidarity, acceptance - love. Today, when those labeled criminals return to their communities, they are often met with scorn and contempt, not just by employers, welfare workers, and housing officials, but also by their own neighbors, teachers, and even members of their own families. (165)
If we had actually learned to show love, care, compassion, and concern across racial lines during the Civil Rights Movement - rather than go colorblind - mass incarceration would not exist today. (177)
Ch. 5: The New Jim Crow
It is far more convenient to imagine that a majority of young African American men in urban areas freely choose a life of crime than to accept the real possibility that their lives were structured in a way that virtually guaranteed their early admission into a system from which they can never escape. (184)
The nature of the criminal justice system has changed. It is no longer concerned primarily with the prevention and punishment of crime, but rather with the management and control of the dispossessed. (188)
This system of control depends far more on *racial indifference* (defined as a lack of compassion and caring about race and racial groups) than racial hostility - a feature it actually shares with its predecessors. (203)
...the inclusion of some whites in the system of control is essential to preserving the image of a colorblind criminal justice system and maintaining our self-image as a fair and unbiased people. (205)
Ch. 6: The Fire This Time
The colorblind 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. A commitment to color consciousness, by contrast, places faith in our capacity as humans to show care and concern for others, even as we are fully cognizant of race and possible racial differences. (243)
What is concerning is the real possibility that we, as a society, will choose not to care. We will choose to be blind to injustice and the suffering of others. We will look the other way and deny our public agencies the resources, data, and tools they need to solve problems. We will refuse to celebrate what is beautiful about our distinct cultures and histories, even as we blend and evolve. That is cause for despair. (243-244)
Seeing race is not the problem. Refusing to care for the people we see is the problem. ... We should hope not for a colorblind society but instead for a world in which we can see each other fully, learn from each other, and do what we can to respond to each other with love. (244)
P. 245: concept - "cosmetic" racial diversity