Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (10th Anniversary Edition)

Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (10th Anniversary Edition) by Michelle Alexander

34 reviews

antijeffbozo_love2read's review against another edition

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adventurous informative tense medium-paced

4.75

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isabel_is_reading's review against another edition

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dark informative medium-paced

4.75

"In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and social contempt. So we don't. 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. Once you're labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination-employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion from jury service-are suddenly legal. As a criminal, you have scarcely more rights, and arguably less respect, than a black man living in Alabama at the height of Jim Crow. We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it."

This quote perfectly encapsulates the author’s central argument, and she presents it with exceptional clarity. She draws on history, statistics, and the legal system to illustrate how the prison-industrial complex and the broader criminal justice system continue to disproportionately harm people of color, particularly Black men. By weaving together these various threads, the author demonstrates that the racial caste system in the United States hasn’t disappeared but has simply been redesigned under the guise of criminal justice.

The most compelling aspect of her argument is how she highlights the ways that labeling someone a criminal allows society to strip them of rights and protections. Employment, housing, voting, education—these are all areas where felons are subject to the same kinds of discrimination that African Americans faced under Jim Crow. The parallel between past racial oppression and modern-day mass incarceration is both sobering and eye-opening.

While the book focuses mainly on Black men, which left me wanting more exploration of how these systems impact other marginalized groups like Black women, it’s clear that her goal was to focus on this specific facet of racial injustice. Thus, I don’t blame the author for this choice. Additionally, though the book briefly touches on potential solutions, it doesn’t delve deeply into how to dismantle these oppressive systems. However, this isn’t a flaw but rather a reflection of the book’s purpose, which is to diagnose the problem, not necessarily provide an exhaustive roadmap for change. Overall, this book achieves its goal masterfully, shedding light on the deeply entrenched racial injustices still present in American society today.

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vanesst's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

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wlreed312's review against another edition

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challenging informative sad

4.5

Everyone in America should read this book. As someone who has family that has been a direct participant in the war on drugs (I have a cousin who was an undercover narcotics officer before he retired) this was both eye-opening and upsetting. I knew some of the history because I've read quite a bit about the Nixon years, and learned some more about the Reagan years through various sources, but there was still so much I was unaware of. I thought the last chapter dealing with the concept of exceptionism was particularly enlightening. I was more than a little pained by the multiple mentions of Bill Cosby as someone who had been a positive figure in the black community, but that's what I get for waiting so long to read it. I did get slightly bogged down in the legalese occasionally, but it never got so bad I didn't understand the points being made.

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annamay1021's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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eelizard's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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amandalorianxo's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative sad slow-paced

5.0

The content in this is heavy. It’s not heavy in terms of graphic content but heavy in the sense of how much injustice and racism has existed long before the United States even became a nation in the first place. It took me a longer time than usual to absorb the words. I felt a jumble of emotions as I was reminded of the countless unnecessary deaths of Black and Brown individuals who had done nothing wrong except to exist on a planet that is against them.

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bsmulca's review against another edition

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challenging informative sad slow-paced

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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informative

4.0

This book made a huge contribution to the shifting of my worldview. I highly recommend this book for a more complete understanding of race in America.

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emmablue's review against another edition

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4.5

every american should read this book. the information is essential.

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