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A review by grubnubble
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
3.0
I didn’t realize it has already been ten years since this book was published. In those ten years, our collective understanding of race in the United States and mass incarceration has developed substantially. This book, I’m sure, had much to do with that development.
That being said, there are a number of very thorough defenses in this book that were necessary at the time and read as fairly dated now. If you are in the “All Lives Matter” camp, however, these defenses are going to be great for you.
For the rest of us, I wish there was an abridged, updated version of this book containing all of the many pieces of information that do still feel novel and mostly unknown in public discourse. I loved the first chapter, which talks about the history of racial hierarchy in the US. I wish there was a bit more of that.
It is also very clear that Michelle Alexander is a lawyer and at least partially had other lawyers in mind while writing this book. Two chapters (The Lockdown and The Color of Justice) were hard for me to get through due to legal jargon and a focus on Supreme Court cases.
I’m glad I finally read this monumental book. It’s relevance is obvious. I appreciated Alexander’s focus on class, which added a definite richness and a level of hope for future movements of solidarity among all races.
That being said, there are a number of very thorough defenses in this book that were necessary at the time and read as fairly dated now. If you are in the “All Lives Matter” camp, however, these defenses are going to be great for you.
For the rest of us, I wish there was an abridged, updated version of this book containing all of the many pieces of information that do still feel novel and mostly unknown in public discourse. I loved the first chapter, which talks about the history of racial hierarchy in the US. I wish there was a bit more of that.
It is also very clear that Michelle Alexander is a lawyer and at least partially had other lawyers in mind while writing this book. Two chapters (The Lockdown and The Color of Justice) were hard for me to get through due to legal jargon and a focus on Supreme Court cases.
I’m glad I finally read this monumental book. It’s relevance is obvious. I appreciated Alexander’s focus on class, which added a definite richness and a level of hope for future movements of solidarity among all races.