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A review by audreyintheheadphones
Race to Incarcerate: A Graphic Retelling by Sabrina Jones, Michelle Alexander, Marc Mauer
3.0
I'm a huge proponent of graphic novels that help to explain history or socioeconomic ideas, because not matter how you get intrigued by a subject, you can always read more, delve deeper or just ask better questions, and I know a lot of people are attracted to the graphic novel format, especially middle- and high-school students.
This is a great introduction to Amercia's addiction to incarceration, especially incarceration based on racism and classism. Super heavy subject, great for a graphic novel. Side effects may include discovering that Reagan, Ashcroft, Tip O'Neill and other powerful politicians were even bigger shitbags than you'd originally believed.
There are a couple places where I raised my eyebrows:
--"Prison reformers hoped to follow the example of mental health 'deinstitutionalization' (except deinstitutionalization hasn't gone so well, say the legions of people without access to mental health care)
--"San Diego and Boston got [positive] results with 'community policing'" (I would like to hear from Black and other people of color, Bob)
--"By pitting 'victims rights' against 'prisoners rights' we are denying the need to heal for all"(That...is one hell of an oversimplification there. I had to sit down for a moment with that one)
And the last ten pages of the book, where it finally turns its hand to suggestions for amelioration just become a morass of facts and figures that get a little overwhelming. But even so, these are all great places to start asking questions.
Lots of questions. Pointy ones, with spikes, because we have a big-ass election coming up.
This is a great introduction to Amercia's addiction to incarceration, especially incarceration based on racism and classism. Super heavy subject, great for a graphic novel. Side effects may include discovering that Reagan, Ashcroft, Tip O'Neill and other powerful politicians were even bigger shitbags than you'd originally believed.
There are a couple places where I raised my eyebrows:
--"Prison reformers hoped to follow the example of mental health 'deinstitutionalization' (except deinstitutionalization hasn't gone so well, say the legions of people without access to mental health care)
--"San Diego and Boston got [positive] results with 'community policing'" (I would like to hear from Black and other people of color, Bob)
--"By pitting 'victims rights' against 'prisoners rights' we are denying the need to heal for all"(That...is one hell of an oversimplification there. I had to sit down for a moment with that one)
And the last ten pages of the book, where it finally turns its hand to suggestions for amelioration just become a morass of facts and figures that get a little overwhelming. But even so, these are all great places to start asking questions.
Lots of questions. Pointy ones, with spikes, because we have a big-ass election coming up.