A review by isabel_is_reading
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

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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