Quotessence
Home / Books / The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

Book by Michelle Alexander · 6 quotes · Racism, Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration

Filter quotes by topic

AllRacismJim CrowMass IncarcerationSegregationIncarcerationRaceBlackClassismCriminalsMassPeoplePrisonPrison Industrial ComplexStatesUs HistoryWar On DrugsBigotryColorblindnessCrimeCriminal Justice

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Quotes

“It my be helpful, in attempting to understand the basic nature of the new caste system, to think of the criminal justice system-the entire collection of institutions and practices that comprise it-not as an independent system but rather as a gateway into a much larger system of racial stigmatization and permanent marginalization. This larger system, referred to here as mass incarceration, is a system that locks people not only behind actual bars in actual prisons, but also behind virtual bars and virtual walls-walls that are invisible to the naked eye but function nearly as effectively as Jim Crow laws once did at locking people of color int a permanent second-class citizenship. The term mass incarceration refers not only to the criminal justice system but also to the web of laws, rules, policies, and customs that control those labeled criminals both in and outside of prison. Once released, former prisoners enter a hidden underworld of legalized discrimination and permanent social exclusion. They are members of America's new undercaste.”

Mass IncarcerationUnderclass
Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Create image

“Vagrancy laws and other laws defining activities such as "mischief" and "insulting gestures" as crimes were enforced vigorously against blacks. The aggressive enforcement of these criminal offenses opened up an enormous market for convict leasing.”

RacismAfrican AmericansBlack HistoryRacism In AmericaConvictsCriminologyForced LaborBlack AmericansFor Profit Prisons
Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Create image

“As Angela Davis has explained, if we accept uncritically the notion that prisons offer an answer, and that all we must do is improve our so-called justice systems, we evade the 'responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism.' Our ultimate goal-if we truly aim to overcome our nation's habit of constructing enormous systems of racial and social control-cannot simply be to reduce the number of people behind bars. We must strive to create a nation in which caging people en masse-digitally or literally-and stripping them of basic civil and human rights for the rest of their lives is not only unnecessary but unthinkable. . . . The important question, however, is whether we want to celebrate as 'progress' any development that might reflect the morphing or evolution of the system, rather than its demise. Human rights champion Bryan Stevenson has observed that 'slavery didn't end; it evolved.' Today, we can see, in real time, the system of mass incarceration evolving before our eyes, as enormous investments are made in immigrant detention centers and digital prisons, and as growing numbers of white people become collateral damage in a war that was declared with black people in mind.”

JusticeHealingProgressCriminal Justice Reform
Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Create image

“The shift may, in fact, come as something of a relief, as it moves our collective focus away from a wholly unrealistic goal to one that is within anyone's reach right now. After all, to aspire to colorblindness is to aspire to a state of being in which you are not capable of seeing racial difference—a practical impossibility for most of us. The shift also invites a more optimistic view of human capacity. The colorblindness 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.”

Colorblind Racism
Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Create image