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Michelle Alexander

Michelle Alexander Quotes

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Famous Michelle Alexander Quotes

“The War on Drugs, cloaked in race-neutral language, offered whites opposed to racial reform a unique opportunity to express their hostility toward blacks and black progress, without being exposed to the charge of racism.”

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Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
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“Eventually [black men] are arrested, whether they've committed any serious crime or not, and branded criminals or felons for life. Upon release, they're ushered into a parallel social universe in which the civil and human rights supposedly won during the Civil Rights Movement no longer apply to them.”

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Author:Michelle Alexander
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“For the rest of their lives, [black men] can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education and public benefits. So many of the old forms of discrimination that we supposedly left behind during the Jim Crow era are suddenly legal again once you've been branded a felon.”

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Author:Michelle Alexander
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“When young black men reach a certain age - whether or not there is incarceration in their families - they themselves are the target of police stops, interrogations, frisks, often for no reason other than their race. And, of course, this level of harassment sends a message to them, often at an early age: No matter who you are or what you do, you're going to find yourself behind bars one way or the other. This reinforces the sense that prison is part of their destiny, rather than a choice one makes.”

MenWayMatterReasonAgeYoungCertainChoicesCoursesBlackLevelsRaceBehindsDestinyMessagesPoliceWho You ArePrisonBarsOne WayNo ReasonFinding YourselfTargetHarassmentIncarcerationInterrogation
Author:Michelle Alexander
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“For those who say that the war on drugs and the system of mass incarceration really isn't about race, I say there is no way we would allow the majority of young white men to be swept into the criminal justice system for minor drug offenses, branded criminals and felons, and then stripped of their basis civil and human rights while young black men who are engaged in the same activity trot off to college. That would never be accepted as the norm.”

MenWayHumansWarYoungBlackJusticeWhiteRaceRightsCollegeDrugActivityMassBasesMajorityHuman RightsCriminalsAcceptedEngagedMinorsOffenseWhite ManNormJustice SystemWar On DrugsCriminal JusticeIncarcerationCriminal Justice SystemBrandedMass IncarcerationFelonsOff To College
Author:Michelle Alexander
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“Of course in this age of colorblindness, a time when we have supposedly moved "beyond race," we as a nation would feel very uncomfortable if only black people were sent to jail for drug offenses. We seem comfortable with 90 percent of the people arrested and convicted of drug offenses in some states being African American, but if the figure was 100 percent, the veil of colorblindness would be lost.”

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Author:Michelle Alexander
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“The fate of millions of people—indeed the future of the black community itself—may depend on the willingness of those who care about racial justice to re-examine their basic assumptions about the role of the criminal justice system in our society.”

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Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
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“The system functioned relatively automatically, and the prevailing system of racial meanings, identities, and ideologies already seemed natural. Ninety percent of those admitted to prison for drug offenses in many states were Black or Latino, yet the mass incarceration of communities of color was explained in race-neutral terms, an adaptation to the needs and demands of the current political climate.”

NeedsStatesPoliticalBlackTermCommunityNaturalRaceIdentityColorDrugDemandMassRacismPercentPrisonClimateCurrentsIdeologyOffenseAdaptationNinetyLatinoPrevailingIncarcerationMass Incarceration
Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
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“Arguably the most important parallel between mass incarceration and Jim Crow is that both have served to define the meaning and significance of race in America. Indeed, a primary function of any racial caste system is to define the meaning of race in its time. Slavery defined what it meant to be black (a slave), and Jim Crow defined what it meant to be black (a second-class citizen). Today mass incarceration defines the meaning of blackness in America: black people, especially black men, are criminals. That is what it means to be black.”

PeopleMenMeanImportantTodayAmericaBlackRaceClassCitizensMassFunctionSlaverySlaveCriminalsDefinedPrimariesSignificanceMeant To BeBlack PeopleParallelsCrowBlacknessCastesIncarcerationJim CrowRace In AmericaCaste SystemMass IncarcerationSecond Class Citizens
Author:Michelle Alexander
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“The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. In Washington, D.C., our nation’s capitol, it is estimated that three out of four young black men (and nearly all those in the poorest neighborhoods) can expect to serve time in prison.”

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Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
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“No other country in the world imprisons so many of its racial or ethnic minorities. The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid”

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Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
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“The fact that more than half of the young black men in any large American city are currently under the control of the criminal justice system (or saddled with criminal records) is not - as many argue - just a symptom of poverty or poor choices, but rather evidence of a new racial caste system at work.”

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Author:Michelle Alexander
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“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 largely 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.”

MenAmericaFormOpportunityBlackRightsBenefitsVoteEducationalCriminalsDiscriminationEmploymentDenialHeightStampsHousingJuryCrowExclusionRight To VoteAlabamaCastesJim CrowFood StampsMass IncarcerationFelonsEmployment Discrimination
Author:Michelle Alexander
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