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Quote by Michelle Alexander

“The rules and reasons the political system employs to enforce status relations of any kind, including racial hierarchy, evolve and change as they are challenged.”

Quote by Michelle Alexander

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

Work

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

This book critically examines the impact of mass incarceration on African Americans, arguing that it constitutes a new form of racial segregation and discrimination in the United States. more

Author

Michelle Alexander

Michelle Alexander is a distinguished professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley. Born on October 7, 1967, she is recognized for her expertise in criminal justice and civil rights. Alexander has authored numerous articles and books on the subject of mass incarceration in the United States and its effects on African American communities. more

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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.”

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

“Many offenders are tracked for prison at early ages, labeled as criminals in their teen years, and then shuttled from their decrepit, underfunded inner city schools to brand-new, high-tech prisons.”

Years Age School Cities Prison Criminals Brands Brand New Offenders Inner City Decrepit Inner City Schools

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

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

“If we continue to tell ourselves the popular myths about racial progress or, worse yet, if we say to ourselves that the problem of mass incarceration is just too big, too daunting for us to do anything about and that we should instead direct our energies to battles that might be more easily won, history will judge us harshly. A human rights nightmare is occurring on our watch.”

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

“A new race-neutral language was developed for appealing to old racist sentiments, a language accompanied by a political movement that succeeded in putting the vast majority of backs back in their place. Proponents of racial hierarchy found they could install a new racial caste system without violating the law or the new limits of acceptable political discourse, by demanding 'law and order' rather than 'segregation forever'.”

“Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began. There are millions of African-Americans now cycling in and out of prisons and jails or under correctional control or saddled with criminal records. In major American cities today, more than half of working-age African-American men either are under correctional control or are branded felons, and are thus subject to legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives.”

Men War Age Today Cities Half Millions Subjects Majors Prison Decades Discrimination African American Civil War Jail Cycling Parole Branded American Cities Felons Probation

Author:Michelle Alexander

“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”

World Country States Black United United States South Population Height Minorities South Africa Other Countries Percentages Apartheid Jim Crow

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

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

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

Age Mass Crow War On Drugs Incarceration Jim Crow Mass Incarceration Jim Crow Laws

Author:Michelle Alexander

“We have not ended racial caste in America, we have merely redesigned it.”

America Castes Jim Crow Mass Incarceration Felons Employment Discrimination

Author:Michelle Alexander

“Nothing has contributed more to the systematic mass incarceration of people of color in the United States than the War on Drugs”

People War States United United States Color Drug Mass Systematic War On Drugs Incarceration Mass Incarceration

Author:Michelle Alexander

“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.”