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Quote by Michelle Alexander

“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.”

Quote by Michelle Alexander

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Author

Michelle Alexander
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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“Like Jim Crow (and slavery), mass incarceration operates as a tightly networked system of laws, policies, customs, and institutions that operate collectively to ensure the subordinate status of a group defined largely by race.”

LawRaceGroupsPolicyMassInstitutionsSlaveryDefinedCustomsCrowSubordinatesIncarcerationJim CrowMass IncarcerationJim Crow Laws
Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
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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.”

MenStatesYoungThreeNationsBlackUnitedUnited StatesFourPrisonSouthPopulationHeightNeighborhoodSouth AfricaPercentagesPoorestApartheidCapitolJim CrowMass Incarceration
Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
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“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.”

IfsShouldHumansProblemBigsMightEnergyWatchesRightsProgressJudgingBattleMassDirectHuman RightsMythNightmareIncarcerationMass Incarceration
Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
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“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'.”

LawPoliticalOrderFoundLanguageRaceForeverMovementLimitsMajorityRacistSentimentsAcceptableDiscourseSegregationHierarchyLaw And OrderCastesCaste SystemPolitical MovementsPolitical Discourse
Author:Michelle Alexander
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“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.”

MenWarAgeTodayCitiesHalfMillionsSubjectsMajorsPrisonDecadesDiscriminationAfrican AmericanCivil WarJailCyclingParoleBrandedAmerican CitiesFelonsProbation
Author:Michelle Alexander
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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”

WorldCountryStatesBlackUnitedUnited StatesSouthPopulationHeightMinoritiesSouth AfricaOther CountriesPercentagesApartheidJim Crow
Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
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