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Quote by Michelle Alexander

“By the turn of the twentieth century, every state in the South had laws on the books that disenfranchised blacks and discriminated against them in virtually ever sphere of life, lending sanction to a racial ostracism that extended to schools, churches, housing, jobs, restrooms, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, orphanages, prisons, funeral homes, morgues, and cemeteries. Politicians competed with each other by proposing and passing every more stringent, oppressive, and downright ridiculous legislation (such as laws specifically prohibiting blacks and whites from playing chess together.)”

Quote by Michelle Alexander

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

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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“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.”

RacismWhite SupremacySegregationJim Crow
Book:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
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“At that point in the show, I broke down in tears. The pain and sadness I felt, that our president, this man I’d defended on prior occasions, could not bring us together when the country so desperately needed it. I have, of course, never met anyone who lived through slavery, but I have met people who lived through Jim Crow. The anger and frustration I felt at this time made me feel as though we were back in those very dark times. After the segment was over, I wiped away my tears and got in the car. I needed sleep, needed to clear my mind and heart.”

Jim CrowPresident TrumpCharlottesville Attack
Book:Taken for Granted: How Conservatism Can Win Back the Americans That Liberalism Failed
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“For more than a half century, the Right has waged a relentless campaign against the goals and achievements of the Sixties’ movements for racial, social and economic equality. From Reagan to Trump, there has been an endless hammering away at caricatures of dopey hippies, traitorous peace protestors, bra-burning feminists, dangerous Black radicals, and commissars of political correctness.”

HistoryCrimeHuman RightsCivil RightsLos AngelesBlack Lives MatterJim CrowMass IncarcerationCriminal Justice ReformAfrican American Studies
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“He didn’t proselytize at the get-togethers,” Otis recalled. “His talks with us dealt with standing together, respecting our traditions, defending our communities, treating our women with love and care, being responsible toward our children and not taking abuse from the racists in our society.” (On Malcolm X)”

Los AngelesBlack Lives MatterJim CrowMass IncarcerationMalcolm XCriminal Justice ReformAfrican American Studies
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“Meanwhile the biggest industry in Los Angeles County was bleeding tens of thousands of entry-level semiskilled jobs. Blue-collar workers everywhere felt the tremors of the so-called Eisenhower Recession of 1958, but in Southern California the primary reason for layoffs was the advent of the Space Age. (Set the Night on Fire)”

Human RightsCivil RightsLos AngelesBlack Lives MatterBlack HistoryJim CrowMass IncarcerationCriminal Justice Reform
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“The projected benevolence of the Plessy ruling and the Atlanta Compromise seemed to bring a finality to the disorder of the “Negro problem.” Indeed, the finality of the “Negro problem” as the nineteenth century closed meant a United States dead set on playing down the southern horrors of discrimination and playing up what was wrong with Black people.”

RacismJim CrowPlessy V FergusonAtlanta Compromise
Book:Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
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