The New Jim Crow

[forummm]

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
http://newjimcrow.com/

This is an amazing compilation of information about what I think is one of the biggest problems in America today: the criminal justice system. I had never put it into the context of race relations, but now that my eyes have been opened, it's really undeniably linked to the bias, consciously or unconsciously, that people (both black, white, and other) have. Studies consistently find that nearly everyone has a subconscious racial bias, even if we are unaware of it and never intentionally discriminate against anyone. But in the criminal justice system, the discretionary nature of policing and prosecuting has led to an overwhelmingly biased set of actions that the state has taken against a particular group of its citizens. I highly recommend this book. Even if you don't buy the author's conclusions, there's so much information in here that will help you see the world in a different light. And even if you don't care about racial disparities, there are civil liberties issues cause by various court decisions that every American should know about.

[Exhale]

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
http://newjimcrow.com/  This is an amazing compilation of information about what I think is one of the biggest problems in America today: the criminal justice system....I highly recommend this book. Even if you don't buy the author's conclusions, there's so much information in here that will help you see the world in a different light. And even if you don't care about racial disparities, there are civil liberties issues cause by various court decisions that every American should know about.

+1

Also of interest was how the author herself didn't believe this was happening until she began doing the research. Well written and documented. Some quotes from the book:

...racial caste systems do not require racial hostility or overt bigotry to thrive. They need only racial indifference... (14)

More African American adults are under correctional control today [2007]--in prison or jail, on probation or parole--than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began. (175)

It is fair to say that we have witnessed an evolution in the United States from a racial caste system based entirely on exploitation (slavery), to one based largely on subordination (Jim Crow), to one defined by marginalization (mass incarceration)...Extreme marginalization, as we have seen throughout world history, poses the risk of of extermination. (207)