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

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The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Book Analysis
The book “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander progresses the conversation on mass incarceration in the U.S. The book documents a comprehensive historical analysis of the running of the correctional system in the U.S. that establishes a ploy to control black people through racial castes that see more of them imprisoned. According to Alexander, as a country trying to practice the principle of colorblindness, it has the largest incarcerated population globally, with Black people making up the majority of the racial group. The individuals become targets in the war on drugs and the decimation of people of color. As a result, the justice system is utilized to term people of color as criminals, thereby perpetuating a system of social exclusion of black people and racial hierarchy.The book creates the historical outline of the racial caste system affecting black people in the United States. According to Alexander, mass incarceration has existed within the political, educational, social, and economic aspects of the United States. During the slavery era, black people had to work for white men to support the agricultural economy forcefully. While they were integral in developing agriculture, they were denied access to similar social and educational opportunities, thereby controlling them. The repeated cycle of black suppression was also documented after Emancipation when whites from the south felt threatened by blacks’ new freedom in competing with them for jobs. Consequently, the violence meted out by Ku Klux Klan became a form of control and laws such as poll taxes and vagrancy laws (Alexander and West 3-15). Despite adopting the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and the Voting Rights of 1965, underlying racism against black people increased with the war on crime and drugs, becoming the next form of their control. The perception of crime shifted, with people of color being the primary suspects and targets. With the justice system rubberstamping this perspective, racial control continued to be enshrined in every system (Alexander & West 3-15). Alexander admits that even with the advancement of important figures such as President Obama, the use of racial castes still intensified, leading to today’s black’s mass incarceration as a form of control.
The book highlights a system of social exclusion through the use of “The War on Drugs” to target black people in the United States. In chapter 3 on the Color of Justice, Alexander demons...