...Corrie Gripenstraw Dr. Jackson American Government November 2, 2015 Book Analysis This paper will present a brief overview of the author and the book, followed by the book’s thesis. It will discuss the major power structures and institutions that are supporting the criminal justice system. This book aims to dispel the common misbelief that the issue of racism is no longer relevant in modern day America. The main idea of The New Jim Crow is that the War on Drugs is, at least in part, racially motivated. It traps African American men in a cycle of poverty. One of the main effects of the War on Drugs is the denial of thousands of African Americans the right to vote. This is eerily similar to the original Jim Crow. The book opens with the case...
Words: 369 - Pages: 2
...On The New Jim Crow In The New Jim Crow, the author blames society for moral failure of the greatest kind in “failing to see the larger problem.” Though, she never actually diagnoses a larger problem-or rather, in attempting to do so, gives a vague diagnosis regularly deflecting, falling into methodical errors, and making unsubstantiated presumptions. The state is both the problem and the solution. Agency is important but not too important. Environmental factors are important but not too important. ‘Racially coded’ language is both racist in its implications and not racist in language. Thus, one could come to any number of conclusions based on these deductions, ever giving truth and falsity to every number of them. First, the author tries to establish that the system is inherently targeting blacks. She does so by citing crime statistics’ supposed inaccuracy and setting a backdrop of racism. The author arrives at the conclusion that mass incarceration would not happen today if we were to recognize racial lines. She defines the main contributing factors to the ghettos as (1) the loss of manufacturing jobs due to globalization, (2) the increase of drug circulation and the “war on drugs”, and (3) the perpetual...
Words: 479 - Pages: 2
...In chapter five of Michelle Alexander’s book “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” it begins by reminding the readers of Presidents Barrack Obama’s speech urging black men to be better father figures. A question in which he brings up is where are all the true black fathers in today’s society? He then answers they are in the prison system. A prison system that has been filled up with people of color. Schmalleger presents us in his text book “Criminology” with the Social Structure Theories providing us with a better understanding. These theories suggest “negative aspects of social structures such as disorganization within the family, poverty or income inequality within the economic arraignments of society, and disadvantages...
Words: 451 - Pages: 2
...The New Jim Crow Dr. Michelle Alexander convincingly debates on her speech at the Riverside Church that America has not ended the racial discrimination yet. In fact, we did not really call it a racial discrimination, but we have used it in a new term as a caste system which is the same term as racial discrimination because we assign people into a different class. According to Dr. Michelle, there are more and more African Americans under correctional control these days than they were enslaved back in 1850. Also, Dr. Michelle briefly discussed about American racial history from the colonies era to the Clinton administration period. She defined it’s as a transformation into the war on drugs instead of the term racial discrimination. In her speech,...
Words: 358 - Pages: 2
...“Those darn colored folks” When anyone reads a headline, or hear a phrase such as that, they automatically freeze. A phrase like that, can be called “racist slang”. The book The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander is filled with racial differences. It talks about how not just African Americans, but all brown people are treated differently than those who aren’t people of color. In other words, “The Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness” (Alexander 3). Discrimination should be put to an end because colored people feel out of place, and we all should be equal. The author gave off feeling and emotions that made the reader feel what she felt. That rhetorical device is called pathos. Making the reader feel emotion. Some people when they read about racial discrimination, they tend to get offended no matter what race they are. Discrimination is the sense of being different. Being treated a certain way because you look a certain way. Not everyone that discriminates realize that just because you are “darker” you can still have white people in your family. They don’t look at it like that, they just go off of what they see physically....
Words: 619 - Pages: 3
...This article is about how civil rights of criminals is taking away of his actions from the past. Goes on discusses specific issues related to race and the massive African-American men in prison in the United States, however, Alexander notes that discrimination against African-American men is common among minorities and socio-economically disadvantaged population. Alexander's central idea, from which title derives its, is that mass imprisonment, metaphorically, The New Jim Crow. Short Answer Response: [Type your response to short term question here-150-200 WORDS MIN/MAX] It relevant because everyone who is elected in the government is either people voting or government elected select for new position( who people vote for) in the article...
Words: 397 - Pages: 2
...Jim Crow In “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander tries to explain that the war on drugs is the new form of Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws we in effect from the 1880s to the 1960s are were used to segregate whites from negro and other races. Even though the Jim Crow laws ended in 1965 with the Voting Rights Act Alexander argues the Spirit of Jim Crow still lives on. Alexander argues the war on drug has led to gross incarceration and segregation of black and brown men. This incarceration has created a permanent underclass of black men with no hope of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” (Colombo, 738). Alexander goes on to show how the system is built to trap black men in a virtual and literal cage. The first phase is to round people up through drug sweeps in lower income neighborhoods. Second, defendants are denied meaningful legal representation and pressured to plead guilty. Then the final stage is the discrimination upon release from prison. Felons are denied employment, housing, education and public benefits. Alexander opinion is that due to the final stage that most return to jail to repeat the cycle (Colombo, 742-743)....
Words: 628 - Pages: 3
...In “Cruel Hand” – “The New Jim Crow”, talks about the legal and social challenges the drug criminals confront as they battle to reintegrate themselves into the unfriendly standard American culture after they are discharged from jail. Alexander investigates “the stigma of criminality” (Alexander 2012:141) that takes after these individuals long after they have served their jail sentence. The author begins by depicting how these drug offenders have frequently been made to concede to drug charges leveled against them, in return for "tolerant" court sentences, without truly knowing the hidden results of their request. These liberated criminals just stand excluded from public housing yet that even private house proprietors are lawfully approved...
Words: 273 - Pages: 2
...Name: Instructors name: Course: Date: The Lockdown Analysis and Summary In the introduction, the author Alexander Michelle begins with Jarvious Cottons story, a man of African American decent who was on parole from violation of drugs and thus not able to perform his voting rights. Mr Cotton however, is not the only one or the first ever in his family to be denied democratic participation. His grandfather was also intimidated by the Ku Klux Klan who prevented him from voting while his father was also denied his right to vote due to poll taxes and literacy tests. Alexander contends that during the Reagan administration there was an escalation of drug wars which was a purported response to a crisis of crack cocaine in the black ghettos. The war on drugs had a very devastating impact in the ghettos of the African American communities. Even with the election of Barack Obama, Alexander still feels that there was no triumph over race. In the second chapter titled ‘the lock down’, Alexander Michelle also talks about the legal misinterpretations. She clearly notes that due to the war on drugs, there is an inflow of people into the system of criminal justice. Despite the high influx of people, still there is not enough representation for all of them. Because of the case in Supreme Court Gideon vs. Wainwright, everyone including the poor have a right to legal representation. In many cases, a large number of people never have access to legal counsel or if they do are lucky...
Words: 580 - Pages: 3
...Name: Instructors name: Course: Date: The Lockdown Analysis and Summary In the introduction, the author Alexander Michelle begins with Jarvious Cottons story, a man of African American decent who was on parole from violation of drugs and thus not able to perform his voting rights. Mr Cotton however, is not the only one or the first ever in his family to be denied democratic participation. His grandfather was also intimidated by the Ku Klux Klan who prevented him from voting while his father was also denied his right to vote due to poll taxes and literacy tests. Alexander contends that during the Reagan administration there was an escalation of drug wars which was a purported response to a crisis of crack cocaine in the black ghettos. The war on drugs had a very devastating impact in the ghettos of the African American communities. Even with the election of Barack Obama, Alexander still feels that there was no triumph over race. In the second chapter titled ‘the lock down’, Alexander Michelle also talks about the legal misinterpretations. She clearly notes that due to the war on drugs, there is an inflow of people into the system of criminal justice. Despite the high influx of people, still there is not enough representation for all of them. Because of the case in Supreme Court Gideon vs. Wainwright, everyone including the poor have a right to legal representation. In many cases, a large number of people never have access to legal counsel or if they do are lucky...
Words: 580 - Pages: 3
...Opinion Essay: Professor Michelle Alexander's speech The New Jim Crow (2010) In its broadest sense, The New Jim Crow (2010) provides a compelling analysis of how and why mass incarceration is happening in America. It offers an appropriate and original framework for understanding mass incarceration, its roots, link to Jim Crow, the modern caste system, and what must be done to eliminate it (Alexander, 2010). Alexander’s The New Jim Crow (2010) can be said to be a grand wake-up call in the midst of a long slumber of indifference to the poor and vulnerable. It also befits being described as a timely and stunning guide to the labyrinth of discrimination, racism, and propaganda policies cloaked under other names that comprise justice in America....
Words: 346 - Pages: 2
...Lyrical Analysis For many years African Americans have struggled with segregation and inequality. The 1940s Blues song discusses some of the racial aspects of the era and focuses on issues dealing with Jim Crow laws. Near the end of Reconstruction in 1877, Jim Crow laws were passed and were intended to put restrictions on African American rights and privileges (Brown and Stentiford XVII). For Example, the Jim Crow Laws segregated bus seating and train cars. The buses had the back reserved for African Americans (Wormser 162) and the trains reserved certain cars called “smokers” or “Jim Crow cars” for African Americans (Wormser 63). Also, the term “separate but equal” was an important statement in the Jim Crow era. This statement describes how segregation was passed as constitutional. Even though colored individuals and white individuals had separate facilities, they were supposedly equivalent in quality, even though this was never the case (Klarman 43 and 50-51). The blues song that I have chosen discusses many of the issues that African Americans faced due to the Jim Crow Laws and discrimination in general, but most noticeably discusses issues dealing with war segregation. During World War I and World War II, African Americans were recruited to the American Army. They were trained for battle, but normally were not involved in the fighting of the battles. The African American community hoped that their involvement would help further the fight for equality, but learned it was...
Words: 1165 - Pages: 5
...December 2015 Chapter 6: The Fire this Time Summary Analysis In the book, The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander discusses race-related issues specific to African-American males and mass incarceration in the United States, though Alexander notes that the discrimination faced by African-American males is also prevalent among other minorities and socio-economically disadvantaged populations. Alexander's central premise, from which the book derives its title, is that "mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow keeping company with the final chapter of the New Jim Crow, “The Fire this Time,” this section is devoted to the question of where we go from here. Michelle Alexander argues that we, as a nation, have reached a fork in the road. Likewise, here at the end of our journey with her book, we find ourselves at a critical point of decision. What is required of us at this moment in history, a time when millions are cycling in and out of our nation’s prisons and jails trapped in a parallel social universe in which discrimination is perfectly legal? How do we show care and concern for the children who are born into communities where the majority of men and growing numbers of women can expect to spend time behind bars? What must we do, now that we know that the usual justifications do not hold water, and that a human rights nightmare is occurring on our watch? The New Jim Crow begins and ends with the assertion that nothing short...
Words: 1321 - Pages: 6
...false narrative that black people, through their many years of suffering, have finally overcome racism and triumphed over oppression. That itself is an example of violence. In the reading, “The New Jim Crow” Michelle Alexander states when speaking on Obama's rise to presidency,“There’s an implicit yet undeniable message embedded in his appearance on the world stage: this...
Words: 1018 - Pages: 5
...In the Writing Process the question was What were the steps you took when you completed this assignment? Adrian response was he completed the campbell’s articles graphic organizer. Looked at the book for Robinsons personal characteristics. Second question was Compare this assignment with other assignment? His response was in English class we take more notes to get ready for the essay. The given amount of time to write a timed write in english class is a whole hour. Usually most English essays are typed on a computer. In the Prompt Analysis the question was Had you analyzed prompts before starting this curriculum. Adrian’s response was I have many times in English and Social Studies classes. The next part of the question was how was the prompt analysis in ACR the same or different? His response was in previous assignment he looked at the question as a whole, but in this assignment he cared about each individual word in the prompt. The question was your experiences with college reading and writing is different than experiences in high school? His response is the main differences is the amount of length spent on one assignment and the amount of depth in the...
Words: 1191 - Pages: 5
