After reading the beginning of The New Jim Crow and
the message Michelle Alexander was conveying, something else specific stood out
to me, the fact that her husband, a federal prosecutor, does not share her
views on the criminal justice system. This lead me to think about rivaling views
to the points Alexander eloquently raised but not came to mind. Having already
read The New Jim Crow in leisure last year I was already exposed to her points
and found it increasingly difficult to think of anything substantial to rival
the points made throughout her book. The
statistics alone are staggering, 750 out of 100,000 incarcerated in America
today. One of every three black men in Washington will spend time incarcerated.
These are just a few of the initial points Alexander makes to begin her dismantlement
of the claim that there is no longer racial caste in America. Publicly successful black figures do not take
away from the hardships and subservient lives black males are subjected to
through incarceration and the limited options available through re-immersion. I
cannot think of anything substantive that can refute the claims made by
Alexander.
One thing I am confused about is how mass incarceration, zero-tolerance policy, and harsh sentencing were not viewed as top priorities for human rights organizations. Obviously something has to be noticed before it can become a recognized issue but why did it take so long? Fighting the opposition of policies such as affirmative action is important but not nearly enough to achieve an egalitarian society. How did mass incarceration become so well disguised, allowing for the further subjugation of blacks in America? Large portions of the black community are legally denied housing, jobs, benefits, the right to vote, and this all happened right beneath our eyes in a society where it is supposedly socially taboo to be a racist.
Having rasied various questions, you should take a shot at answering them.
ReplyDeleteYou have raised some good questions here Joey, and being the history buff that I know you are, I am not surprised by them. Personally, I share you interest in how something like mass incarceration came to be, and why its went unnoticed for so long. I believe Michelle Alexander delves into this questions at times, though she does it sporadically, giving the majority of her attention to analyzing and critiquing the current state of affairs. While it is obviously the case that a wide variety of factors have gotten us to where we stand today, the classic American trust and reliance on incarceration is certainly a point of significance. It is my belief that this racial discrimination, class subjugation, and mass incarceration went unnoticed for as long as it did because the majority of Americans trusted the prison system. In their view, the people that got locked up deserved to be locked up, and were ultimately a detriment to society. It wasn't until very recently that someone could lead a campaign for the rights and well being of convicted felons and gain any legitimate support, because prisoners were for the most part disregarded entirely.
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