Second Reading
I have just finished the second reading (up to page 97) and am very interested in the topics Michelle Alexander is bringing forth. In the section that I just read she primarily discusses the criminal justice system and how racist motives led to a shift in politics and law changes that led to a period of mass incarceration that is still going on now. Despite crime rates actually lowering, our prison populations and sentences are increasing, particularly for people of color or minorities.
She discusses in this section the various ways that this era of mass incarceration that we are living in right now came about. She discusses how the beginnings of the period of mass incarceration were associating African-Americans with criminals, particularly during the civil rights era. As she describes, "The articles typically featured black "crack whores," "crack babies," and "gangbangers," reinforcing already prevalent racial stereotypes of black women as irresponsible, selfish "welfare queens," and black men as "predators"-part of an inferior and criminal subculture" (pg 52). As peaceful protestors and leaders joined together to unite against segregation in the south, many people tried to discredit them by calling them criminals and crying outrage at "the breakdown of law and order" (pg 40).
She points out how people like Richard Nixon, who was Vice president at the time used rhetoric that supposedly was targeting criminals, but was clearly targeting the people involved in the civil rights movement. As she quotes, "In the words of then-vice president Nixon, the increasing crime rate 'can be traced directly to the spread of the corrosive doctrine that every citizen possesses an inherent right to decide for himself which laws to obey and when to disobey them'" (pg 41).
She discusses how many Republican politicians at the time would say that the integration of blacks and whites would actually cause crime, and some even directly said that African-Americans were the reason for the crime in their neighborhoods. As Michelle Alexander says, "Conservatives argued that, having welcomed blacks migrating from the south, their cities were 'repaid with crime-ridden slums and black discontent'" (pg 42).
This association between African-Americans and supposed crime, although they were doing nothing illegal, sparked the beginnings of a revolution in which primarily Southern Republicans aimed to keep segregation and inequality functioning in the South by being harshly punitive towards things that disproportionately affected people of color rather than being overtly racist. They did this most effectively be creating laws and loopholes to directly target people of color disproportionately so that they could be labeled criminals, and therefore justify the stripping of their rights. This often involved drugs that were more prevalent among black communities.
She explores many of the different ways in which laws in the criminal justice system stack the odds against African-Americans. For example, she mentions how politicians used the fact that crack-cocaine was entering inner cities at alarming rates to declare it an epidemic and to start a "War on drugs", which ended up leading many African-Americans straight into America's prison systems. As Michelle Alexander quotes from Harry Levine,"Crack was a godsend to the right...It could not have appeared at a politically opportune moment" (pg 53).
By cracking down on the crack-epidemic in black communities, many blacks were sent to prison and were labeled criminals and felons. Alexander argues that "As law enforcement budgets exploded, [to supposedly stop the crack epidemic] so did prison and jail populations. In 1991, the Sentencing Project reported that the number of people behind bars in the United States was unprecedented in world history and that one-fourth of young African-American men were now under control of the criminal justice system" (pg 56).
Under the guise of keeping black neighborhoods safe from the invasion of crack-cocaine, our government justified locking up millions of people for drug use, possession, and selling. The effects of this are still clear to this day. The laws that came about from these "War on drugs" and "Get tough on Crime" movements led to legislation and funding for programs that fuel our criminal justice system now. These lead to a highly disproportionate amount of minorities going to prison, unreasonable and unjust prison sentences, and higher amounts of people locked away in prison, and thus higher amounts of money spent on police enforcement agencies rather than drug treatment centers or other things.
She mentions things like the three-strikes law, mandatory sentencing laws, the corrupt system of representation in court for people of minorities, unreasonable plea bargains, stop and frisk laws, consent laws regarding warrantless searches, racial profiling, incentives for police departments to arrest more people, seizure laws, and ultimately the branding of felony convictions and how all of these things combined lead to a perpetual cycle of racism and relegate blacks to remain as second-class citizens. She discusses all the ways in which the criminal justice system is corrupt and unjust and disproportionately affects African-Americans.
As this book was written in, and about predominately modern times and laws, these issues she brings forth are clearly still applicable today. There are countless problems with our criminal justice system, largely because of the laws that politicians like Clinton and Nixon passed in order to garner public support for their campaigns, despite it creating enormous devastating effects on people of color.
After I read this chapter in its entirety, I was utterly shocked by the compilation of all the ways in which people of color are at a disadvantage in our criminal justice system, as is outlined by Michelle Alexanders writing. I chose to read more on these topics and find other statistics and stories on the internet about the same topic.
As this article (What It’s Like to Be Black in the Criminal Justice System) describes, there are countless ways in which the criminal justice system is against minorities, and a lot of this was created when people like Nixon decided that they couldn't be openly racist anymore, and had to find new ways to keep blacks as inferior economically, socially, and politically. It has since been upheld by many politicians for fear that if they go against these attitudes towards criminals that most of the public has despite it being unjust and clearly ineffective within our criminal justice system, they won't be elected or will be labeled "soft on crime". This is clearly an issue because of the destruction of many African-Americans' lives because of these laws, as is demonstrated by the article.
The article lists many statistics about African-Americans and minorities in the criminal justice system, most of which, sadly, probably won't surprise you but are important to note regardless. The list of statistics that the article gives are:
She discusses in this section the various ways that this era of mass incarceration that we are living in right now came about. She discusses how the beginnings of the period of mass incarceration were associating African-Americans with criminals, particularly during the civil rights era. As she describes, "The articles typically featured black "crack whores," "crack babies," and "gangbangers," reinforcing already prevalent racial stereotypes of black women as irresponsible, selfish "welfare queens," and black men as "predators"-part of an inferior and criminal subculture" (pg 52). As peaceful protestors and leaders joined together to unite against segregation in the south, many people tried to discredit them by calling them criminals and crying outrage at "the breakdown of law and order" (pg 40).
She points out how people like Richard Nixon, who was Vice president at the time used rhetoric that supposedly was targeting criminals, but was clearly targeting the people involved in the civil rights movement. As she quotes, "In the words of then-vice president Nixon, the increasing crime rate 'can be traced directly to the spread of the corrosive doctrine that every citizen possesses an inherent right to decide for himself which laws to obey and when to disobey them'" (pg 41).
She discusses how many Republican politicians at the time would say that the integration of blacks and whites would actually cause crime, and some even directly said that African-Americans were the reason for the crime in their neighborhoods. As Michelle Alexander says, "Conservatives argued that, having welcomed blacks migrating from the south, their cities were 'repaid with crime-ridden slums and black discontent'" (pg 42).
This association between African-Americans and supposed crime, although they were doing nothing illegal, sparked the beginnings of a revolution in which primarily Southern Republicans aimed to keep segregation and inequality functioning in the South by being harshly punitive towards things that disproportionately affected people of color rather than being overtly racist. They did this most effectively be creating laws and loopholes to directly target people of color disproportionately so that they could be labeled criminals, and therefore justify the stripping of their rights. This often involved drugs that were more prevalent among black communities.
She explores many of the different ways in which laws in the criminal justice system stack the odds against African-Americans. For example, she mentions how politicians used the fact that crack-cocaine was entering inner cities at alarming rates to declare it an epidemic and to start a "War on drugs", which ended up leading many African-Americans straight into America's prison systems. As Michelle Alexander quotes from Harry Levine,"Crack was a godsend to the right...It could not have appeared at a politically opportune moment" (pg 53).
By cracking down on the crack-epidemic in black communities, many blacks were sent to prison and were labeled criminals and felons. Alexander argues that "As law enforcement budgets exploded, [to supposedly stop the crack epidemic] so did prison and jail populations. In 1991, the Sentencing Project reported that the number of people behind bars in the United States was unprecedented in world history and that one-fourth of young African-American men were now under control of the criminal justice system" (pg 56).
Under the guise of keeping black neighborhoods safe from the invasion of crack-cocaine, our government justified locking up millions of people for drug use, possession, and selling. The effects of this are still clear to this day. The laws that came about from these "War on drugs" and "Get tough on Crime" movements led to legislation and funding for programs that fuel our criminal justice system now. These lead to a highly disproportionate amount of minorities going to prison, unreasonable and unjust prison sentences, and higher amounts of people locked away in prison, and thus higher amounts of money spent on police enforcement agencies rather than drug treatment centers or other things.
She mentions things like the three-strikes law, mandatory sentencing laws, the corrupt system of representation in court for people of minorities, unreasonable plea bargains, stop and frisk laws, consent laws regarding warrantless searches, racial profiling, incentives for police departments to arrest more people, seizure laws, and ultimately the branding of felony convictions and how all of these things combined lead to a perpetual cycle of racism and relegate blacks to remain as second-class citizens. She discusses all the ways in which the criminal justice system is corrupt and unjust and disproportionately affects African-Americans.
As this book was written in, and about predominately modern times and laws, these issues she brings forth are clearly still applicable today. There are countless problems with our criminal justice system, largely because of the laws that politicians like Clinton and Nixon passed in order to garner public support for their campaigns, despite it creating enormous devastating effects on people of color.
After I read this chapter in its entirety, I was utterly shocked by the compilation of all the ways in which people of color are at a disadvantage in our criminal justice system, as is outlined by Michelle Alexanders writing. I chose to read more on these topics and find other statistics and stories on the internet about the same topic.
As this article (What It’s Like to Be Black in the Criminal Justice System) describes, there are countless ways in which the criminal justice system is against minorities, and a lot of this was created when people like Nixon decided that they couldn't be openly racist anymore, and had to find new ways to keep blacks as inferior economically, socially, and politically. It has since been upheld by many politicians for fear that if they go against these attitudes towards criminals that most of the public has despite it being unjust and clearly ineffective within our criminal justice system, they won't be elected or will be labeled "soft on crime". This is clearly an issue because of the destruction of many African-Americans' lives because of these laws, as is demonstrated by the article.
The article lists many statistics about African-Americans and minorities in the criminal justice system, most of which, sadly, probably won't surprise you but are important to note regardless. The list of statistics that the article gives are:
- "Black Americans are more likely to have their cars searched"
- "Black Americans are more likely to be arrested for drug use"
- "Black Americans are more likely to be jailed while awaiting trial"
- "Black Americans are more likely to be offered a plea deal that includes prison time"
- "Black Americans may be excluded from juries because of their race"
- "Black Americans are more likely to serve longer sentences than white Americans for the same offense"
- "Black Americans are more likely to be disenfranchised because of a felony conviction"
- "Black Americans are more likely to have their probation revoked"
(Kahn)
These statistics echo the arguments made in The New Jim Crow resoundingly, and clearly show how systematic racism is functioning in our country right now. This "racial caste system" that Michelle Alexander talks about isn't only about societal implications of race and stereotyping, it is actual laws that were written with racist motivations and that continue to affect millions of people of color disproportionately to their white counterparts and allow for their rights to be stripped away and labeled a felon, therefore alienated from our society in the same way they were during the days of Jim Crow.
The issues Michelle Alexander talks about in this section are to me, some of the most important so far. It's important to understand the history of race in America in order to understand the future, and also to learn from our mistakes, but this chapter is focusing on racism that is occurring right now within our country, and that clearly needs to be remediated. This article clearly and simply demonstrates the effects our criminal justice system has on black Americans, and to me clearly shows that Michelle Alexander is definitely correct in her analysis of our racial caste system in modern times.
Citation:
Kahn, Andrew. "What It’s Like to Be Black in the Criminal Justice System."
Slate, 9 Aug. 2015, www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/
2015/08/
racial_disparities_in_the_criminal_justice_system_eight_charts_illustrating.html.
Accessed 27 Mar. 2018.
Citation:
Kahn, Andrew. "What It’s Like to Be Black in the Criminal Justice System."
Slate, 9 Aug. 2015, www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/
2015/08/
racial_disparities_in_the_criminal_justice_system_eight_charts_illustrating.html.
Accessed 27 Mar. 2018.
Hey Bekah! I enjoyed reading this post. We definitely had the same thoughts while reading this section - it's shocking how much injustice happens in the criminal justice system, and how much we are unaware of it. Which is why I wonder how much of an impact things like this book, and the article that you linked, have on society. I know this book was published in 2010, which has given a pretty decent amount of time between then and now for change to happen. I'm sure that the majority, if not all readers are just as shocked by this section as we were, and I wonder if any of them go on to make a difference in the effort to put an end to the problem of mass incarceration, or the other injustices that African-Americans face in this system. I do think that Alexander's writing style/rhetorical techniques helps prod the reader to be more motivated to make change. What are your thoughts on this?
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer!
DeleteI agree that her stylistic choices help further her purpose. One thing I noticed in this section was that she was still primarily logos-based, but she had some appeals to pathos, particularly when she mentioned personal stories about people who had been unjustly affected by the unfair laws. This helped to point out the unfairness and hypocrisy of many of the laws such as mandatory minimums and three strikes laws, but it also gave a face and story to the complex issues she's discussing and showed how they affected many Americans lives. Overall I think that her logos-appeals are incredibly strong, and I also think that the pathos appeals she introduced are too!
One of the things I wondered about while I read this section was the specific claim Alexander makes that all of these laws were created with the explicit purpose to do damage to African Americans. Perhaps it is the part of me that wants to expect the best from people, but the claim that politicians created a systematic approach to demoralizing and disenfranchising a entire group of people needs more specific proof of the intention. Did you find her argument convincing, as it related to the specific goal being to target African Americans, and not just to target crime, which happened to affect African Americans?
ReplyDeleteI found that her argument about politicians directly targeting African-Americans was a bit lacking in its depth, however I agree with her to an extent. I don't think that politicians were consciously trying to undermine African-American progress through some evil plan, but I do think that there was definitely racist motivations involved in policies that people like Nixon and Clinton passed. I don't think that race was the sole reason for a lot of these laws coming about, which is kind of the way Alexander makes it sound, but I do believe that race was certainly a factor. I think the major things involving the emergence of new funding for things like "The war on drugs" and other policies that disproportionately affected African-Americans were that the far majority of the public was against segregation, or particularly integration into our society, partially because of racist ideologies but also because of genuine fear for what might happen if we did truly integrate to a full extent in America. I think a lot of people were scared that they would lose the status and things that they had if they had to share with African-Americans which was driven by the racist mentalities of the era. I also think that probably the main factor driving people like Nixon and Clinton wasn't really race, but more for selfish reasons. I think that they wanted to be elected and possibly re-elected so they played on people's fears of integration in order to win themselves presidencies. Especially in regards to Clinton's laws, I think that it came often from strong public support of "tough on crime" laws because he was scared of being labelled soft on crime and the potential voter implications of that. I think that for Alexander to argue that these laws were brought about solely for racist purposes is not fully true, but there was certainly a racial component to them and I think that many people knew that. I think a lot of these laws came from politicians capitalizing on whites', particularly poor whites' fear of integration, and many people ultimately didn't care what happened as a byproduct of these laws as long as they weren't negatively affected, and for politicians, that they were elected and publicly approved of.
Delete