New Jim Crow

Despite being written in 2010, the events of 2025 have unfortunately demonstrated just how timeless the message of this book is and Alexander's prescience. Here, Alexander analyzes the history of mass incarceration in the US, definitively showing how it is the direct heir to Jim Crow policies. Perhaps most disturbing is how accurately she calls out the likely outcome of opting for surface level diversity policies instead of deep, more honest structural reform around the criminal justice system and related aspects of our society. Highly recommend

At the beginning of 2022, I set a goal to read at least 20 books this year that had been banned or threatened in Texas libraries or schools. My 20th book in that #FReadom journey was the 10th Anniversary edition of The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. newjimcrow.com/

After finishing Alexander's profound work, I went back and reread her updated preface to the new edition, in which she captures the urgency of how the business of mass incarceration has evolved through privatized "e-carceration" and immigration detention.

Then I came across this deep dive by @aaronlmorrison published last month by AP, with personal stories of the impact of the drug war & mass incarceration. But I needed the context of Alexander's book to truly understand the massive scale of the whole story. apnews.com/article/war-on-drugs-75e61c224de3a394235df80de7d70b70

Since this book first came out a decade ago, it's important to read the preface and the forward for the updates.

The author's thesis is that "The system of mass incarceration created a legal framework by which the rights and benefits of citizenship are routinely stripped away from millions of U.S. citizens labeled "criminals" and "felons" until they mirror...those of non-citizen immigrants within the United States."

It seems obvious to me that that is exactly what has happened, though I'm not sure that I'm convinced that there was a master plan for this. The fact is, it happened, it's happening, and it will take major change to put an end to this horrible crisis.

Alexander gives us a history lesson, a tour of the outrageously discriminatory laws of the past, and argues that each time one of these was overturned, powerful whites found a new way of discriminating against African Americans. She outlines the laws that boxed people of color into poor neighborhoods and ghettos, and how police, seeking funding from the federal government, kept their arrests high during The War on Drugs. The easiest way to do this was to turn these poor neighborhoods into occupied territories. She points out that the "colorblind" laws are simply a new way of not talking about race, rendering the issue invisible.

Alexander is highly critical of many politicians, and not just republicans. She is critical of both former presidents Clinton and Obama for adding on to the problem. (I will admit that it's hard for me to read criticism of Obama. It's not my most objective quality.)

Overall, I found Michelle Alexander's book to be highly informative and eye-opening. The one criticism I have is the amount of repetition.

I'm very glad to have read this! Right now, I am concerned that too many people do not understand what is really meant by defunding the police.