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The New Jim Crow
336 pages, 2012
Once in a great while, a book comes along that changes the way we see the world and helps to fuel a nationwide social movement. The New Jim Crow is such a book. Praised by Harvard Law professor Lani Guinier as brave and bold, this book directly challenges the notion that the election of Barack Obama signals a new era of colorblindness.
With dazzling candor, legal scholar Michelle Alexander argues that we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it. By targeting black men through the War on Drugs and decimating communities of color, the U. S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control—relegating millions to permanent second-class status—even as it formally adheres to the principle of colorblindness.
In the words of Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, this book is a call to action. Called stunning by Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David Levering Lewis, invaluable by the Daily Kos, explosive by Kirkus, and profoundly necessary by the Miami Herald, this updated and revised paperback edition of The New Jim Crow, now with a foreword by Cornel West, is a must-read for all people of conscience.
In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander explores the concept of systemic racism in the United States. She argues that the mass incarceration of black men is a new form of racial control, similar to the Jim Crow laws of the past. This book will make you see the criminal justice system in a new light.
Alexander digs into the War on Drugs and its disproportionate impact on black communities. She suggests that it was less about combating drug use and more about controlling certain populations. It's a thought-provoking look into a controversial policy.
The New Jim Crow highlights how discrimination doesn't end after prison. Alexander shows how former inmates face legal discrimination in employment, housing, and voting rights, creating a cycle of disadvantage. It's a sobering look into the long-term effects of incarceration.
Alexander explores how society, including the legal system, is in denial about the racial bias in the criminal justice system. She argues that this denial allows the new form of Jim Crow to persist. This book will challenge you to question your own beliefs and biases.
The New Jim Crow isn't just a book about problems, it's a call to action. Alexander encourages readers to challenge the status quo and fight for change. If you're looking for a book that will inspire you to make a difference, this is it.
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The New Jim Crow is the secular bible for a new social movement in early twenty-first-century America.
Cornel West - Philosopher, ActivistMichelle Alexander's brave and bold new book paints a haunting picture in which dreary felon garb, post-prison joblessness, and loss of voting rights now do the stigmatizing work once done by colored-only water fountains and legally segregated schools. With dazzling candor, Alexander argues that we all pay the cost of the new Jim Crow.
Benjamin Todd Jealous - Civil Rights ActivistThe New Jim Crow has changed the way I see the world, and has helped to fuel a national social movement.
Susan Burton - Social Justice AdvocateThe New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander, is a stunning account of the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States, one that has resulted in millions of African Americans locked behind bars and then relegated to a permanent second-class status.
Bryan Stevenson - Lawyer, ActivistThe New Jim Crow is a timely and stunning guide to the labyrinth of propaganda, discrimination, and racist policies masquerading under other names that comprises what we call justice in America.
Glenn E. Martin - Criminal Justice ReformerRecommendations
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