https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/new-jim-crow/
The name Jim Crow is often used to describe the segregation laws, rules, and customs which arose after Reconstruction ended in 1877 and continued until the mid-1960s. What is Michelle Alexander’s main idea in this piece? What does she think is our current version of Jim Crow? How strong is her evidence and argument? While this was published over a decade ago, is it still relevant?
Michelle considers the development of a new Jim Crow system and brings up a lot of information supporting this idea, which is very powerful when discussing a topic like this one. She points out that disenfranchisement laws affect more African Americans today than in 1870. Michelle argues that the new Jim Crow is the mass incarceration of African Americans and that the Justice system created a racial undercast. Even though this was published over a decade ago, the issues Michelle discussed, especially incarceration and racial discrimination, continue to be present in the United States.
Michelle Alexander’s main idea is that the United States has not truly moved past the concept of race and that a new form of racial inequality exists, which she calls the new Jim Crow. This new Jim Crow is the mass imprisonment of African-Americans, usually black men, who are unfairly affected by the justice system. Her evidence suggests that there are more African-Americans incarcerated today than there were enslaved before the Civil War. She also states that drug offenses, specifically those related to the War on Drugs, have played a important role in the mass incarceration of black individuals. This is still relevant in today’s world because instead of these problems being fixed, they have evolved enough to the point of worldwide movements to stop the racial disparities currently ongoing. Examples like the BLM movement and the killing of George Floyd in 2020 show the long lasting issues.
The main argument of this essay by Michelle Alexander is that the US criminal justice system replaced the old Jim Crow law as another form of racial control. She makes it clear how the war on drugs is harmful towards black communities and used to put them in jail. This method of targeting black communities shows how they are losing their basic rights that took years and hard work to get. She mentions how if we take account of prisoners, most of them are African American men where some are labeled “felons for life”. The criminal justice system is putting them apart of a “growing undercast” which she adds on that “They can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education, and public benefits, much as their grandparents and great-grandparents were during the Jim Crow era”. This conveys that her evidence is strong enough to put awareness to the people. She uses examples of crimes we hear on the news and dig deeper behind the purpose. While this was published over a decade ago, this is still relevant. We still witness problems about how people of color are still facing discrimination and injustice. The issues from years ago have not totally vanished or been resolved; rather, they have just evolved in a different way.
The main idea here is that the current system of justice which is our new Jim Crow has not moved on from the past. In fact, it’s getting worse. Michelle Alexander provided facts that backed her opinion up like how in some states currently 80-90 percent of the drug offenders are either black or brown. Also giving more statistics on how black and brown communities are doing as of currently which turns out to be even worse than it was when slavery was in place in the 1960’s. She also explains on how America thinks we have passed this racist era and there isn’t any racism going around no more. 10 years ago, this is still relevant because there is there a lot of racism that’s been going around, and we have a similar justice system from 10 years ago.
Michelle Alexander’s main idea in this piece is that the United States hasn’t moved past the Jim Crow laws and racism is still very much alive today There have been historical changes such as Barack Obama becoming the first African-American to become president which has inspired many people today to believe that this country is the “Land of the free.” Alexander believes that the “Racial Caste is still alive and well in America.” She uses statistics that show how African Americans are facing racism to prove her argument. For instance, she states “There are more African-Americans under correctional control today–in prison or jail, on probation or parole–than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began, As of 2004, more African-American men were disenfranchised (due to felon disenfranchisement laws) than in 1870, the year the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified, prohibiting laws that explicitly deny the right to vote based on race.” etc. Michelle Alexander thinks that the current version of the Jim Crow laws is people of color having unfair criminal records and being denied there rights that people have been fighting for for years. Her claims prove that people of color are being negatively impacted by unfair drug offenses which has led to many African Americans to prison. Alexander also makes a key point on how the media associates the war on drugs with people of color, which portrays a bad image for African Americans. Michelle Alexander provides strong evidence for her claims because she uses statistics that strengthen her argument. Even though this was published over a decade ago, it is still relevant today as racism is still alive but hidden in our justice systems.
Her main idea is that the nation has not moved beyond race the way society tries to erase the fact that it is still discriminatory and unjust towards people of color, our society acts like race isn’t a “problem” anymore when it definitely is. The current version of Jim Crow reversed everything some grandparents have fought for in their time. This sets black people back to square one and even below that. She uses direct quotes from former presidents and their views on people of color and crime and uses data on people of color in prison and how the numbers shifted compared to decades ago. This is definitely still relevant because the treatment of people of color is still unfair and sadly there is no hope of it getting better in the future. The divide between races will only grow wider.