LOIE
Gold Member
- May 11, 2017
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I would like to share in short form and excerpts, what Michelle Alexander’s book, “The New Jim Crow” states and documents in detail:
Most of us understand the Jim Crow era. We’ve seen pictures of “Whites Only” signs on rest rooms and water fountains. Following the collapse of THAT Jim Crow system, another one took its place – a new Jim Crow, a new racial caste system - a well-designed system of racialized social control. People who still believed they were superior, decided they could put in place a new racial caste system without violating discrimination laws. They did that by demanding “law and order” rather than “segregation forever.”
The pitting of low-income whites against low-income blacks intensified the view among many whites that the condition of life for the disadvantaged, particularly the blacks, was their own fault. The racially segregated, poverty-stricken ghettos that exist in inner cities across America would not exist today if it weren’t for racially biased government policies. Slavery defined what it meant to be black (a slave) and Jim Crow defined what it meant to be black (a second-class citizen). Today mass incarceration defines what it means to be black (a criminal).
The myth that black men choose to be criminals must be resisted. African Americans are not significantly more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites, but they are made criminals at drastically higher rates for precisely the same conduct. Studies suggest that white professionals may be the most likely of any group to engage in illegal drug activity, yet they are the least likely to be made criminals.
Putting together being black with being criminal did not happen by itself. It was constructed by political and media elites as part of the broader project called the war on drugs.
Mass incarceration, like Jim Crow, was born when white elites exploited the racial hostilities, resentments and insecurities of poor and working-class white voters. The genius of the current caste system is that it appears voluntary. People choose to commit crimes and they get locked up. But here’s the truth. All people make mistakes. Yet there are people in the United States serving life sentences for first-time drug offenses, something unheard of anywhere else in the entire world.
Martin Luther King envisioned a society in which all human beings of all races are treated with dignity, and have the right to food, shelter, health care, education and security. This vision could open the door to meaningful alliances between poor and working-class people of all colors, to begin to see their interests as the same, not in conflict, not in competition.
Most of us understand the Jim Crow era. We’ve seen pictures of “Whites Only” signs on rest rooms and water fountains. Following the collapse of THAT Jim Crow system, another one took its place – a new Jim Crow, a new racial caste system - a well-designed system of racialized social control. People who still believed they were superior, decided they could put in place a new racial caste system without violating discrimination laws. They did that by demanding “law and order” rather than “segregation forever.”
The pitting of low-income whites against low-income blacks intensified the view among many whites that the condition of life for the disadvantaged, particularly the blacks, was their own fault. The racially segregated, poverty-stricken ghettos that exist in inner cities across America would not exist today if it weren’t for racially biased government policies. Slavery defined what it meant to be black (a slave) and Jim Crow defined what it meant to be black (a second-class citizen). Today mass incarceration defines what it means to be black (a criminal).
The myth that black men choose to be criminals must be resisted. African Americans are not significantly more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites, but they are made criminals at drastically higher rates for precisely the same conduct. Studies suggest that white professionals may be the most likely of any group to engage in illegal drug activity, yet they are the least likely to be made criminals.
Putting together being black with being criminal did not happen by itself. It was constructed by political and media elites as part of the broader project called the war on drugs.
Mass incarceration, like Jim Crow, was born when white elites exploited the racial hostilities, resentments and insecurities of poor and working-class white voters. The genius of the current caste system is that it appears voluntary. People choose to commit crimes and they get locked up. But here’s the truth. All people make mistakes. Yet there are people in the United States serving life sentences for first-time drug offenses, something unheard of anywhere else in the entire world.
Martin Luther King envisioned a society in which all human beings of all races are treated with dignity, and have the right to food, shelter, health care, education and security. This vision could open the door to meaningful alliances between poor and working-class people of all colors, to begin to see their interests as the same, not in conflict, not in competition.