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Reviews tagging 'Slavery'
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (10th Anniversary Edition) by Michelle Alexander
26 reviews
horizonous's review
challenging
informative
slow-paced
2.75
I fully agree that the War on Drugs disproportionately affected black communities throughout the United States and that the U.S. justice system needs a complete overhaul, but I'm having a hard time recommending this particular book to anyone who wants to start learning about these topics.
I not only found it to be heavily biased, bordering on going through a list of liberal talking points, tiringly repetitive and at times dated (even though I read the 10th anniversary editon). The more I read the more I also became aware of the author's way of presenting some of her statements without properly backing them up or cherry-picking facts in order to underline her arguments.
I'm well aware that I'm in the minority with my opinions, but I really do hope I will find better books about these topics in the future and in the meantime I will re-watch the Netflix documentary The 13th. In my recollection this film was truly eye-opening and a must-watch for anyone who doesn't know where to start with their education about the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States, which I unfortunately cannot say about The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.
I not only found it to be heavily biased, bordering on going through a list of liberal talking points, tiringly repetitive and at times dated (even though I read the 10th anniversary editon). The more I read the more I also became aware of the author's way of presenting some of her statements without properly backing them up or cherry-picking facts in order to underline her arguments.
I'm well aware that I'm in the minority with my opinions, but I really do hope I will find better books about these topics in the future and in the meantime I will re-watch the Netflix documentary The 13th. In my recollection this film was truly eye-opening and a must-watch for anyone who doesn't know where to start with their education about the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States, which I unfortunately cannot say about The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality and Racism
Moderate: Slavery and Violence
Minor: Racial slurs
erniedresser's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Police brutality, and Hate crime
rubybooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
medium-paced
5.0
I apologise in advance if this review is a bit jumbled - I listened to the audiobook, so I just made some notes while I was listening. This is definitely a book that you should read for yourself! I'll mention a lot of the themes Alexander touches on, and the ones that stood out to me, but so many topics are covered so I won't be able to mention them all. I'd highly recommend the audiobook, but I also want to get a physical copy so I can mark notes and passages.
The New Jim Crow is a work of non-fiction focusing on mass incarceration in the United States and how it affects Black Americans. I didn't know that much about mass incarceration in the US, beyond knowing vaguely about policies such as the war on drugs. And let me tell you, I learned so much from this book! Alexander backs up her ideas with evidence so well, which I appreciated as I can now integrate those examples into my own conversations. I read an updated edition that included an additional preface where Michelle Alexander addresses questions she has received about the book, such as why she focused on Black men and not Black women. and I liked that she included this.
Alexander covers so much in this book - it's impossible for me to mention it all. The book begins by talking about slavery and the aftermath of abolition. The birth of Jim Crow meant that even after slavery was abolished, it still continued through labour, discrimination and incarceration. Slavery even remained appropriate as a punishment for a crime. Alexander discusses the past in order to compare the systemic racism to the current state of mass incarceration in the USA. Everything is discussed within the context of colourblindness, and how it can be just as dangerous as being overtly racist.
There is a lot of discussion on Reagan's war on drugs, which I knew a little about, but I learned so much more detail here. For example, I didn't realise that the war on drugs actually started before crack cocaine was a thing, rather than a response. There was and is a huge discrepancy between drug charges for middle class white men using powdered cocaine, and working class Black men using smaller amount of crack cocaine. The amount of time people serve as minimal sentences for only carrying small amounts of drugs is horrific, especially when Alexander compares sentences to other countries.
It is common for police to use traffic violations as a pretext to search for drugs. Federal grants greatly incentivised the police force's participation too. Alexander uses the metaphor of a bird cage for systemic racism to link together many factors contributing to mass incarceration, such as police drug searches, racial bias, pressure to plead guilty, harsh sentencing laws, invisible punishment outside of prison and the treatment of people as second class citizens. A lot of this content is heavy, and some of the case studies were hard to read about because their situations were so clearly unjust. It was especially disheartening to see all the times the Supreme Court reversed their own decisions.
So overall, I would highly recommend reading this book. I think mass incarceration is a topic that a lot of people don't know much about, and I think this book is a great starting point to understanding its devastating impact and the relation of mass incarceration to past systems of racial control. The New Jim Crow helped me confront my own unconscious biases, as well as thinking more about comparisons to other justice systems. I learned so much from this book and it did not disappoint! I'd give content warnings for mentions of racism, mass incarceration, slavery, drug use, police corruption.
The New Jim Crow is a work of non-fiction focusing on mass incarceration in the United States and how it affects Black Americans. I didn't know that much about mass incarceration in the US, beyond knowing vaguely about policies such as the war on drugs. And let me tell you, I learned so much from this book! Alexander backs up her ideas with evidence so well, which I appreciated as I can now integrate those examples into my own conversations. I read an updated edition that included an additional preface where Michelle Alexander addresses questions she has received about the book, such as why she focused on Black men and not Black women. and I liked that she included this.
Alexander covers so much in this book - it's impossible for me to mention it all. The book begins by talking about slavery and the aftermath of abolition. The birth of Jim Crow meant that even after slavery was abolished, it still continued through labour, discrimination and incarceration. Slavery even remained appropriate as a punishment for a crime. Alexander discusses the past in order to compare the systemic racism to the current state of mass incarceration in the USA. Everything is discussed within the context of colourblindness, and how it can be just as dangerous as being overtly racist.
There is a lot of discussion on Reagan's war on drugs, which I knew a little about, but I learned so much more detail here. For example, I didn't realise that the war on drugs actually started before crack cocaine was a thing, rather than a response. There was and is a huge discrepancy between drug charges for middle class white men using powdered cocaine, and working class Black men using smaller amount of crack cocaine. The amount of time people serve as minimal sentences for only carrying small amounts of drugs is horrific, especially when Alexander compares sentences to other countries.
It is common for police to use traffic violations as a pretext to search for drugs. Federal grants greatly incentivised the police force's participation too. Alexander uses the metaphor of a bird cage for systemic racism to link together many factors contributing to mass incarceration, such as police drug searches, racial bias, pressure to plead guilty, harsh sentencing laws, invisible punishment outside of prison and the treatment of people as second class citizens. A lot of this content is heavy, and some of the case studies were hard to read about because their situations were so clearly unjust. It was especially disheartening to see all the times the Supreme Court reversed their own decisions.
So overall, I would highly recommend reading this book. I think mass incarceration is a topic that a lot of people don't know much about, and I think this book is a great starting point to understanding its devastating impact and the relation of mass incarceration to past systems of racial control. The New Jim Crow helped me confront my own unconscious biases, as well as thinking more about comparisons to other justice systems. I learned so much from this book and it did not disappoint! I'd give content warnings for mentions of racism, mass incarceration, slavery, drug use, police corruption.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery
kaitlynreadsbooks's review against another edition
informative
reflective
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, and Slavery
ebmaher's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
sad
Really a must-read for everyone (especially white people) so that you can understand how the war on drugs and the prison system is intentionally and structurally racist.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Police brutality, and Racism
Moderate: Slavery
readandfindout's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
On first read in 2018: 4.5 stars. Though I can't say that this was an enjoyable read (as the topic is maddening), it was extremely informative. It only lost half a star because it was at times repetitive.
2023 reread:
Overall rating: 4.5 stars
Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Perspective: 4.5 stars
2023 reread:
Overall rating: 4.5 stars
Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Perspective: 4.5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Police brutality, Racism, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Addiction, Racial slurs, Violence, Slavery, and Drug abuse
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