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A review by knod78
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
4.0
A couple of years ago, I changed my long stance on the death penalty after seeing another black man set free after sitting on death row for many years based on bad evidence or in some cases really no evidence at all. From there, I started to see things differently when it came to the justice system. I would often make jokes based on real hard truths, but I never knew what I could do about it except do my best to vote in ALL elections. With the recent pandemic, a big curtain has unveiled a lot of racial biases in the America in which I started to further my education. Then, came George Floyd and well, it only strengthened my position to see what I should be doing or what I could do to educate myself; be better, look more closely at whom I voted into office.
With that, I have a lot of emotions about this book. It was eye opening for sure. There were times I read a chapter and realized holy crap that is awful and how did I not know any of this? Then, I got to the Supreme Court chapter and just sat in dismay of what I read. There's basic things in life I expect that will happen if I am ever arrested, but it's not happening for everyone. How people are arguing about being forced to wear a mask as government overstepping on constitutional rights, but not say a peep about unlawful search and seizures is beyond me. To that, I'm glad she went into detail about forfeiture seizures. I've long known about imminent domain as something my grandfather fell victim to 20 years ago, but I didn't know about this. In fact, it was my non-American husband who told me about this and I've been reading up on it more and getting more appalled. But I related it more to what we as Americans deemed terrorists at the time since this was post 9/11. I now see it in more of all encompassing light, which is even scarier.
I definitely liked that she talked about how all of the presidents are to blame for furthering mass incarceration after Reagan and not just Reagan. I liked that she showed counterarguments and the differences/similarities of Jim Crow Laws vs Mass Incarceration. I liked the updated Preface, which discussed what has happened since this book was published.
However, this book wasn't a 5 star, because it seriously felt like a padded college paper to me with constant repetitive information. I don't know how many times I read, "when they get out of prison, they will have no benefits, no job, no housing, no voting , no jury..." I'm not five. I get it and after the first 10 times you said it, I really got it. I didn't need it repeated 20 times for every chapter (that's being generous), including the updated preface, the foreword, preface, and the introduction. For instance, this was one of the many examples of repetitive information I read, which was literally separated by two paragraphs.
"professions are barred by state licensing agencies from hiring people with a wide range of criminal convictions, even convictions unrelated to the job or license sought."
"Even those who hope to be self-employed—for example, as a barber, manicurist, gardener, or counselor—may discover that they are denied professional licenses on the grounds of past arrests or convictions, even if their offenses have nothing at all to do with their ability to perform well in their chosen profession."UGH!
Also, I didn't like her general assumption that almost all people who perform violent crimes witnessed violent crimes or had them done to them. Quite of bit violent rapists haven't witnessed rape or had rape done to them. They are just rapists. I wished there was more data with this general statement and maybe a description of what is included in violent crimes.
I didn't like how she generalized that "illegal" immigrants can be whisked away for a conviction without any regard to people who came here legally. My husband awaiting his green card has been repeatedly told that if he's arrested and/or convicted, he will be deported and will not be allowed back in to the country again. So, I'm not sure why she made a point of several pages to discuss that as if it only applied to people here illegally when in actuality it is for ALL immigrants seeking access to this country.
Anyways, I loved this book and recommend it. However, I would suggest reading White Fragility first so you get an understanding of how we can't truly be a colorblind society.
With that, I have a lot of emotions about this book. It was eye opening for sure. There were times I read a chapter and realized holy crap that is awful and how did I not know any of this? Then, I got to the Supreme Court chapter and just sat in dismay of what I read. There's basic things in life I expect that will happen if I am ever arrested, but it's not happening for everyone. How people are arguing about being forced to wear a mask as government overstepping on constitutional rights, but not say a peep about unlawful search and seizures is beyond me. To that, I'm glad she went into detail about forfeiture seizures. I've long known about imminent domain as something my grandfather fell victim to 20 years ago, but I didn't know about this. In fact, it was my non-American husband who told me about this and I've been reading up on it more and getting more appalled. But I related it more to what we as Americans deemed terrorists at the time since this was post 9/11. I now see it in more of all encompassing light, which is even scarier.
I definitely liked that she talked about how all of the presidents are to blame for furthering mass incarceration after Reagan and not just Reagan. I liked that she showed counterarguments and the differences/similarities of Jim Crow Laws vs Mass Incarceration. I liked the updated Preface, which discussed what has happened since this book was published.
However, this book wasn't a 5 star, because it seriously felt like a padded college paper to me with constant repetitive information. I don't know how many times I read, "when they get out of prison, they will have no benefits, no job, no housing, no voting , no jury..." I'm not five. I get it and after the first 10 times you said it, I really got it. I didn't need it repeated 20 times for every chapter (that's being generous), including the updated preface, the foreword, preface, and the introduction. For instance, this was one of the many examples of repetitive information I read, which was literally separated by two paragraphs.
"professions are barred by state licensing agencies from hiring people with a wide range of criminal convictions, even convictions unrelated to the job or license sought."
"Even those who hope to be self-employed—for example, as a barber, manicurist, gardener, or counselor—may discover that they are denied professional licenses on the grounds of past arrests or convictions, even if their offenses have nothing at all to do with their ability to perform well in their chosen profession."UGH!
Also, I didn't like her general assumption that almost all people who perform violent crimes witnessed violent crimes or had them done to them. Quite of bit violent rapists haven't witnessed rape or had rape done to them. They are just rapists. I wished there was more data with this general statement and maybe a description of what is included in violent crimes.
I didn't like how she generalized that "illegal" immigrants can be whisked away for a conviction without any regard to people who came here legally. My husband awaiting his green card has been repeatedly told that if he's arrested and/or convicted, he will be deported and will not be allowed back in to the country again. So, I'm not sure why she made a point of several pages to discuss that as if it only applied to people here illegally when in actuality it is for ALL immigrants seeking access to this country.
Anyways, I loved this book and recommend it. However, I would suggest reading White Fragility first so you get an understanding of how we can't truly be a colorblind society.