A review by rachelfaye
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

5.0

[Read in a social justice book club.] ABSOLUTELY MUST READ. Even though it is very academic, it is incredibly important to read. Watching the documentary on Netflix "The 13th" is a great supplement to this book, and even features this author quite a bit. I look at my white upper middle class upbringing, city, and the black people who lived there so differently now, as well as all those who I was previously taught to view as "criminals" instead of the much more humanizing and accurate individuals who have been brought into the criminal justice system. I learned about the school to prison pipeline, the War on Drugs, the failings of both Republican and Democratic presidents, the disgustingly obvious and proven ways that black and brown people are treated grossly different by law enforcement, how messed up cash bail is, and more. It's upsetting that barely any white people know this information (myself included before reading this book). (Note: I am a white woman from the US.)