Who?
Jim Crow laws were removed from the book decades ago, but presently an unprecedented proportion of the Black Community is stored in jails or stuck in parallel social worlds, denying fundamental civil and human rights. Including the right to vote, the right to serve juries, and the free access to education and public benefits in terms of employment, shelter, legal stereotyping. Modern American culture is plagued by the traits of the New Jim Crow era, a phrase initially used by Michelle Alexander. The black society will always stand up for their rights.
What?
The New Jim Crow is a spectacular description of the revival in the United States of a caste-like system, which led to a locked-in of millions of African Americans, then condemned to a continuous second-class status – forbidden the rights allegedly gained in the Civil Rights Movement. According to Alexander, “several generations of black men who were born in the US but who were denied the most basic freedom that democracy promises – the freedom to vote” (230). The new Jim Crow has become one of the symbols of the struggle for equality of blacks.
When?
The book has been published on the New York Times Bestseller list since its release in 2010 and has led to awareness-raising at colleges, churches, community centers, re-entry facilities, and jails across the nation. According to Alexander, “there is a new story of slavery that is beginning to be told and retold across America” (2). After ten years, this book is still relevant.
Where?
With the elections of Barack Obama, the United States celebrated its “triumph over race,” and most blacks remain under correctional control or burdened with criminal records for life in major urban centers. Alexander writes that “an extraordinary percentage of black men in the US are legally barred from voting today, just as they have been throughout most American history” (231). The black people of the United States are among the most prominent fighters for justice.
Why?
Alexander illustrates that the American criminal justice system is a modern system of racial control, as it officially follows the color blindness principle by targeting the black people through the War on Drugs and by deceiving colored communities. Michelle Alexander wants to stimulate a discussion and start a mass movement to end the New Jim Crow (300). This problem has always been relevant in the United States, so Alexander decided to publish a book.
Work Cited
Alexander, Michelle. “The New Jim Crow,” 2021.