On the first page of the introduction, Michelle Alexander states, “In each generation, new tactics have been used for achieving the same goals – goals shared by the Founding Fathers. Denying African Americans citizenship was deemed essential to the formation of the original union” (1). I was surprised by this statement because I never thought about how doing such a thing could be essential. I knew that it was not addressed when creating the original union, but why would this still be a goal today?
It was interesting when I found out that “the War on Drugs began at a time when illegal drug use was on a decline” (6). For once, I think I’m convinced that the data pointing to a conspiracy was not coincidental. If the CIA knew that the guerrilla armies they were actively supporting were smuggling illegal drugs to the United States, why would they block efforts to investigate this crime? However, it’s not as surprising that an illegal drug crisis would suddenly appear after the drug war was declared because people tend to focus on sensational media. I remember writing in my paper about community about how most people gain strength after a crisis, but the media focuses on those who are devastated. In this case, “people of all color use and sell illegal drugs are remarkably similar rates,” but there are “stark racial disparities” between the rates at which people are imprisoned (7). I thought it was interesting how there was a time when people thought there would no longer be a need for prisons when about thirty years later, Clinton “slashed funding for public housing by $17 billion (a reduction of 61 percent) and boosted corrections by $19 billion (an increase of 171 percent),” especially after studies recognized prisons to be failures (57).
Everyone says that they want to be treated as equals. However, we continue to have racial discrimination in ways that help (Affirmative Action is supposed to help) and hurt minorities. Why does it seem like America, which is supposed to be all about equality, discriminates even more than other countries? While Alexander stated that the concept of race didn’t mean anything until Whites started conquering everything, European countries discriminate less than America.
Actually, I disagree with you on America discriminating more than other nations. I have wondered the same to myself but then I realized that it just seems that way because of how publicized the American history of prejudice is, due to what you said earlier in your post that the media, and even our history textbooks, our education are biased and just focus on the negative side of issues. The fact that America is known for equality explains how this is one of the most diversified countries in the world, filled with people from all different backgrounds, religions, race, etc. No matter where you are, there will always be some kind of discrimination just because it is difficult to accept each other’s differences in our nature, but I see America’s efforts in toning that down and protecting its people from that kind of hatred. Besides the Affirmative Action you mentioned, how about our Constitution? The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights is our freedom of speech, press, religion and petition. We are exposed to all different ideas and cultures because of this. In other countries, I doubt we would find the same as they have greater restrictions on what is accepted in society, and hence the more concentrated and limited backgrounds of the people you’ll find living in those European countries. I feel that America is progressively trying to establish equality for everyone while it is not easy and there are always people trying to destroy the freedom that also belongs to others, but look at how far we have come from the Jim Crow era that Alexander relates back to in The New Jim Crow…I think it’s fair to say that over the decades, America has found its own way to rebuild itself after its own crises.