I’m surprised that I’ve never heard about this book on the news before because it deals with such a controversial topic.  Michelle Alexander claims that the War on Drugs is a conspiracy to continue racial discrimination and encourage racial injustices.  In the first chapter, Alexander reasons that there never should have been a War on Drugs because there wasn’t really a drug problem.  In the second and third chapters, she provides many examples of how the War has been used to incriminate blacks.  With all the information she provides, people have to wonder if African Americans really are being targeted.

Alexander does not include much information about what happens in court cases, similar to the ones she had mentioned, when the accused are white.  While it would be nice if she could give a fuller picture, I don’t expect her to, simply because this book reminds me of a persuasive essay.  The chapters in this book are already long, and bringing in the other cases might weaken her argument.  If people want to learn more about the other side, that information should be available in another book; it does not belong in this one.

In these two chapters, I am most curious about how it is legal for SWAT teams to invade people’s homes.  It doesn’t make any sense to me.  Also, when these invasions happen, the authorities are looking for drugs.  Why would they need the SWAT team to do that in the first place?