In Chapter 2 of The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander talks about the Fourth Amendment, which warrants against unreasonable search and seizure, which is rarely mentioned today. I then realized that the problem now is that we are not told about our civil rights and liberties, which results in our loss of agency and power. This especially happens to more disenfranchised groups such as African Americans and Latinos, in addition to other racial and ethnic groups deemed “suspicious”. To those who believe that it is fair for black people to be unfairly targeted as “criminals”, is it fair for Latinos in Arizona to be stopped and checked for a green card to make sure that they’re not “illegal”? is it justifiable for Muslim and Arab Americans to be checked in airports to make sure that they’re not “terrorists”? All of these practices consist of the violation of the Fourth Amendment today.

In Chapter 3, a social psychology experiment is mentioned, which show that many white people, even the ones who said that they were unbiased, perceived drug criminals to be African-American. Negative stereotypes occur with other racial groups as well. I read in an article that many Americans reply in hostility when they see a sign in Spanish, because they believe that English should be the main language, even the only language, spoken in the United States. The mild hostility towards people of color is definitely a problem. In order for the criminal justice system to change, not only do Americans have to recognize their rights, but they also have to change their perceptions of others who they view as different from them.