The New Jim Crow: Chapters 5 and 6

As The New Jim Crow came to an end, I have to say Michelle Alexander made a valid and convincing argument. While I still am somewhat skeptical and still believe that her own race caused her to be biased in her writing, I agree that there is a racial problem with mass incarceration that needs to be taken care of. In the beginning pages of Chapter 5 she states, “today, most Americans… don’t know the truth about mass incarceration.” I liked this section in particular because I, for example, am proof of that, and I’m sure most of you are, too. The difference between us and the rest of the Americans, however, is this book. We have read it, become educated about the topic, and changed our minds (some more than others, and if we haven’t changed our minds, it has at least caused us to think). I think that if more Americans read this work and other works exposing the “new Jim Crow,” their opinions will be changed as well. Alexander literally explains each of the parallels between mass incarceration and the old Jim Crow, among many other interesting facts and statistics. How could they not change their minds, even after all of that? To say the least, the book was very eye opening, and it made me think a lot about the future. I fear that no one truly knows what is in store for society in twenty to thirty years from now. My question to you all is, do you truly think a social movement (like Alexander explains in Chapter 6) is all that is needed to solve the problems put forth in The New Jim Crow? Or are we doomed to forever live in a world where two individuals can be treated so differently because of race?