First hearing the claim of the author that mass discrimination exists through the criminal justice system, I’m sure, surprises many readers. Enough that the author has to spend many words in the introduction explaining her narrative on how she came about her conclusion. It would draw in any reader that is surprised with what is being presented. It worked for me as well.
Alexander spends the first chapter comparing the implementation of three important institutions: slavery, Jim Crow laws, and mass incarceration aka New Jim Crow laws. An important point that came up was that initially, racism in America grew as a byproduct of plantation owners seeking profit and security. Plantation owners wanted workers that wouldn’t fight back. Native Americans as always been threatening while white indentured workers have revolted in the past. Enslaving whites also would prevent immigrants from wanting to come to the new colonies. The solution was to bring in Africans that spoke a variety of different languages, thus preventing any unity. By fabricating the subhuman status of blacks, lower class whites were satisfied with not being part the lowest rung of society. According to Alexander, the country never recovered from this racism and always found new and better ways to maintain the status quo that would be harder to break.
With the newest form of racial discrimination, mass incarceration, the author is blaming previous presidents for making matters worse and by maintaining stronger laws against “criminals.” However, it is a matter of dealing with symptoms instead of battling the cause of such a high rates of incarceration. Often, dealing with symptoms simply wins more votes. The real solution at this point would involve somehow lowering drug abuse rates while lessening the punishment for those caught. More jobs wouldn’t hurt; less time for trafficking.
