This week we watched a TedTalk given by Michelle Alexander, summarizing much of what she discusses in her book The New Jim Crow. Her novel discusses the ways in which the prison system is used to keep black people disenfranchised and how it is designed to keep as many people in the system as possible. After watching this video we read an article detailing the way the schools have been used to support the prison system by treating children in poorer schools as though they had already committed a crime.
In Michelle Alexander’s TedTalk she talks about the way prison system has been able to perpetuate the unequal treatment of black people. Alexander says that biggest cause of our prison system’s structure is the War on Drugs which started in the 1980s. In 30 years the prison population has quintupled and the majority of those in prison are in for drug crimes. This is all due to the no tolerance policy on drugs, so that now there are more people in prison for drug offenses than all crimes committed in 1980. However, the no tolerance policy on drugs only applies to people of color. White people and people of color use and sell drugs at roughly the same rate, white people using drugs even more so, and yet people of color are imprisoned for drug related crimes at a much higher rate than white people.
The reason that all of this looks a lot like Jim Crow is because of the effects of life after imprisonment. After a person has been convicted of a crime they are denied many rights guaranteed to citizens of the United States. They are not able to receive federal assistance, they cannot vote, and cannot serve on a jury. All of these things are the very same things that were denied to black people for much of American history. It is so impactful that now more black men a denied the right to vote than were denied in 1870.
All of this information was deeply disturbing to me, although not that surprising. I was most surprised by the treatment of the children in the schools. However, when I really reflect on the treatment of black and brown people in this country, including black and brown youth, my shock diminishes significantly.
In Michelle Alexander’s TedTalk she talks about the way prison system has been able to perpetuate the unequal treatment of black people. Alexander says that biggest cause of our prison system’s structure is the War on Drugs which started in the 1980s. In 30 years the prison population has quintupled and the majority of those in prison are in for drug crimes. This is all due to the no tolerance policy on drugs, so that now there are more people in prison for drug offenses than all crimes committed in 1980. However, the no tolerance policy on drugs only applies to people of color. White people and people of color use and sell drugs at roughly the same rate, white people using drugs even more so, and yet people of color are imprisoned for drug related crimes at a much higher rate than white people.
The reason that all of this looks a lot like Jim Crow is because of the effects of life after imprisonment. After a person has been convicted of a crime they are denied many rights guaranteed to citizens of the United States. They are not able to receive federal assistance, they cannot vote, and cannot serve on a jury. All of these things are the very same things that were denied to black people for much of American history. It is so impactful that now more black men a denied the right to vote than were denied in 1870.
All of this information was deeply disturbing to me, although not that surprising. I was most surprised by the treatment of the children in the schools. However, when I really reflect on the treatment of black and brown people in this country, including black and brown youth, my shock diminishes significantly.