New Jim Crow Analysis

In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander talks about (putting many people in jail) and the comparison of how it is just like the Jim Crow time in history. She begins her discussion with the question, ‘Where have all the black men gone?’ (Alexander, 178) She (shows or proves) how newspapers, web sites, and TV and Obama did not give an honest answer to this question, that the large majority of them or in prison. She argues that in order to deal with this problem, we must be honest about the fact that this is happening, and the (unfair treatment based on skin color, age, etc.

) with the African American communities that is putting them there.

Alexander’s main (reasons for doing or saying something) focuses on the large majority of African American men (locked in a prison) today, as she reflects on the direct result of it that ‘young black men today may be just as likely to suffer (unfair treatment based on skin color, age, etc.) in employment, housing, public benefits. And jury service as a black man in the Jim Crow era- (unfair treatment based on skin color, age, etc.) that is perfectly legal, because it is based on one’s criminal record.’ (Alexander, 181) Alexander points out not only how a big portion of black men are ending up in prison, but how when released they face (unfair treatment based on skin color, age, etc.) because of their criminal record making them unable to repair and re-doilitate their lives and putting them back into the ghetto.

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(unfair treatment based on skin color, age, etc.) is a main factor which puts people of color in the prison/punishment system, and a main factor which when getting out keeps them from changing their (way of living) for the better.

Alexander next raises the question, ‘If we know [where all the black men have gone], why do we fake (the state of having no knowledge)?’ (Alexander, 181) The answer to this, is human’s state of denial, and their ability to ‘see only what they want to see and wear blinders to avoid seeing the rest.’ (Alexander, 182) For example, people see images of black men in handcuffs and know that large amount of them are locked in prisons Alexander points out. People also recognize the lifetime of (unfair treatment based on skin color, age, etc.) that results after a criminal of color is released from prison, however they claim to ‘not know that an undercaste exists.’ (Alexander, 182) Those who are in prisons are ‘out of sight and out of mind’, and when they are released they are cycled back into ghettos. They are hidden away and ignored from the public. (Colored part of the eye/flower) Young’s birdcage (physical thing that refers to an idea or emotion) helps serve the main (reasons for doing or saying something), (showing or proving) (related to what holds something together and makes it strong) (treating people badly or unfairly because of their race), explaining that all different wires of a cage are connected to another in a particular way, serving to enclose the bird so it cannot escape. The same goes for (putting many people in jail), as (information-gathering), unhappiness (because of not having a vote), and different sorts of (treating people unfairly based on their skin color) add/give to trapping African Americans into their cages, prisons. And when they are trapped in their cages, they are out of (community of people/all good people in the world) Alexander argues, forever.

Invisible punishment is a key part of this (unfair treatment based on skin color, age, etc.) which we must recognize in order to deal with these/to speak to these problems within our (community of people/all good people in the world). Invisible punishment is illustrated by Alexander when prisoners step outside the prison gates, and is a form of punishment that ‘operates outside the public view and takes effect outside the usual sentencing (solid basic structure on which bigger things can be built).’ (Alexander, 186) These are laws that secure/make sure of that the criminals that are released from the prisons never (cause people of different races, cultures, nationalities, etc. to work and live together) into the part of the regular majority of people white (community of people/all good people in the world). The denial of employment, education, and health benefits will all be (treating certain groups of people unfairly) actions that add/give to most criminals returning back to prison, being unable to overcome these (blocking or stopping things). Alexander refers to this as a ‘closed circuit of constant (forever) not importantity.’ (Alexander, 186) (in the end), (community of people/all good people in the world) which a person once lived in, after being convicted of a serious crime that person will never again be able to live in that same (community of people/all good people in the world). They will instead enter a separate (community of people/all good people in the world), being a victim of bad mistreatment and (unfair treatment based on skin color, age, etc.). Again, they are hidden from the public view and cycled through.After giving more examples of (unfair treatment based on skin color, age, etc.) these people of color face, Alexander offers limits and key differences within his comparison of the (putting many people in jail) system and Jim Crow laws. One main difference focuses around the role of racial mark of shame within our (community of people/all good people in the world). In the Jim Crow time in history, racial mark of shame pushed black people to take total (of everything or everyone) actions in order to defeat the (unfair treatment based on skin color, age, etc.) resulting in (angrily fight against unfair authority). On the other hand, racial mark of shame today ‘has turned the black community against itself, destroyed networks of back and forth/equal between people support, and created a silence about the new social class system among many of the people most affected by it.’ (Alexander, 202) Rather than total (of everything or everyone) actions, the racial marks of shame today are instead resulting few signs of back and forth/equal between people support for blacks between one another. Alexander goes on to state differences within the violence and awakeness/awareness of (treating people badly or unfairly because of their race) that also are major in (making different) the comparison.(in the end), Alexander shows how the racial social class system in the United State has changed (and gotten better) from abuse/mistreatment (slavery), (act of making something less important or smaller) (Jim Crow), to (process of making something much less important) (mass jailing.) She illustrates how (process of making something much less important) may sound better, but is far from using the quote from John a. Powell, ‘It’s actually better to be taken advantage of than (treated as much less important), in some respects, because if you’re fully used (for profit) probably you’re still needed.'(Alexander, 219) Throughout Alexander’s writing, she faces/deals with each individual problem throughout (putting many people in jail), but argues that that humans need to develop plans that face/deal with all those problems together, and will break down the system. If they succeed, blacks can become accepted into the ‘white’ (community of people/all good people in the world) of today, rather than being (treated as much less important).The New Jim Crow is forcing/forceful/interesting, however there are lies within it. For example, the comparison of Jim Crow Laws and (putting many people in jail) do have some (things that are almost the same as other things), however names most all prisoners it talks about as drug law-breakers, which most are of color while white prisoners are almost invisible. When looking up how much of the prison population drug law-breakers take up, it is only a quarter of people/of the group. Violent law-breakers take up one half of the prison population. With leaving these statistics out, does that go to show that the African American’s being put in jail in mass’s are only doing/performing drug crimes being stuck in the terrible drug war? Are they also committing a large part of/amount of the violent crime offenses, which would make sense that they are being put in prison? How many whites are doing/performing the crimes that are other than just drug offenses? Alexander is very convincing with all her attention towards the (treating people badly or unfairly because of their race) in drug prohibition, but does not point out many other areas of crime which add/give mostly to (putting many people in jail).