Haley Scholars Fall 2013 Reading Groups
"This book is not for everyone," Michelle Alexander writes in the preface to The New Jim Crow. "I have a specific audience in mind--people who care deeply about racial justice but who, for any number of reasons, do not yet magnitude of the crisis faced by communities of color as a result of mass incarceration."
At one point, Alexander notes, observers predicted that prisons might fade away. However, "far from fading away, it appears that prisons are here to stay. And despite the unprecedented levels of incarceration in the African American community, the civil rights community is oddly quiet" (9). She later notes her central position that "mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow and that all those who care about social justice should fully commit themselves to dismantling this new racial caste system" (11).
Based on the topics that Alexander begins presenting in the introduction to make her case concerning the magnitude of the crisis, what drew your attention most? Why or how so?