The New Jim Crow Blog

 Hello! This is my fourth blog post and in this one I will be comparing some of what I've read so far in the book to recent discussions about Critical Race Theory and some of the controversy about what is getting taught in schools or training in government programs regarding racism. In the book I'm about half way through Chapter 5 and so far it's mostly summarized what Alexander has said in the book, however, she is moving onto what the term "the new Jim Crow" means.  If you don't know, Critical Race Theory (CTR) basically examines systemic oppression within governments and how minorities are impacted it. Many representatives in Congress support the existence of this mode and are trying to integrate into schools and educate more people on how it affects everyone. Racism today as described in The New Jim Crow  occurs more subtly then it did 70 years ago. Alexander has discussed how black men are targeted and incarcerated without means of escaping a felony. The ...

Hello! This is my third blog post and for this one I'll be doing a rhetorical analysis of Michelle Alexander's argument. So far I've read up to the end of Chapter 4. (Last post I said that what I had read was part of Chapter 4, but it was actually just a section of Chapter 3.) This chapter expanded on what Chapter 3 explained however it incorporated the targeted abuse towards minorities. I will be referencing some parts of Chapter 3 here as it contained some great examples of some of the rhetorical strategies that Alexander used. Alexander uses a lot of logos or logical and statistical analysis to convey her points. She uses anything from anecdotes to published police department statistics. This variety in her evidence not only shows that her arguments are valid, (because there are so many different forms of statistics she uses), but it also makes the book nicer to read. It doesn't sound like a narrative the whole time, but it doesn't sound like a report either. Ale...

 Hello! In this post I will be analyzing the content and argument of Alexander's writing up to the end of Chapter 2 and into Chapter 3, providing my own thoughts and reactions to what I read. It will be a mix of rhetorical analysis and an argument analysis as well as a reaction.  (This is not a post intended to go in depth at each, it's more of a laidback, reactionary post) So far in The New Jim Crow , Alexander has talked about how the War on Drugs targets poorer communities as well as black communities. She goes into depth about how police have been bribed into making pretextual traffic stops and then arresting a person for drug possession. The police also are able to perform unwarranted searches through loop holes and intimidation to scare a person for drugs. Alexander also talks about the court system and how a first time offender for selling just a few grams of drugs can go to jail for ten years, and a third time offender is applicable for a life sentence. It's strange...

The New Jim Crow  by Michelle Alexander dives into the possibility of new Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow Laws were enacted after the Civil War and denied equality among black and white people. In today's world, Alexander explores the new Jim Crow in the form of mass incarceration of African Americans. Today, felons are denied the right to vote and are legally unable to participate in society. The connection between blacks and prison is something that Alexander explains in the first 60 pages, and how the connection began ever since slavery. When slavery was abolished and the South was eventually destroyed at the end of the Civil War, black people were still socially and legally stuck below white people. It wasn't until the end of the reconstruction era until they could vote, (1870), and even then there were hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan that pressured and threatened blacks to vote a certain way. Voting is just an example Alexander uses to show the disposition between white a...