Blog Post #1: Author's Argument

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 and black people.

Besides voting, the Ku Klux Klan and the government forced blacks into poorer neighborhoods and lower paying jobs. Over the years blacks had been living in poorer communities with less safety and consequently more drugs. Drug use was something that Alexander explained was one of the biggest reasons that the new Jim Crow exists today. In the 1970s, President Nixon declared the war on drugs, and drug related incarcerations sky rocketed. As drug use was more common in poorer neighborhoods, and people in poorer neighborhoods were majoritively black, a lot of the incarcerations were of black men. This is why the prison rates for black men are so high, and the excuse to put them there was that they were drug users.

(An assembly of Klu Klux Klan members)

The idea of black neighborhoods generally being poorer invites the idea that perhaps the new Jim Crow is not necessarily about racism, but more about classicism. In her introduction she mentions that several white or non minority individuals were also stuck in poor neighborhoods and would more likely become incarcerated. As she continues into the history of the Jim Crow and the mass incarceration she also mentions white indentured servants, and their low class. While obviously the main issue here is classicism, her argument is based off depicting the races inside these lower classes, and how they've been forced into poorer neighborhoods and incarcerated by an inherently racist government.

It's interesting to think back and see that since slavery was abolished, African Americans were discriminated against and then eventually got the right to vote and then it was just a little racism. However there was so much more systemic omissions in the African American community. Even after the Klu Klux Klan, the war on drugs was a way to further keep them in a lower economic and social class. For example, despite drug use declining, especially in poorer communities, Nixon still declared the war on drugs, and incarcerations of black men shot up. The problem was fixing itself, and then the government found a way to intervene to push more African Americans in jail.

Overall, I think the argument is definitely strong and most certainly feasible. It makes sense and the author conveys it well while providing lots of background information. Personally I agree with her stance so far, however I do think especially as of the 21st century that there is less separation between classism and racism. For the most part I think the government is more concerned with wealthy elites than racism in any class, and they simply want to keep their power.

Works Cited:

Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow. New York, The New Press, 2011.

"The Klu Klux Klan." National Geographic, 27 Jan. 2020, 

     www.nationalgeographic.org/article/ku-klux-klan/. Accessed 4 Mar. 2021.