#iamchinyere

[anubisthegayhighcouncil]

iamchinyere reblogged your post and added:

You just said they’re bottoms………………………..

your point?

[blackmalehair]

#BLACKTUMBLRBOOKCLUB

“THE NEW JIM CROW: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander

Summary 1: Intro & Chapter 1

     I, too, like how Alexander starts the book with describing one family generation of men that were and will not be able to vote due to Slavery, intimidation, Death and Incarceration! Attention grabbed, and I immediately see where she is headed. 

     “Hindsight is 20/20!” This quote is a great way to describe the current caste system, Mass Incarceration. Yes, I think that black leaders along with others systems that control the country, did not foresee the ills the harsh drug laws would provide, due to wanting safer neighborhoods. However, these laws would target, blacks, those who are less likely to abuse them. And once incarcerated, you are then prohibited from housing, employment, student loans and other necessities used to get on one’s feet. Thus, the prison and post-prison system isn’t utilized to rehabilitate drug abusers. 

     Think about this scenario! I’m convicted for a small amount of drugs. Regardless of the sentence, I am now limited to housing, employment, student loans and citizenship opportunities that would stunt economic growth. Hungry and homeless all paths lead backwards.

     Certain things were informative, like Reagan’s declaring a war on drugs before crack cocaine hit the streets, in a time where drug use was at it’s lowest. Also, the possibility that the government had a hand in peddling the drugs to the black neighborhoods. The decrease in education and drug programs versus prison expansion funding was also interesting and supported Alexander’s argument.

     @iamchinyere​, I must disagree,yet agree with the notion that Mass Incarceration can’t be define as a caste system or compared to Jim Crow due to whites being a victim of mass incarceration as well. Yes, Jim Crow was race-based. As described in Chapter 1, the white elites were always manipulating the situation to their advantage. During the Reconstruction Era, those poor whites and blacks came together under the Populist party. The white elites began to see their power broke the party up. This somewhat started of the Jim Crow era where separation laws were made. With black relegated to second-class citizenship and all whites having no limited opportunities, this gave poor whites a since of superiority. . I mentioned that to say that poor whites have always been victims throughout history, as Alexander mentioned, but even today there’s a sense of white pride even among poor whites.