Mass Incarceration: A New Age of Colorblindness

By Michelle Alexander
I agree with the sociological perspective presented and identified by the group for the social artifact, which was the conflict perspective. The conflict perspective views this problem as a definition to a person’s social status because of how the person is viewed and treated by law enforcement. It explains that an act is not naturally a criminal act, it is society that defines it that way. Michelle Alexander talks about her new book called “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness”. A very evident social problem that the social artifact faces is the war on drugs currently in our society because it is exclusively fought about in poor communities. This has branded African Americans and has

helped with the social discrimination. The drug war can also be described as racial politics. It suppresses minorities by pin pointing them as the evils in our society, when it comes to the use and the sale of drugs. The war on drugs has a lot to do with racial profiling. I live in Kissimmee and at this moment in time there are more Hispanics than ever before and that is the largest population in Kissimmee. I have lived in areas that are not that “great” or “safe” and I have seen firsthand how police automatically assumes that a young Hispanic male has drugs in his car. I have always been above the influence when it comes to drugs, but I have to be honest in saying some of my friends are not. College and University is a place where at very corner there is someone focused with prescription drugs like Adderall or maybe they are just high off of weed. Yet drugs in my university are not really controlled. I find it to be odd because in the community college I went to, the police was very entertained with the idea of finding a drug user or seller. My community college was nothing like my university.

One was mainly Hispanics and African Americans. The other is mainly Whites. With this said it is understood that there is a negative connotation with blacks and Hispanics especially when it comes to drugs. I know many people who have been in jail because of the use of weed. There is a particular story that stands out. A very close person to me was stopped by the police and asked if his car could be searched. When his car was searched and weed was found. He was sent to jail and had to do community service. What strikes me is the fact that my friend is a Black male of Hispanic ethnic background and he had his white girlfriend inside the car with him. The girlfriend was not charged with anything although the weed was found under her seat. Hispanic and black communities are constantly being searched and looked at closely because that is where the most “drug users” are located. That is not true. If police where to have the same kind of control in white communities, the same amount of people will be buying and selling drugs. Drugs or in this case weed is something that in my opinion should be legalized because it will minimize the act of racial profiling. It will alleviate the constant problem between

police and certain communities.