The New Jim Crow

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In Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, she ties the history of the United States with social issues that exist between races in the modern era, including examples of the racial caste system, racial segregation, and white privilege. Although there are many thoughts on how America is a patriotic and free institution, Alexander’s view of the American history shows that white elitists will “rise to the occasion” to retake order and control over those who dare challenge their way of life, ensuring chaos amongst both sides. According to Alexander, the racial caste system in America never ceases but rather adapts. Alexander describes America’s history as a “story of the political and economic underpinnings of the nation’s founding which sheds …show more content…

Alexander notes this and states, “After the passage of the Civil Rights, the public debate shifted focus from segregation to crime” (43). The shift of the public focus was removed from something that directly segregated races to a law and order stance that could work on equality through all US citizens. Programs like law and order, and the civil rights movement may have been created to resist the resurgent caste system and resolve the major social issues regarding race but they never directly targeted those who segregate the rest of society. Alexander even describes the modern society’s effort to resolve the caste system when describing that when “Conservative politicians who embraced this rhetoric purposefully failed to distinguish between the direct action tactics of civil rights activists, violent rebellions in inner cities, and traditional crimes of an economic or violent nature” (43). This concept not only dehumanized those being segregated, but also created abhorrent identities for those who decided on this foundation of how their country provides life to the following generations. One of the first steps needed to take in order to solve a problem is to recognize that there is a problem. America has noticed the segregation in the system as a problem and is now distinguish between positive activism and deliberate prejudice by engaging the media, litigation, and policy. By doing so, Alexander's fear of "The New Jim Crow" and the idea that history repeats itself could be reversed by modern politics making the choice to step into the future with a new sense of freedom that is not limited by racial

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