The New Jim Crow ★★★★★

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Click Here To Buy)

★★★★★

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander is a non-fiction book about how the criminal justice system targets and incarcerates Black men.

I read this as both an audiobook and a physical book, both of which I own and would encourage you to purchase. This is a book that I would categorize as #REQUIREDREADING

Alexander does a supreme job of leading the reader through each stage of incarceration from profiling to arrest to sentencing on to release and the remainder of life. In each stage she discusses how the system has been designed and implemented in a way to oppress Black men. She also details how we got into this predicament - how declaring the War on Drugs was actually just another way to keep Black men from advancing in society.

A few staggering statistics: Twice as many people are on probation or parole than in jail. White youth are a third more likely to sell drugs than African American youth. Defendants charged with killing white victims receive the death penalty 11x more often. 30-50% of individuals on parole are without a home. 70% of criminals did not graduate high school. In Chicago, Black men are more likely to go to prison than go to college.

My copy of this book was the 10th Anniversary Edition that contained a new Preface by the author that addressed everything that has has happened since it's original 2010 publication. The new preface talked about how prisons have filled up and now e-carceration and digital prisons are quickly becoming the new concern and this is just another form of oppression - improving the system is not the same as dismantling or reforming it.

Alexander’s advice to decarcerate communities is to educate ourselves and others, speak unpopular truths, provide support for those who have been harmed, and organize against the systems that seek to oppress, control, and divide us.

This is a book to fire you up, to get you mad about the injustice in the world, and to be inspired to become a part of how to change things. I’m happy to announce that I just turned in the last of my applications for a PhD in Forensic Psychology. My career goal is to be a part of the process that ends the criminalization of mental illness in America. Stay Tuned! :)

If you liked The New Jim Crow, I also recommend Insane by Alisa Roth, Just Mercy by Brian Stevenson, Until We Reckon by Daniele Sared, and A Knock at Midnight by Brittany Barnett.

Happy reading,

Ms.Bjork