The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Michelle Alexander's groundbreaking book, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," offers a sobering view of the racial disparities that exist in the American criminal justice system. Alexander contends that the era of “colorblindness” in America has brought about conditions that have allowed a new type of racial caste system to be established. This caste system has been created through an oppressive criminal justice system that has pushed vast numbers of African Americans into an expanding prison system through the criminalization of poverty, culture, and race.

Alexander begins her book with a history of how the current system of mass incarceration developed. She recounts how the war on drugs, along with the changing political landscape of the Reagan era, set the stage for the criminalization of poverty, race, and culture that disproportionately affects African Americans. Notably, Alexander highlights the role that the Supreme Court has played in upholding the drug war, which she argues, was designed to criminalize behavior among racial minorities.

In the middle section of her book, Alexander examines the ways in which the so-called “war on drugs” has been the driving force behind the continuing racial disparities in the criminal justice system. She outlines the extreme measures employed by law enforcement officers and prosecutors to target and arrest Black Americans for minor and non-violent offenses, ultimately shattering families and whole communities in the process. Alexander offers real-life examples of how African American communities have been targeted, particularly in the inner city, which she claims was a direct result of this kind of racial profiling.

In the final section of her book, Alexander delves into the concept of “colorblindness” and how it has only served to further entrench existing disparities. She argues that the notion of “colorblindness” not only ignores the real underlying causes of the criminalization of poverty, race and culture, but also serves to perpetuate them. Alexander contends that while politicians, commentators and institutions may continue to tout the idea of “colorblindness” in America, the truth is that racial disparities and injustice remain rampant in the criminal justice system.

Overall, this book is an unflinching look at the racial disparities within the criminal justice system. Alexander provides statistical evidence to support her claims, along with compelling anecdotal evidence from victims of racism and injustice who have experienced the effects of mass incarceration first-hand. A must-read for anyone interested in understanding the continuing struggles that African Americans face in America today, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" is a powerful and thought-provoking work that serves as a call to action to end the systemic injustice of mass incarceration.