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The New Jim Crow
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The New Jim Crow (2010) (edit title/settings)

Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

by Michelle Alexander (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

Jarvious Cotton's great-great-grandfather could not vote as a slave. His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Klu Klux Klan for attempting to vote. His grandfather was prevented from voting by Klan intimidation; his father was barred by poll taxes and literacy tests. Today, Cotton... read more

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Recommended by Leonard Pitts

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For more than one hundred years, scholars have written about the illusory nature of the Emancipation Proclimaiton.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction

Chapter 1 - The Rebirth of Caste
The Birth of Slavery
The Death of Slavery
The Birth of Jim Crow
The Death of Jim Crow
The Birth of Mass Incarceration

Chapter 2 - The Lockdown
Rules of the Game
Unreasonable Suspicion
Just Say No
Poor Excuse
Kissing Frogs
It Pays to Play
Waging War
Finders Keepers
The Shakedown
Legal Misrepresentation
Bad Deal
Time Served
The Prison Label

Chapter 3 - The Color of Justice
Picking and Choosing—The Role of Discretion
Closing the Courthouse Doors—McCleskey v. Kemp
Cracked Up—Discriminatory Sentencing in the War on Drugs
Charging Ahead—Armstrong v. United States
In Defense of the All-White Jury—Purkett v. Elm
The Occupation—Policing the Enemy
Unconventional Wisdom
Hollow Hope
Race as a Factor
The End of an Era

Chapter 4 - The Cruel Hand
Brave New World
No Place Like Home
Boxed In
The Black Box
Debtor’s Prison
Let Them Eat Cake
The Silent Minority
The Pariahs
Eerie Silence
Passing (Redux)
Gangsta Love
The Minstrel Show
The Antidote

Chapter 5 - The New Jim Crow
States of Denial
How It Works
Nothing New?
Mapping the Parallels
The Limits of the Analogy

Chapter 6 - The Fire This Time
Rethinking Denial—Or, Where Are Civil Rights Advocates When You Need Them?
Tinkering Is for Mechanics, Not Racial-Justice Advocates
Let’s Talk About Race—Resisting the Temptation of Colorblind Advocacy
Against Colorblindness
The Racial Bribe—Let’s Give It Back
Obama—the Promise and the Peril
All of Us or None

Notes
Index
Copyright Page

Glossary edit see section history

  • Mass Incarceration: "refers not only to the criminal justice system but also to the larger web of laws, rules, policies, and customs that control those labeled criminals."
  • Racial Caste: "a stigmatized racial group locked into an inferior position by law and custom."
  • Undercaste: "a lower caste of individuals who are permanently barred by law and custom from mainstream society"
  • Black Exceptionalism: The notion that certain African-American individuals succeed and refute the processes and allegations of a racial hierarchy at work in the U.S.
  • Bacon Rebellion: Incited by Nathaniel Bacon, a white property owner from Virginia, who sought to achieve the overthrow of elite property owners. He forged a union among white and black slaves.
  • Federalism: "the division of power between the states and the federal government"
  • Reconstruction Era: "the relatively brief but extraordinary period of black advancement... most typically described as stretching from 1863 when the North freed the slaves to 1877, when it abandoned them and withdrew federal troops form the South."
  • Permission to Hate: An implicit understanding bequeathed by a failure to refute, reign in, or recriminate against civil rights infringements
  • The Southern Manifesto: Drafted by Sam Ervin, Jr., senator of North Carolina, which indicated that the South would fight to maintain Jim Crow laws.
  • New Deal: Describe this term.
  • The Civil Rights Act of 1964: "formally dismantled the Jim Crow system of discrimination in public accommodations, employment, voting, education, and federally financed activities.
  • The Voting Rights Act of 1965: "rendered illegal numerous discriminatory barriers to effective political participation by African Americans and mandated federal review of all new voting regulations so that it would be possible to determine whether their use would perpetuate voting discrimination"
  • March on Washington for Jobs and Economic Freedom: August 1963 demonstration in which Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech
  • Welfare Queen: A derogatory reference coined by U.S. President Ronald Reagan to conjure up protests to the welfare system. It is generally conceded that the term was used to depict an African American woman. The term has since been used to generally refer to recipients of welfare benefits.
  • White Supremacy: A religious-like belief "in the idea that people of the African race were bestial <and> that whites were inherently superior"
  • Ruffin v. Commonwealth: A court proceeding in which the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that convicts were equated to slaves
  • Smith v. Allwright: A proceeding adjudicated by the Supreme Court in 1944 which resulted in the dissolution of all-white primary elections
  • Economic Opportunities Bill: Drafted by U.S. President J.F. Kennedy. Sought to end poverty
  • McLaurin v. Oklahoma: A court proceeding that resulted in the decision to de-segregate public schools in that state
  • Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986: Drafted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Introduced harsh punishment for the use of illicit drugs and increased funding to combat the use of illicit drugs.
  • Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act: "ended welfare as we know it"; drafted by U.S. President W.J. Clinton and introduced reforms to the welfare system, including time-limited deadlines on the support provided.
  • Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC): A discontinued welfare model that was replaced by President Clinton's Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
  • Posse Comitatus Act: "the Civil War-era law prohibiting the use of the military for civilian policing"
  • Gideon v. Wainwright: "the Supreme Court ruled that poor people accused of serious crimes were entitled to counsel"
  • re Gault: "In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled ...that children under the age of eighteen have the right to legal assistance with any criminal charges filed against them."
  • Overcharging: In legal proceedings, "the prosecutor is also free to file more charges against a defendant than can realistically be proven in court, so long as probable cause arguably exists"
  • Harmelin v. Michigan: "the Court upheld a sentence of life imprisonment for a defendant with no prior convictions who attempted to sell 672 grams (approximately 23 ounces) of crack cocaine"
  • Lockyer v. Andrade: "The most famous Supreme Court decision upholding mandatory minimum sentences"
  • Whren v. United States: "the Court held ...that police officers are free to use minor traffic violations as an excuse to stop motorists" suspected of engaging in drug trafficking
  • McCleskey v. Kemp: "the Supreme Court ruled...that racial bias in sentencing, even if shown through credible statistical evidence, could not be challenged"
  • Baldus Study: "named after Professor David Baldus...found that defendants charged with killing white victims received the death penalty" more often than when white defendants killed black victims
  • Yick Wo v. Hopkins: "the Supreme Court had recognized that racially selective enforcement violates equal protection of the laws"
  • Batson v. Kentucky: "the Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits prosecutors form discriminating on the basis of race when selecting juries"
  • Swain v. Alabaman: in 1965, "the Supreme Court had ruled...that an equal-protection claim would arise only if a defendant could prove that a prosecutor struck African American jurors in every case, regardless of the crime involved or regardless of the races of the defendant or the victim"
  • Neal v. Delaware: "The only case in which the Court overturned a conviction on the grounds of discrimination in jury selection"
  • Purkett v. Elm: "in 1995, the Supreme Court ruled that any race-neutral reason, no matter how silly, ridiculous, or superstitious, is enough to satisfy the prosecutor's burden" for justifying the dismissal of a potential jury participant
  • United States v. Brignoni-Ponce: "the Court concluded it was permissible under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment for the police to use race as a factor in making decisions about which motorists to stop and search"
  • Pluralistic Ignorance: "people misjudge the norm"
  • The Occupation: "the police presence in black communities"
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Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Michelle Alexander (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Cornel West (Introduction)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: The New Press, New York
Country: USA
Publication Date: December 5, 2010
ISBN: 978-1595581037
Page Count: 290

Classification edit see section history

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

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