A heavy and cruel hand has been laid upon us. As a people, we feel ourselves to be not only deeply injured, but grossly misunderstood. Our white countrymen do not know us. They are strangers to our character, ignorant of our capacity, oblivious to our history and progress, and are misinformed as to the principles and ideas that control and guide us, as a people. The great mass of American citizens estimates us as being a characterless and purposeless people; and hence we hold up our heads, if at all, against the withering influence of a nation’s scorn and contempt. – Frederick Douglass, in a statement on behalf of delegates to the National Colored Convention held in Rochester, New York, in July 1853.
*One could say that this statement by Frederick Douglass that headlines chapter 4 in author Michelle Alexander’s bold new book and stunning work of scholarship, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, frames the debate in this provocative book – A book in which Alexander won the 2011 NAACP Image Award for. Perhaps we need also to allow the Supreme Court’s famous proclamation a few years later in 1857 that the author references to resonate with us to better understand the haunting picture that Alexander presents in her book – [the black man] has no rights which the white man is bound to respect. This was actually a statement by Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney.
Jim Crow was actually the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states, between 1877 and the mid-1960s. Jim Crow was more than a series of rigid anti-Black laws. It was a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second class citizens. Jim Crow represented the legitimization of anti-Black racism. There is a relationship between crime, security, and human rights, or lack thereof. In order for one group to feel safe, another must be watched, suspected, and treated as pariahs. Thus, giving a sort of twisted legitimacy to Jim Crow.
Alexander uses a pertinent analogy in her book, when she states: “Saying that mass incarceration is the New Jim Crow can leave a misimpression. The parallels between the two systems of control are striking, to say the least – in both, we find racial opportunism by politicians, legalized discrimination, political disenfranchisement, exclusion of blacks from juries, stigmatization, the closing of courthouse doors, racial segregation, and the symbolic production of race – yet there are important differences. Just as Jim Crow, as a system of racial control, was dramatically different from slavery, mass incarceration is different from its predecessor. In fact, if one were to draft a list of the differences between slavery and Jim Crow, the list might well be longer than the list of similarities.”
I, personally, can identify and appreciate many of the hypotheses that Alexander comes up with in her book, such as false accusations, privacy violations, and racial profiling. Many young black Americans, including my own children, have resorted to having a mistrust in the police, feeling that somehow because of the color of their skin, their civil rights might be violated. Unfortunately, my own daughter, has a serious dislike for the police. I suppose seeing her brother, my son, being brought into a courtroom in chains had a lot to do with that. It was a hurtful experience for me, as well as the rest of our family, especially considering the fact that a couple of years earlier he was an Honor Roll student in high school and would later receive a scholarship in architecture to Syracuse University. Nothing could have prepared our family for the indignity and hurt that we would later experience, which is sometimes typical of other black experiences, and what the author so eloquently describes in her book.
A particular passage resonates with me in Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, as she states: “Fully 70 percent of men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five in the impoverished and overwhelmingly black North Lawndale neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side are ex-offenders, saddled for life with a criminal record. The majority (60 percent) were incarcerated for drug offenses. These neighborhoods are a minefield for parolees, for a standard condition of parole is a promise not to associate with felons. As Paula Wolff, a senior executive at Chicago Metropolis observes, in these ghetto neighborhoods, ‘It is hard for a parolee to walk to the corner store to get a carton of milk without being subject to a parole violation.’” I actually lived in this North Lawndale neighborhood in Chicago before moving out to San Diego.
Michelle Alexander
Ironically, the author references my former Church in Chicago, the Apostolic Church of God, as she states: “It was no ordinary Sunday morning when presidential candidate Barack Obama stepped to the podium at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago. It was Father’s Day. Hundreds of enthusiastic congregants packed the pews at the overwhelmingly black church eager to hear what the first black nominee for president of the United States had to say.” It was at this Church where I would get my baptism in Prison Ministry, for 10 years driving our Church van over to Cook County Jail to minister to a majority black inmate population once monthly, then occasionally going down to Statesville Prison in Joliet, Illinois, to also minister to a mostly black and latino inmate population. On one occasion while down at Statesville with our Prison Ministry, and someone called out my name – my younger brother happened to be the incarcerated.
The significant part about the author referencing the speech by presidential candidate Barack Obama at my former Church, was Alexander stating; “The message was a familiar one: black men should be better fathers. Too many are absent from their homes. For those in the audience, Obama’s speech was an old tune sung by an exciting new performer. His message of personal responsibility, particularly as it relates to fatherhood, was anything but new; it had been delivered countless times by black ministers in churches across America.” Leave it to Alexander, this brilliant author and former director of the Racial Justice Project at the ACLU of Northern California, to put Obama’s speech in its proper and historical context, as she states in The New Jim Crow: “The fact that Barack Obama can give a speech on Father’s Day dedicated to the subject of fathers who are ‘AWOL’ without ever acknowledging that the majority of young black men in large urban areas are currently under the control of the criminal justice system is disturbing, to say the least. What is more problematic, though, is that hardly anyone in the mainstream media noticed the
oversight.” The author of this book, that is the recipient of an NAACP Image Award, further states in regard to President Obama’s speech: “Hundreds of thousands of black men are unable to be good fathers for their children, not because of a lack of commitment or desire but because they are warehoused in prisons, locked in cages. They did not walk out on their families voluntarily; they were taken away in handcuffs, often due to a massive federal program known as the War on Drugs.” Thousands of black men have disappeared into prisons and jails, locked away for drug crimes that are largely ignored when committed by whites, according to Alexander.
Perhaps President Obama’s most significant appointment that was made once he ascended to the Oval Office, was that of appointing Eric Holder, another black man, to Attorney General of the United States, where he could combat years of unequal application of the laws of the land on young black men – such as a D’Mustafa A. Abdullah, a longtime and childhood friend of mine that had been caught up in the crack vs. cocaine debate on sentencing. D’Mustafa has missed the majority of the formative years of his son’s life, like so many other black men, languishing in prison. Probably most egregious in D’Mustafa’s case, is the fact that a now fired Special Agent, was allowed to divert drugs and monies, while entrapping young black men – with court records indicating that an Assistant U.S. Attorney understood it as the “cost of doing business!”
In an interview with the author while she was on a book promotion tour in San Diego, I questioned her about the propriety of an incarcerated black man with a documented history of mental illness being executed, and Alexander stated to me that she thought that was a human rights violation.
Alexander’s The New Jim Crow has started a much needed discussion around the world, one of which is The Mayor’s Commission on Human Rights in Springfield, Missouri – plans to discuss whether felons deserve protection from discrimination beginning at its Feb. 15 meeting. Commission Chairman George Davis said that if employers refuse to hire felons for non-risk jobs, they need a valid reason. This book is a call to action, a book that I highly recommend.
Dennis Moore is a member of the San Diego Writers/Editors Guild and the author of a book about Chicago politics, “The City That Works: Power, Politics and Corruption in Chicago.” He has been a freelance contributor to the San Diego Union-Tribune Newspaper and EURweb. Mr. Moore can be contacted at damien_brandy@yahoo.com or you can follow him on Twitter at: @DennisMoore8.
Thought provoking article on an insightful book by Michelle Alexander.
But Obama is something else. All up in them folk’s church reading that scripted speech blaming black fathers for being absent, knowing full well that the damn racist system is to blame.
No wonder Jesse had to call him.
I wonder who wrote the speech for him?
Probably one of his white handlers.
But all those folks nodding their heads in the choir reminds me of the Obama surrogates on this site who always have an excuse for his every shortcomings.
But you would think that by the time he became president and appointed a black AG, he would finally come around to showing some concern. After all, in that very speech, Obama acknowledged that the government is part of the problem, and promised to bring about change when elected. But I guess that was just campaign pandering.
And that’s exactly why I would vote for Ron Paul in a NY minute if that presents a chance to end this racist war on drugs, as he promises to do. I would rather vote for a reformed racist over some psycho babbling black man who constantly wants to ascribe blame to absent fathers, but won’t do shyt about addressing the Jim Crow system responsible for the problem.
MICHELLE ALEXANDER: Nothing less than a major social movement has any hope of ending mass incarceration in America or inspiring a recommitment to King’s dream.
That social movement could be the election of someone willing to do something about it, like Ron Paul.
I think you missed the point! Are you serious about Ron Paul? You have got to be kidding me! Why is it that people expect some miracle from this man because he is the first black president of these United States? And I emphasize, The United States. Why is it that because he is black that all of our worries will be fixed or go away? When have we had a champion on our side? It sickens me when I read this mumbo jimbo about how our president should be able to move mountains. obviously you are a racist; “I would rather vote for a REFORMED RACIST(there is no such thing as a reformed racist) OVER SOME PSYCHO BABBLING BLACK MAN. Enough said about your babbling!
Wrong, wrong, wrong. No, I’m not a Fox news viewer. Are you? Takes one to know the other.
And not because I support Ron Paul for being the only presidential candidate with the balls to say that the war on drugs is racist for targeting blacks and that he would abolish it, doesn’t make me a Republican. Yeah, I voted for Obama, but if Ron Paul had received the Republican nomination, I would seriously consider voting for him. The problem with house negroes like you is that your self esteem is so low, that because we have a black president, you think it is sacrilegious to criticize him, even when he obviously would rather look the other way than to do something to alleviate the sufferings of black people.
”Why is it that because he is black that all of our worries will be fixed or go away? When have we had a champion on our side?”
No, we have never had a champion on our side, because we have never had a person in there who knows what it’s like to be black, until now.
So is Obama your champion?
In what way could Obama possibly be a champion for black people?
Take the mass incarceration of blacks. He doesn’t need Congress. He can give an executive order to his DOJ to stop the racial profiling responsible for blacks being arrested on federal drug charges at five times the rates for whites, even though both groups use the same amount of drugs. And why the fuck can’t he say that the war on drugs is executed in a racist manner? Ron Paul can.
When the Congressional Black Caucus said there needs to be targeted measures to help the disproportionate amount of blacks affected by the recession, what was his answer?
Champion Obama:
A rising tide lifts all boat.
To which Rep. Laura Richardson responded:
“The approach that assisting all communities helps African-Americans get jobs is a bunch of bull.”
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver further said:
“If we had a white president we’d be marching around the White House.”
Paul Butler, law professor at Georgetown University:
“African-Americans, on the other hand, are like Charlie Brown on Halloween. While everyone else gets candy, they get a rock.”
So are these black congress men, congress women and intellectuals racist too?
Nobody expect Obama to perform miracles, but the least we should expect is an effort from him on the behalf of blacks. As professor Butler said:
” On the campaign trail, Obama delivered to Latinos his own version of The DREAM Act, gays received their long-sought presidential endorsement of same-s*x marriage, and union workers get a job-protection intervention directed at China.”
We as blacks could also get what’s due to us, if it wasn’t for low self esteem house negroes like you who keeps holding back the race.
First Ron Paul is a racist and if you think that voting for him would somehow end the war on drugs are make your station in life better, you are sadly mistaken. I like, look the other way; non-sense. The man is the president of the United States, not the United Negro States. Nobody says you can’t criticize the man, but rest assured, you don’t know what he knows. I see you don’t understand that by helping everybody you are helped as well. You sound more like the house negro trying for favors from the master, by telling of someone’s plans to run.Some how I get the impression that you are a angry black man. I wonder why that is, unless you are jealous of the man. Enough of this dribble; if you can’t see the brick wall of opposition, and the naysayers like yourself with your negetive positions, and instead help with some solutions, then you are right, there is nothing for you to look forward too
You may be right about Ron Paul selling us bullshit to get votes. Even though he’s known as someone who sticks by his word and he’s been speaking out against the war on drugs for years. But I look at this way. Given what’s at stake, what would I have to lose? A lot of people don’t understand just how incarceration is responsible for holding back black people, specifically in depriving us of wealth and keeping us broke. I speak from personal experience. There is someone in my life who has a record, and who I help to support because of how difficult it is for this person to find and hold a job. Now the rate at which black people is affected by the criminal justice system, my situation would apply to like one out of every four black households. Someone is there who can’t carry their weight and holding back the household form achieving its earning potential. Now even if these black people with a record did do the crime, if it wasn’t for racial profiling, the burden would be shared equally across all races.
No, I’m not an angry black man. I’m a desperate black man. Desperate for someone to finally come by and do something about this racist criminal justice system that’s so responsible for holding back the black race. Since the Democrats won’t, I have no problem looking elsewhere. Republican, Libertarian, Independent …
Furthermore, Ron Paul isn’t even a true Republican. He’s a smart Libertarian who uses the Republican platform to get out his message. I don’t agree with a lot of his politics, but when it comes to something as important as the warehousing of blacks, I have to hear him out.
Red, I like your softened tone. I’m angry too about the disproportionate black men incarcerated at the hands of this racist system. The books were cooked long before Obama took office. I don’t try to second guess our president, you either trust him or you don’t. I trust him. I believe that he is doing a great job given the circumstance. You can help as I do. Stop people from saying things like, “It’s our fault that we are in this situation. And how the whiteman has the control.” With this kind of language you automatically put yourself in propective. It helps keep the status quo in tact. Now it may be true, as far as the money goes, but we are not second class citizens. We need to stop saying dissparaging things about who we are. I’m with you for the answers. Trust me Ron Paul is not the answer. He is a racist and would just as soon see black people still segragated, as his son has stated. He is a Republican, through and through. His policies are no different than the rest of the Republicans. He thought it clever, and would get the young vote, by stating he would end the war on drugs. We have three branches of goverment, and like Mitten’s promises to repeal ACA upon entering office, was a fallacy; no president has that powder without the other branches. I also think the war on drugs has more to do MONEY, and will continue as long as there are prisons for profit. We can help, first stop disparaging our president, he has enough naysayers without your help. I just received a call from a friend and I told her about this comment and how I was answering it. She simply told me to tell you to go back and look up the Jackie Robinson’s story.
I truly do believe that under a second term with President Obama there will be some profound and substantive changes that will positively address our concerns. President Obama’s Chicago home is actually several blocks from my former Church in the referenced video, and I am proud to say that he is a friend to the Church and the community. This Obama bashing, particularly from within our Black community really needs to stop! Sure, he is not perfect, and the problems that plague us as a people is not going to go away over night – but I truly do believe that this President is a much better alternative.
I recall being a volunteer member of the Prison Ministry at this Church, the Apostolic Church of God, for more than 10 years, and I know and saw the many positive changes that we made in the lives of those incarcerated. I recall our Prison Ministry going to “Statesville” Prison in Joliet, Illinois, and an inmate coming up to me and asking me if God could forvive him for his sins, as if whatever reason he had been imprisoned was so heinous that he could not be forgiven. I recall telling him, of course, as God had forgiven Paul, and paul had once said that he was the “Chief Sinner!” I also recall delivering toys to the children of many of those incarcerated on the southside of Chicago through the “Angel Tree” program, along with my young son Julien and so many other volunteers, the day before Christmas. There is a story behind this incarceration of our people that needs to be told, and Michelle Alexander’s book is just one facet of it.
Your “hope” is not substantiated. You can keep “hoping” til the cows come home. Obama get re-elected with your “hope” then dismisses you and your community once he’s in office. Nothing he’s done, from his appointments to his policies, validates your “hope.” Best to deal with facts. Dealing with the facts–his mediocre record overall and abysmal record relative to the Black community–will allow you to turn your “hope” into action. Your making excuses for this politician only embolden him to continue to marginalize you. Best to “bash” or criticize or strongly push him and stop coddling him. Coddling him gets you statements like this, which he made in April 09 when asked about targeted policies for disproportionate unemployment among Blacks: “A rising tide will lift all boats. No special treatment or attention.” http://newsone.com/nation/cganemccalla/obama-addresses-black-unemployment-at-press-conference/
If there is one reason I want Obama to get a second term, is to hear what excuse these folks will have when there is no change the second time around.
A Dark Pupil, Watching: On being black in the era of Obama
Obama supporters argued that we should not be critical of Obama during the campaign because, if we did, he may lose the election. “He was just playing the game,” some argued. “Once he gets into office, then he will be the man we all think he can be.” Now that he is in office, they argue that we must be silent because he has so much on his plate: multiple wars, a broken economy, health care, etc. “Besides,” they like to say, “he’s only been in office one year. It’s going to takes years before we see a real recovery. In the meantime, we need to give him a break. He’s also got to think about re-election. Once he gets re-elected, then there will be less pressure on him to conform and he’ll be the man we think he can be.” If he manages to get re-elected in 2012, let me give you a preview of the argument for saying nothing at that point. It’ll go something like this: “He can’t do anything because he’s the leader of his party and he has to make sure a democrat wins the next election. He can’t rock the boat too much because, if a republican wins, he or she might undo all the gains made by Obama.” These gains, by the way, are ones that none of his most ardent and loyal supporters will ever see. After a two year campaign and 8 years in office, we will have nothing to show for it other than ten years of silence and suffering. Moreover, we’ll be in an even weaker position to make demands of anyone who takes office. Still, some will argue, “Why say anything about Obama at all?”
What about the book??
You are obviously a Fox news viewer. The Republicans lost, okay. I know your dreams were wrapped up in Mittens lies. That’s why he lost. As much as your kind wishes that this country is slipping into oblivion, you are wrong. This man has played chess with these checker playing, racist republicans, and he won! Try again in 2016.
Apparently you missed the entire election cycle. He is only one part of the executive branch of goverment. Your head must be in the sand, and I’m not going to try and save you. You seem bent on demonizing this president. Something like the people on Fox News. I see it differently. I think the man has made great strides considering the opposition. Of course that doesn’t matter to people like you because you think that because he is president and black, the world as we know it will somehow magically become black friendly. That’s not the case, and made even harder with people like yourself. The evidence is this huge win for this president. It’s funny how all the naysayers find all of these faults wtih the man, and don’t know doodly squit about this man’s load of responsiblities. Like a a** holes, everyone has one, and is entitled to his own oppinion.
So, you don’t think tides lift all boats. Well let me school you, they do. I’m an African American, and I have hope for this country. You are sadly a pessimist and nothing will turn you head in a positive direction. You must have thought that because we now have a black president, that he’d be able to move a mountain. I know other black men who feel like you do, and leading the march is Tavis Smiley and his cohort Cornell West. Since their tirades were mostly non-sense and misguided, I simply deemed them jealous, like you appear, and dropped them from any meaningful conversation. What is it about black men, as our tradition, to pull each other down? This was sit into motion during the Jim Crow period. Some blacks in able to get favors from their white superiors, would throw their black brother under the bus. Sadly this mentality still exist in the black commuitiy by design. My hope is that this president will help further our cause. By helping the United States at large to regain it footing, everybody will benefit. Even naysayers like your self.
Hi Dennis, I came to this site to comment on your review of Michelle Alexander’s book. That was a while ago. I was detained with some of the other comments about our president. Some I found offensive, if not down right racist. I was compelled to respond. However, I’m finally ready to comment on, The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander. There has been a subtle form of Jim Crow since the enactment of the Jim Crow laws. Black men incarcerated is by design, part of the status quo. Private prisons are for profit now. The change will only come when we stand up to tyranny and the oppressive powers that be. The president can only help facillate this progress, as I belive he will. The book, I have not read but I’m well aquinted with Jim Crow. I applaud her for bringing this to bare and I do think we’re on the right track. My two novels, Uncle Otto and Wayfarers, both deal with racial inequality but the first one Uncle Otto, deals directly with The Jim Crow South. The second one was set in post Civil War era, and dealt with slavery before Jim Crow. I guess there was no need for Jim Crow when black people were slaves already. Check out my website: http://www.winfredcook.com
This is not just about Obama!
Why not put your focus on Michelle Alexander’s book, and not Obama, is this is about Jim Crow and Mass Incarceration?
Mr. Moore you wasting your time with these individuals. To them everything that Black folks lack is the President’s fault.
In all fairness, you chimed in suggesting that we should stop “bashing” Obama because he’s better than the alternative. That’s really not a substantive defense of Obama at all..but a talking point hurled around by dems.
WRT to the book, you devoted 4 sections of this review talking about Obama. Not sure why you now would rather people focus on the book when we’re simply reading your review.
Personally, I am going to amazon in the next minute to order the book because it sounds interesting. I also thought it was refreshing to see someone not ‘praise” Obama’s speech in the way so many blacks did when he first made the father’s day speech attacking black men..failing w/o any interest to give most of the time crediting those of who are doing right. Yet, the church swayed amen..the usual response to black men.
I think that most of us can relate to what you say about your son being in the system. It’s a shameful story to say the least.
The jury is still out on whether having a black man as the head of DOJ has benefited us. I expect that the commission on civil rights will issue a report covering Obama’s time in office soon.
BTW, why do you and other keep asking us not to “bash” Obama because we’re black…but then tell us not to expect anything of him…because he’s black? There’s a serious disconnect there.
According to The Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization, 35 states ban parolees from voting and 30 of the same states bar voting by people on probation as well.
I am glad to hear that you are going out to buy the book, then once you have read it, I welcome your comments. I am certainly not defending the President, as you have stated, only putting the remarks and speech of the President within the context of Michelle Alexander’s brilliant book. The focus really needs to be on what Michelle says about mass incarceration. Just this past Wednesday in California the issue of those formerly incarcerated and having the right to vote, has come up. This is what I hope we focus on, for this is what The New Jim Crow is really about.
The nonpartisan League of Women Voters and two prisoners’ rights groups sued California elections officials on Wednesday, claiming that tens of thousands of criminals being shifted to county jails and community supervision should be eligible to vote. The state’s new realignment law that took effect in October is sending lower-level offenders to county jails instead of to state prisons, where they are barred from voting. It also ends parole for many ex-convicts, substituting a similar program called “post-release community supervision” instead, according to an AP story by Don Thompson in the U-T San Diego newspaper on Thursday. California is one of 48 states and the District of Columbia that prohibit felons from voting while they are incarcerated. The exceptions are Maine and Vermont, which is why “The New Jim Crow” is even more relevant.
If not Obama, I would really like to know the alternative!
Dennis, I’ve just noticed that all of the review copy that I’ve seen is non-fiction. Does that mean you don’t do fiction?
As an African American woman who loves my black husband, son, father, brothers, cousins and nephews, the combination of Dr. Alexander’s research and your writing in this review brought tears to my eyes.
When I have a chance, I would like to check this book out.