Discrimination of African Americans: Jim Crow's Laws

More and more African Americans are under the cruel hand of the criminal justice system in place today, either in jail or placed in correctional facilities. If these individuals aren’t in jail, they are either on parole or post-trial supervision. Discrimination is still very evident in voters’ rights, employment, and education, which numerous Americans believed to be eradicated by the civil rights laws that took place in the 1960s. This essay explores the systemic discrimination faced by African Americans and draws connections to historical systems of oppression.

Racial Segregation of African Americans: The Impact of Jim Crow Laws

It is currently wrongfully legal against anyone labeled as a criminal under the watchful eyes of the law. Also, since numerous African Americans are more incarcerated than whites, they are made into criminals by the whole arrangement of mass detention. Racial separation remains as significant as it was under slavery or during the era of Jim Crow segregation. This is the beginning of a book that has initiated another social revolution. Alexander portrays how mass imprisonment today serves the same purpose as pre-Civil War slavery and post-Civil War Jim Crow laws to maintain a racial caste system. She uses the phrase “racial caste” to define how minorities are locked into a subordinate position regulated by law (Alexander, 2012).

Continuing, our current form of mass imprisonment is indeed a “caste system,” comparable to other caste systems in our country’s history, such as Jim Crow laws and slavery, which were all part of this system. In the first chapter, the author discusses how this predicament started, dissecting our nation’s unforgivable past decisions and how they have resurfaced repeatedly. For example, Alexander states that slavery and Jim Crow laws appear to die off to appease the masses but are then renewed and custom-made to fit the constraints of their current time (Alexander, 2012). She highlights that they have succeeded in applying new caste systems by appealing to lower-class racist whites, a group dangerously eager to ensure they never end up confined at the bottom of our nation’s hierarchy.

The New Racial Caste: Mass Incarceration

This design was derived from slavery and has created, up till now, another “racial caste,” which is mass incarceration in our country. Through her research, it was discovered that enormous financial incentives were granted to law enforcement officials to pursue massive drug arrests using military-planned tactics (Alexander, 2012). Once an individual is in the system, their chances of getting out are very slim, and they are also denied significant legal representation, leaving them crippled in the courtroom. More often than not, these affected individuals are cornered into a plea bargain that’s very lengthy and placed in prison. But it does not stop there; the few lucky men granted release are exceedingly discriminated against by potential employers due to their record and will most likely revert to crime and back into prison, which is discussed later in the book.

She reinforces her main points by pointing to the criminal justice system of our country and discrediting the belief that the imprisonment of black men can be explained by crime rate statistics (Alexander, 2012). Identifying that there is a huge racial inconsistency at every step of the legal process guarantees that these African American men are the vast under caste. Providing a substantial amount of useful statistics and information adds significant strength to her arguments, which are now essentially stockpiled and without existing weaknesses.

Conclusion and Call to Action

Upon my first reading of the book, when I saw her notion that “caste systems” were created to suppress minorities and will always find their way back into our country, I saw it as a bit of an overreaching theme. However, as I delved into each chapter, her arguments became more evident. It is not an overreaching theme, and something has to be done. Too many good individuals are trapped, unable to see their families, and living a suppressed half-life. “Where do we go from here?” one might ask. We can start by recognizing the existence of the new Jim Crow and by creating a major shakeup, gathering the masses to dismantle these established caste systems. Significant modifications to these laws can be achieved by reaching a complete agreement on getting rid of the current system in place.

References

Alexander, M. (2012). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press.