Last evening, after a day of contemplating the impact of Reverend King on our society, my communities, and my own life, I tuned in to my 7PM go-to show, Fresh Air from WHYY.
I found myself riveted to the radio for the next 50 minutes while Dave Davies interviewed Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow. I wasn’t shocked by any of Dr Alexander’s statistics or comments, but when I heard all the numbers and stories together, tied up with the string of despair, I was stunned.
Here are some excerpts that may stun you, as well:
- “Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control — in prison or jail, on probation or parole — than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began. There are millions of African-Americans now cycling in and out of prisons and jails or under correctional control. In major American cities today, more than half of working-age African-American men are either under correctional control or branded felons and are thus subject to legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives.”
- “Federal funding has flowed to state and local law enforcement agencies who boost the sheer numbers of drug arrests. State and local law enforcement agencies have been rewarded in cash for the sheer numbers of people swept into the system for drug offenses, thus giving law enforcement agencies an incentive to go out and look for the so-called ‘low-hanging fruit’: stopping, frisking, searching as many people as possible, pulling over as many cars as possible, in order to boost their numbers up and ensure the funding stream will continue or increase.”
- “I think it’s very easy to brush off the notion that the system operates much like a caste system, if in fact you are not trapped within it. I have spent years representing victims of racial profiling and police brutality and investigating patterns of drug law enforcement in poor communities of color, and attempting to help people who have been released from prison attempting to ‘re-enter’ into a society that never seemed to have much use to them in the first place. And in the course of that work, I had my own awakening about our criminal justice system and this system of mass incarceration. … My experience and research has led me to the regrettable conclusion that our system of mass incarceration functions more like a caste system than a system of crime prevention or control.”
We have much work ahead. I am glad we have individuals like Michelle Alexander to examine our mistakes, and (hopefully) help us on the path to solving these problems.
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