Michelle Alexander

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colourblindness

Once-in-a-while a book comes along that radically changes our understanding of a political issue. The New Jim Crow is that book. Lawyer and activist Michelle Alexander offers a stunning account of the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States that has seen millions of African Americans locked behind bars; relegated to a permanent second-class status; and denied the rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights movement. Challenging the notion that Barack Obama’s election signalled a new era of colour-blindness in America, The New Jim Crow argues that racial discrimination was redesigned, not ended. By targeting black men through the so-called War on Drugs and decimating communities of colour, the US criminal justice system functions as a system of racial control, consigning people of colour to permanent second-class status even as it formally adheres to the principles of colour-blindness. A searing call to action for everyone concerned with social justice, The New Jim Crow is one of the most important books about race in the 21st century.

Format: Kindle Edition, Audiobook, Hardcover, & Paperback

Paperback: 432 Pages

Language: English

 

4/5
Reviewed By Reviewed By Violeta Nedkova
“A highly influential book that lit the fire under the Black Lives Matter movement. Human activists and social scientists focus on America’s Caste System which until now has been unacknowledged and out of sight.”