People Quotes by Michelle Alexander

Most people seem to assume that this dramatic surge in imprisonment was due to a corresponding surge in crime, particularly violent crime.

— Michelle Alexander

Bill Clinton championed discriminatory laws against formerly incarcerated people that have kept millions of Americans locked in a cycle of poverty and…

— Michelle Alexander

More than 90 percent of criminal cases are never tried before a jury. Most people charged with crimes forfeit their constitutional rights…

— Michelle Alexander

In this country, we force millions of people - who are largely black and brown - into a permanent second-class status simply…

— Michelle Alexander

Discrimination in public benefits is also perfectly legal. Under federal law, people convicted of drug felonies are deemed ineligible even for food…

— Michelle Alexander

Thousands of people plead guilty to crimes every year in the United States because they know that the odds of a jury's…

— Michelle Alexander

People are swept into the criminal justice system - particularly in poor communities of color - at very early ages... typically for…

— Michelle Alexander

Now that's hard for many people to believe, given that the media image of a drug dealer is a black kid standing…

— Michelle Alexander

More than 2 million people found themselves behind bars at the turn of the twenty-first century, and millions more were relegated to…

— Michelle Alexander

The fate of millions of people—indeed the future of the black community itself—may depend on the willingness of those who care about…

— Michelle Alexander

I think it's critically important for people to understand that this system of mass incarceration governs not just those who find themselves…

— Michelle Alexander

Millions of people are unable to vote due to felony convictions with the highest rates among black men. People in prison are…

— Michelle Alexander

Private landlords as well as public landlords are free to discriminate against people with criminal records for the rest of their lives.…

— Michelle Alexander

In the war on drugs, state and state law enforcement agencies have been rewarded in cash by the federal government - through…

— Michelle Alexander

Prosecutors frequently overcharge, load up charges on individual defendants, knowing that three strikes laws and harsh mandatory minimum sentences will force people…

— Michelle Alexander

Public housing officials are free to discriminate against you on the basis of criminal records, including arrest records. And so, you know,…

— Michelle Alexander

The so-called resistance is very broad and we don't agree on everything, but there's a moment of opportunity when people are paying…

— Michelle Alexander

I think this mythology - that we're all beyond race, of course our police officers aren't racist, of course our politicians don't…

— Michelle Alexander

Just providing information about how bad things are, or the statistics and data on incarceration by themselves, does lead to more depression…

— Michelle Alexander

The wave of punitiveness that washed over the United States with the rise of the drug war and the get tough movement…

— Michelle Alexander

Of course in this age of colorblindness, a time when we have supposedly moved "beyond race," we as a nation would feel…

— Michelle Alexander

What has changed since the collapse of Jim Crow has less to do with the basic structure of our society than with…

— Michelle Alexander

Arguably the most important parallel between mass incarceration and Jim Crow is that both have served to define the meaning and significance…

— Michelle Alexander

I think that we need to begin talking about what does it mean to create these safe spaces in our communities, to…

— Michelle Alexander

It's not crime that makes us more punitive in the United States. It's the way we respond to crime and how we…

— Michelle Alexander

What does this system seem designed to do? As I see it, it seems designed to send people right back to prison,…

— Michelle Alexander

Thousands of people go to jail, go to prison, every year without even meeting with an attorney.

— Michelle Alexander

People on probation and parole are typically denied the right to vote, and in eleven states people are denied the right to…

— Michelle Alexander

People charged with drug offenses, though, are typically poor people of color. They are routinely charged with felonies and sent to prison.

— Michelle Alexander

I don't think I understood the full extent of the trauma experienced by people who churn through America's prisons until I began…

— Michelle Alexander

Nothing has contributed more to the systematic mass incarceration of people of color in the United States than the War on Drugs

— Michelle Alexander

Some prison officials are determined to keep the people they lock in cages as ignorant as possible about the racial, social, and…

— Michelle Alexander

The fact that people of all colors have been ensnared by the drug war helps to preserve the system as a whole…

— Michelle Alexander

In fact, in some countries there are actually voting drives conducted in prison! But here in the U.S., we seem to take…

— Michelle Alexander

The prison-industrial complex employs millions of people directly and indirectly. Judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, prison guards, construction companies that build prisons, police,…

— Michelle Alexander

Most Americans violate drug laws in their lifetime, but the enemy in this war has been racially defined. Not by accident, the…

— Michelle Alexander

Of course, no one should be trapped in bad schools or bad neighborhoods. No one. But I think we need to be…

— Michelle Alexander

We must build a movement for education, not incarceration. A movement for jobs, not jails. A movement that will end all forms…

— Michelle Alexander

I think it's important to encourage young people to tell their own stories and to speak openly about their own experiences with…

— Michelle Alexander

If the drug war was waged in those communities it would spark such outrage that the war would end overnight. This literal…

— Michelle Alexander