“Until 1988, one year of imprisonment had been the maximum for possession of any amount of any drug.” — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Nothing has contributed more to the systematic mass incarceration of people of color in the United States than the War on Drugs — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“In October 1982, president Reagan officially announced his administration's war on drugs. At the time he declared this new war, less than… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
In the war on drugs, state and state law enforcement agencies have been rewarded in cash by the federal government - through… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Law enforcement in the United States, thanks largely to the war on drugs; routinely targets people of color often living in ghetto… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The enduring racial isolation of the ghetto poor has made them uniquely vulnerable in the War on Drugs. What happens to them… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Defenders of the system will counter by saying this drug war has been aimed at violent crime. But that is not the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
By waging the drug war and "getting tough" almost exclusively in the 'hood, we've managed to create a vast new racial undercaste… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The War on Drugs, cloaked in race-neutral language, offered whites opposed to racial reform a unique opportunity to express their hostility toward… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
In the 1990s - the period of the greatest escalation of the drug war - nearly 80 percent of the increase in… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The wave of punitiveness that washed over the United States with the rise of the drug war and the get tough movement… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
For those who say that the war on drugs and the system of mass incarceration really isn't about race, I say there… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
We have now spent 1 trillion dollars waging the drug war since it began. A trillion. Those funds could have been used… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Mandatory minimum sentences give no discretion to judges about the amount of time that the person should receive once a guilty verdict… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The war on drugs has been the engine of mass incarceration. Drug convictions alone constituted about two-thirds of the increase in the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
If the drug war was waged in those communities it would spark such outrage that the war would end overnight. This literal… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Most Americans violate drug laws in their lifetime, but the enemy in this war has been racially defined. Not by accident, the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“As if the free military equipment, training, and cash grants were not enough, the Reagan administration provided law enforcement with yet another… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The War on Drugs proved popular among key white voters, particularly whites who remained resentful of black progress, civil rights enforcement, and… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Before we begin our tour of the drug war, it is worthwhile to get a couple of myths out of the way.… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Felon disenfranchisement laws have been more effective in eliminating black voters in the age of mass incarceration than they were during Jim… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The critical point is that thousands of people are swept into the criminal justice system every year pursuant to the drug war… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Although a million black men can be found in prisons and jails, public acknowledgment of the role of the criminal justice system… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The extraordinary increase in prison admissions due to parole and probation violations is due almost entirely to the War on Drugs. With… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The temptation is to insist that black men 'choose' to be criminals; the system does not make them criminals, at least not… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Human Rights Watch reported in 2000 that, in seven states, African Americans constitute 80 to 90 percent of all drug offenders sent… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The process occurs in two stages. The first step is to grant law enforcement officials extraordinary discretion regarding whom to stop, search,… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“At the time the drug war was declared, illegal drug use and abuse was not a pressing concern in most communities. The… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The fact that people of all colors have been ensnared by the drug war helps to preserve the system as a whole… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Many people don't realize that financial incentives have been built into the drug war that guarantee that law enforcement will continue to… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Few would guess that our prison population leaped from approximately 350,000 to 2.3 million in such a short period of time due… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The bigger picture is that over the last 30 years, we have spent $1 trillion waging a drug war that has failed… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
If you ask for good schools, you aren't likely to get them. If you ask for jobs or economic investment, you won't get that… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
The uncomfortable reality we must face is that California, like the nation as a whole, has treated generations of African Americans and Latinos as… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
“Seeing race is not the problem. Refusing to care for the people we see is the problem. The fact that the meaning of race… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
Since the nations founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die but then… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
“Felon disenfranchisement laws have been more effective in eliminating black voters in the age of mass incarceration than they were under Jim Crow…These figures… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
“That was King’s dream—a society that is capable of seeing each of us, as we are, with love. That is a goal worth fighting… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
Activists take the risks, while advocates are professional tinkerers with the system. What's necessary is for those who are advocates to support those who… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
“Civil rights protests were frequently depicted as criminal rather than political in nature, and federal courts were accused of excessive “lenience” toward lawlessness, thereby… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
We cannot 'fix' the police without a revolution of values and radical change to the basic structure of our society. — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
If we continue to tell ourselves the popular myths about racial progress or, worse yet, if we say to ourselves that the problem of… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
The mass incarceration of poor people of color, particularly black men, has emerged as a new caste system, one specifically designed to address the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
“[T]he slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery. —W.E.B Du Bois, Black Reconstruction in America… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
If you take into account prisoners, a large majority of African American men in some urban areas, like Chicago, have been labeled felons for… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
“A new civil rights movement cannot be organized around the relics of the earlier system of control if it is to address meaningfully the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
The rules and reasons the political system employs to enforce status relations of any kind, including racial hierarchy, evolve and change as they are… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
