The uncomfortable reality we must face is that California, like the nation as a whole, has treated generations of African Americans and… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Since the nations founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
If you take into account prisoners, a large majority of African American men in some urban areas, like Chicago, have been labeled… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Today my elation over Obama's election is tempered by a far more sobering awareness. As an African American woman, with three young… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control — in prison or jail, on probation or parole — than were enslaved in… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
For African American children, in particular, the odds are extremely high that they will have a parent or loved one, a relative,… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
There are more African Americans under correctional control, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850 a… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“While the Reconstruction Era was fraught with corruption and arguably doomed by the lack of land reform, the sweeping economic and political… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Although it is common to think of Jim Crow as an explicitly race-based system, in fact a number of the key policies… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The backlash against gains of African Americans in the Reconstruction Era was swift and severe. — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“One in three young African American men is currently under the control of the criminal justice system—in prison, in jail, on probation,… — michelle alexander Copy Share Image
“The racial dimension of mass incarceration is its most striking feature. No other country in the world imprisons so many of its… — 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
“In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The sprinkling of people of color through elite institutions in the United States, due to affirmative action policies and the limited progress… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Segregation laws were proposed as part of a deliberate effort to drive a wedge between poor whites and African Americans. These discriminatory… — 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
“A survey was conducted in 1995 asking the following question: “Would you close your eyes for a second, envision a drug user,… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“More African American adults are under correctional control today - in prison or jail, on probation or parole - than were enslaved… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Of course in this age of colorblindness, a time when we have supposedly moved "beyond race," we as a nation would feel… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The general public typically traces the death of Jim Crow to Brown v. Board of Education, although the institution was showing signs… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Far from fading away, it appears that prisons are here to stay. And despite the unprecedented levels of incarceration in the African… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The very rights that we supposedly won for African Americans in the civil rights movement no longer exist for those labeled felons.… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Segregation laws were proposed as part of a deliberate effort to drive a wedge between poor whites and African Americans. These discriminatory… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“More African American adults are under correctional control today – in prison or jail, on probation or parole – than were enslaved… — 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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
We cannot 'fix' the police without a revolution of values and radical change to the basic structure of our society. — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
“[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 Image
