African american Quotes by Michelle Alexander

The backlash against gains of African Americans in the Reconstruction Era was swift and severe.

— Michelle Alexander

Globalization and deindustrialization affected workers of all colors but hit African Americans particularly hard.

— Michelle Alexander

There are more African Americans under correctional control, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850 a…

— Michelle Alexander

“And despite the unprecedented levels of incarceration in the African American community, the civil rights community is oddly quiet.”

— Michelle Alexander

“African Americans are not significantly more likely to use or sell prohibited drugs than whites, but they are made criminals at drastically…

— Michelle Alexander

“More African American adults are under correctional control today – in prison or jail, on probation or parole – than were enslaved…

— Michelle Alexander

The uncomfortable reality we must face is that California, like the nation as a whole, has treated generations of African Americans and…

— Michelle Alexander

“Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against…

— Michelle Alexander

“Any notion that drug use among blacks is more severe or dangerous is belied by the data; white youth have about three…

— Michelle Alexander

Since the nations founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die…

— Michelle Alexander

If you take into account prisoners, a large majority of African American men in some urban areas, like Chicago, have been labeled…

— Michelle Alexander

“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

The sprinkling of people of color through elite institutions in the United States, due to affirmative action policies and the limited progress…

— Michelle Alexander

“The fact that some African Americans have experienced great success in recent years does not mean that something akin to a racial…

— Michelle Alexander

The criminal justice system was strategically employed to force African Americans back into a system of extreme repression and control, a tactic…

— Michelle Alexander

“Segregation laws were proposed as part of a deliberate effort to drive a wedge between poor whites and African Americans. These discriminatory…

— Michelle Alexander

Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850, a…

— Michelle Alexander

Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against…

— Michelle Alexander

“As law enforcement budgets exploded, so did prison and jail populations. In 1991, the Sentencing Project reported that the number of people…

— Michelle Alexander

“The state of Mississippi eventually moved from hiring convict labor to organizing its own convict labor camp, known as Parchman Farm. It…

— Michelle Alexander

“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

“The radical philosophy offered, for many African Americans, the most promise. It was predicated on a searing critique of large corporations, particularly…

— 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

Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control — in prison or jail, on probation or parole — than were enslaved in…

— Michelle Alexander

“In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and…

— Michelle Alexander

“While the Reconstruction Era was fraught with corruption and arguably doomed by the lack of land reform, the sweeping economic and political…

— Michelle Alexander

“Segregation laws were proposed as part of a deliberate effort to drive a wedge between poor whites and African Americans. These discriminatory…

— Michelle Alexander

“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

“The temptation is to insist that black men 'choose' to be criminals; the system does not make them criminals, at least not…

— Michelle Alexander

“It is not possible to write a relatively short book that explores all aspects of the phenomenon of mass incarceration and its…

— Michelle Alexander

“Human Rights Watch reported in 2000 that, in seven states, African Americans constitute 80 to 90 percent of all drug offenders sent…

— Michelle Alexander

“The racial dimension of mass incarceration is its most striking feature. No other country in the world imprisons so many of its…

— Michelle Alexander

“The general public typically traces the death of Jim Crow to Brown v. Board of Education, although the institution was showing signs…

— Michelle Alexander

“The language of caste may well seem foreign or unfamiliar to some. Public discussions about racial caste in America are relatively rare.…

— Michelle Alexander

The very rights that we supposedly won for African Americans in the civil rights movement no longer exist for those labeled felons.…

— Michelle Alexander

In many large urban areas, the majority of working age African American men now have criminal records and are thus subject to…

— Michelle Alexander

“More African American adults are under correctional control today - in prison or jail, on probation or parole - than were enslaved…

— Michelle Alexander

“Far from fading away, it appears that prisons are here to stay. And despite the unprecedented levels of incarceration in the African…

— Michelle Alexander

“Merely reducing sentence length, by itself, does not disturb the basic architecture of the New Jim Crow. So long as large numbers…

— Michelle Alexander

“Felon disenfranchisement laws have been more effective in eliminating black voters in the age of mass incarceration than they were during Jim…

— Michelle Alexander