--- title: "9 Caste America Quotes By Michelle Alexander" description: "9 Caste America quotes by Michelle Alexander. Plus more from Michelle Alexander and more Caste America sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/443/michelle-alexander-750_america_i-say-we-haven-t-ended-racial-caste-in-a_1453347.png" --- > [I say we haven't ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/i-say-we-haven-t-ended-racial-caste-in-america-we-have-merely/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/443/michelle-alexander-750_america_i-say-we-haven-t-ended-racial-caste-in-a_1453347.png) > [We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/we-have-not-ended-racial-caste-in-america-we-have-merely-redesigned-it/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e47/michelle-alexander-750_america_we-have-not-ended-racial-caste-in-americ_1223366.png) > [The cyclical rebirth of caste in America is a recurring racial nightmare.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-cyclical-rebirth-of-caste-in-america-is-a-recurring-racial/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e9d/michelle-alexander-750_america_the-cyclical-rebirth-of-caste-in-america_1233750.png) > [As described in 'The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,' the cyclical rebirth of caste in America is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/as-described-in-the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-the-age-of/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a3a/michelle-alexander-750_age_as-described-in-the-new-jim-crow-mass-in_1519039.png) > [We must muster the courage, we must find the will, we must do what is necessary to build a truly transformative movement…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/we-must-muster-the-courage-we-must-find-the-will-we-must-do-what-is/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8db/michelle-alexander-750_america_we-must-muster-the-courage-we-must-find_1373765.png) > [As a criminal you have scarcely more rights, and arguably less respect, than a black man living in Alabama at the height…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/as-a-criminal-you-have-scarcely-more-rights-and-arguably-less-respect/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d21/michelle-alexander-750_alabama_as-a-criminal-you-have-scarcely-more-rig_1710631.png) > [The very rights that we supposedly won for African Americans in the civil rights movement no longer exist for those labeled felons.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-very-rights-that-we-supposedly-won-for-african-americans-in-the/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/304/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_the-very-rights-that-we-supposedly-won-f_2021860.png) > [If we want to do more than just end mass incarceration—if we want to put an end to the history of racial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/if-we-want-to-do-more-than-just-end-mass-incarceration-if-we-want-to/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b2/michelle-alexander-750_accepting_if-we-want-to-do-more-than-just-end-mass_1623586.png) > [“The language of caste may well seem foreign or unfamiliar to some. Public discussions about racial caste in America are relatively rare.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-language-of-caste-may-well-seem-foreign-or-unfamiliar-to-some/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/931/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_the-language-of-caste-may-well-seem-fore_3082670.jpg) ## More by Michelle Alexander > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/if-you-ask-for-good-schools-you-aren-t-likely-to-get-them-if-you-ask/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [The uncomfortable reality we must face is that California, like the nation as a whole, has treated generations of African Americans and Latinos as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-uncomfortable-reality-we-must-face-is-that-california-like-the/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“Seeing race is not the problem. Refusing to care for the people we see is the problem. The fact that the meaning of race…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/seeing-race-is-not-the-problem-refusing-to-care-for-the-people-we-see/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [Since the nations founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die but then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/since-the-nations-founding-african-americans-repeatedly-have-been/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/felon-disenfranchisement-laws-have-been-more-effective-in-eliminating/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/that-was-king-s-dream-a-society-that-is-capable-of-seeing-each-of-us/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/activists-take-the-risks-while-advocates-are-professional-tinkerers/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“Civil rights protests were frequently depicted as criminal rather than political in nature, and federal courts were accused of excessive “lenience” toward lawlessness, thereby…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/civil-rights-protests-were-frequently-depicted-as-criminal-rather/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [We cannot 'fix' the police without a revolution of values and radical change to the basic structure of our society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/we-cannot-fix-the-police-without-a-revolution-of-values-and-radical/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [If we continue to tell ourselves the popular myths about racial progress or, worse yet, if we say to ourselves that the problem of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/if-we-continue-to-tell-ourselves-the-popular-myths-about-racial/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [The mass incarceration of poor people of color, particularly black men, has emerged as a new caste system, one specifically designed to address the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-mass-incarceration-of-poor-people-of-color-particularly-black-men/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [ “\[T\]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… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/t-he-slave-went-free-stood-a-brief-moment-in-the-sun-then-moved-back/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [If you take into account prisoners, a large majority of African American men in some urban areas, like Chicago, have been labeled felons for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/if-you-take-into-account-prisoners-a-large-majority-of-african/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [“A new civil rights movement cannot be organized around the relics of the earlier system of control if it is to address meaningfully the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/a-new-civil-rights-movement-cannot-be-organized-around-the-relics-of/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [The rules and reasons the political system employs to enforce status relations of any kind, including racial hierarchy, evolve and change as they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-rules-and-reasons-the-political-system-employs-to-enforce-status/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caste-america/michelle-alexander/#itemlist", "name": "9 Caste America Quotes By Michelle Alexander", "numberOfItems": 9, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I say we haven't ended racial caste in America; 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We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/as-a-criminal-you-have-scarcely-more-rights-and-arguably-less-respect/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d21/michelle-alexander-750_alabama_as-a-criminal-you-have-scarcely-more-rig_1710631.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d21/michelle-alexander-750_alabama_as-a-criminal-you-have-scarcely-more-rig_1710631.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d21/michelle-alexander-750_alabama_as-a-criminal-you-have-scarcely-more-rig_1710631.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As a criminal you have scarcely more rights, and arguably less respect, than a black man living in Alabama…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The very rights that we supposedly won for African Americans in the civil rights movement no longer exist for those labeled felons. That's why I say we have not ended racial caste in America; we've merely redesigned it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-very-rights-that-we-supposedly-won-for-african-americans-in-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/304/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_the-very-rights-that-we-supposedly-won-f_2021860.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/304/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_the-very-rights-that-we-supposedly-won-f_2021860.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/304/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_the-very-rights-that-we-supposedly-won-f_2021860.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The very rights that we supposedly won for African Americans in the civil rights movement no longer exist…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If we want to do more than just end mass incarceration—if we want to put an end to the history of racial caste in America—we must lay down our racial bribes, join hands with people of all colors who are not content to wait for change to trickle down, and say to those who would stand in our way: Accept all of us or none.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/if-we-want-to-do-more-than-just-end-mass-incarceration-if-we-want-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b2/michelle-alexander-750_accepting_if-we-want-to-do-more-than-just-end-mass_1623586.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b2/michelle-alexander-750_accepting_if-we-want-to-do-more-than-just-end-mass_1623586.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b2/michelle-alexander-750_accepting_if-we-want-to-do-more-than-just-end-mass_1623586.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If we want to do more than just end mass incarceration—if we want to put an end to the history of racial…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The language of caste may well seem foreign or unfamiliar to some. Public discussions about racial caste in America are relatively rare. We avoid talking about caste in our society because we are ashamed of our racial history. We also avoid talking about race. We even avoid talking about class. Conversations about class are resisted in part because there is a tendency to imagine that one's class reflects upon one's character. What is key to America's understanding of class is the persistent belief - despite all evidence to the contrary - that anyone, with the proper discipline and drive, can move from a lower class to a higher class. We recognize that mobility may be difficult, but the key to our collective self-image is the assumption that mobility is always possible, so failure to move up reflects on one's character. By extension, the failure of a race or ethnic group to move up reflects very poorly on the group as a whole. What is completely missed in the rare public debates today about the plight of African Americans is that a huge percentage of them are not free to move up at all. It is not just that they lack opportunity, attend poor schools, or are plagued by poverty. They are barred by law from doing so. And the major institutions with which they come into contact are designed to prevent their mobility. To put the matter starkly: The current system of control permanently locks a huge percentage of the African American community out of the mainstream society and economy. The system operates through our criminal justice institutions, but it functions more like a caste system than a system of crime control. Viewed from this perspective, the so-called underclass is better understood as an undercaste - a lower caste of individuals who are permanently barred by law and custom from mainstream society. Although this new system of racialized social control purports to be colorblind, it creates and maintains racial hierarchy much as earlier systems of control did. Like Jim Crow (and slavery), mass incarceration operates as a tightly networked system of laws, policies, customs, and institutions that operate collectively to ensure the subordinate status of a group defined largely by race.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-language-of-caste-may-well-seem-foreign-or-unfamiliar-to-some/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/931/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_the-language-of-caste-may-well-seem-fore_3082670.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/931/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_the-language-of-caste-may-well-seem-fore_3082670.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/931/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_the-language-of-caste-may-well-seem-fore_3082670.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The language of caste may well seem foreign or unfamiliar to some. 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Plus more from Michelle Alexander and more Caste America sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caste-america/michelle-alexander/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caste-america/michelle-alexander/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Caste America", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caste-america/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Michelle Alexander", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caste-america/michelle-alexander/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```