--- title: "12 Civil rights movement Quotes By Michelle Alexander" description: "12 Civil rights movement quotes by Michelle Alexander. Plus more from Michelle Alexander and more Civil rights movement sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b57/michelle-alexander-750_arrested_eventually-black-men-are-arrested-whethe_348081.png" --- > [ Eventually \[black men\] are arrested, whether they've committed any serious crime or not, and branded criminals or felons for life. Upon release,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/eventually-black-men-are-arrested-whether-they-ve-committed-any/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b57/michelle-alexander-750_arrested_eventually-black-men-are-arrested-whethe_348081.png) > [“Mass incarceration—not attacks on affirmative action or lax civil rights enforcement—is the most damaging manifestation of the backlash against the Civil Rights…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/mass-incarceration-not-attacks-on-affirmative-action-or-lax-civil/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d08/michelle-alexander-750_affirmative-action_mass-incarceration-not-attacks-on-affirm_2271847.jpg) > [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) > [Felons are typically stripped of the very rights supposedly won in the civil rights movement, including the right to vote, the right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/felons-are-typically-stripped-of-the-very-rights-supposedly-won-in/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e27/michelle-alexander-750_access-to-education_felons-are-typically-stripped-of-the-ver_345828.jpg) > [“As historian Gerald McKnight observes, “King was proposing nothing less than a radical transformation of the Civil Rights Movement into a populist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/as-historian-gerald-mcknight-observes-king-was-proposing-nothing-less/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72c/michelle-alexander-750_change_as-historian-gerald-mcknight-observes-ki_530321.jpg) > [“History reveals that the seeds of the new system of control were planted well before the end of the Civil Rights Movement.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/history-reveals-that-the-seeds-of-the-new-system-of-control-were-2/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a59/michelle-alexander-750_caste-system_history-reveals-that-the-seeds-of-the-ne_2600309.png) > [I think this mythology - that we're all beyond race, of course our police officers aren't racist, of course our politicians don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/i-think-this-mythology-that-we-re-all-beyond-race-of-course-our/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1df/michelle-alexander-750_able_i-think-this-mythology-that-we-re-all-be_1196738.png) > [“History reveals that the seeds of the new system of control were planted well before the end of the Civil Rights Movement.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/history-reveals-that-the-seeds-of-the-new-system-of-control-were/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/36d/michelle-alexander-750_caste-system_history-reveals-that-the-seeds-of-the-ne_2361353.jpg) > [“A new civil rights movement cannot be organized around the relics of the earlier system of control if it is to address…](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/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/michelle-alexander-750_bigotry_a-new-civil-rights-movement-cannot-be-or_117755.png) > [“While the Reconstruction Era was fraught with corruption and arguably doomed by the lack of land reform, the sweeping economic and political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/while-the-reconstruction-era-was-fraught-with-corruption-and-arguably/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/125/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_while-the-reconstruction-era-was-fraught_403701.png) > [“This book argues that mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow and that all those who care about social justice should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/this-book-argues-that-mass-incarceration-is-metaphorically-the-new/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/michelle-alexander-750_affirmative-action_this-book-argues-that-mass-incarceration_2557581.png) > [“The rhetoric of ‘law and order’ was first mobilized in the late 1950s as Southern governors and law enforcement officials attempted to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-rhetoric-of-law-and-order-was-first-mobilized-in-the-late-1950s/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd0/michelle-alexander-750_board-of-education_the-rhetoric-of-law-and-order-was-first_2108040.jpg) ## Other authors on Civil rights movement - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b013/author-john-lewis-51804.jpg) John Lewis 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/john-lewis/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-danny-glover-26713.jpg) Danny Glover 9 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/danny-glover/) - [Martin Luther King Jr 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/martin-luther-king-jr-2/) - [Anthea Butler 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/anthea-butler/) - [Martin Luther King, Jr 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/martin-luther-king-jr/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-henry-louis-gates-41603.jpg) Henry Louis Gates 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/henry-louis-gates/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-bill-ayers-17832.jpg) Bill Ayers 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/bill-ayers/) - [Bernice Johnson Reagon 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/bernice-johnson-reagon/) ## 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/civil-rights-movement/michelle-alexander/#itemlist", "name": "12 Civil rights movement Quotes By Michelle Alexander", "numberOfItems": 12, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Eventually [black men] are arrested, whether they've committed any serious crime or not, and branded criminals or felons for life. 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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": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Felons are typically stripped of the very rights supposedly won in the civil rights movement, including the right to vote, the right to serve on juries, and the right to be free of legal discrimination in employment, housing, access to education, and public benefits. They're relegated to a permanent undercaste.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/felons-are-typically-stripped-of-the-very-rights-supposedly-won-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e27/michelle-alexander-750_access-to-education_felons-are-typically-stripped-of-the-ver_345828.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e27/michelle-alexander-750_access-to-education_felons-are-typically-stripped-of-the-ver_345828.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e27/michelle-alexander-750_access-to-education_felons-are-typically-stripped-of-the-ver_345828.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Felons are typically stripped of the very rights supposedly won in the civil rights movement, including the…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“As historian Gerald McKnight observes, “King was proposing nothing less than a radical transformation of the Civil Rights Movement into a populist crusade calling for redistribution of economic and political power. America’s only civil rights leader was now focusing on class issues and was planning to descend on Washington with an army of poor to shake the foundations of the power structure and force the government to respond to the needs of the ignored underclass.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/as-historian-gerald-mcknight-observes-king-was-proposing-nothing-less/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72c/michelle-alexander-750_change_as-historian-gerald-mcknight-observes-ki_530321.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72c/michelle-alexander-750_change_as-historian-gerald-mcknight-observes-ki_530321.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72c/michelle-alexander-750_change_as-historian-gerald-mcknight-observes-ki_530321.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As historian Gerald McKnight observes, “King was proposing nothing less than a radical transformation of the…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“History reveals that the seeds of the new system of control were planted well before the end of the Civil Rights Movement. A new race-neutral language was developed for appealing to old racist sentiments, a language accompanied by a political movement that succeeded in putting the vast majority of blacks back in their place. Proponents of racial hierarchy found they could install a new racial caste system without violating the law or the new limits of acceptable political discourse, by demanding “law and order” rather than “segregation forever.” The Birth of Mass Incarcerati”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/history-reveals-that-the-seeds-of-the-new-system-of-control-were-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a59/michelle-alexander-750_caste-system_history-reveals-that-the-seeds-of-the-ne_2600309.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a59/michelle-alexander-750_caste-system_history-reveals-that-the-seeds-of-the-ne_2600309.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a59/michelle-alexander-750_caste-system_history-reveals-that-the-seeds-of-the-ne_2600309.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“History reveals that the seeds of the new system of control were planted well before the end of the Civil…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think this mythology - that we're all beyond race, of course our police officers aren't racist, of course our politicians don't mean any harm to people of color - this idea that we're beyond all that (so it must be something else) makes it difficult for young people as well as the grown-ups to be able to see clearly and honestly the truth of what's going on. It makes it difficult to see that the backlash against the Civil Rights Movement manifested itself in the form of mass incarceration, in the form of defunding and devaluing schools serving kids of color and all the rest.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/i-think-this-mythology-that-we-re-all-beyond-race-of-course-our/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1df/michelle-alexander-750_able_i-think-this-mythology-that-we-re-all-be_1196738.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1df/michelle-alexander-750_able_i-think-this-mythology-that-we-re-all-be_1196738.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1df/michelle-alexander-750_able_i-think-this-mythology-that-we-re-all-be_1196738.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think this mythology - that we're all beyond race, of course our police officers aren't racist, of course…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“History reveals that the seeds of the new system of control were planted well before the end of the Civil Rights Movement. A new race-neutral language was developed for appealing to old racist sentiments, a language accompanied by a political movement that succeeded in putting the vast majority of blacks back in their place. Proponents of racial hierarchy found they could install a new racial caste system without violating law or the new limits of acceptable political discourse, by demanding \"law and order\" rather than \"segregation forever.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/history-reveals-that-the-seeds-of-the-new-system-of-control-were/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/36d/michelle-alexander-750_caste-system_history-reveals-that-the-seeds-of-the-ne_2361353.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/36d/michelle-alexander-750_caste-system_history-reveals-that-the-seeds-of-the-ne_2361353.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/36d/michelle-alexander-750_caste-system_history-reveals-that-the-seeds-of-the-ne_2361353.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“History reveals that the seeds of the new system of control were planted well before the end of the Civil…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“A new civil rights movement cannot be organized around the relics of the earlier system of control if it is to address meaningfully the racial realities of our time. Any racial justice movement, to be successful, must vigorously challenge the public consensus that underlies the prevailing system of control. Nooses, racial slurs, and overt bigotry are widely condemned by people across the political spectrum; they are understood to be remnants of the past, no longer reflective of the prevailing public consensus about race. Challenging these forms of racism is certainly necessary, as we must always remain vigilant, but it will do little to shake the foundations of the current system of control. The new caste system, unlike its predecessors, is officially colorblind. We must deal with it on its own terms.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/a-new-civil-rights-movement-cannot-be-organized-around-the-relics-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/michelle-alexander-750_bigotry_a-new-civil-rights-movement-cannot-be-or_117755.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/michelle-alexander-750_bigotry_a-new-civil-rights-movement-cannot-be-or_117755.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/michelle-alexander-750_bigotry_a-new-civil-rights-movement-cannot-be-or_117755.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A new civil rights movement cannot be organized around the relics of the earlier system of control if it is…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“While the Reconstruction Era was fraught with corruption and arguably doomed by the lack of land reform, the sweeping economic and political developments in that period did appear, at least for a time, to have the potential to seriously undermine, if not completely eradicate, the racial caste system in the South. With the protection of federal troops, African Americans began to vote in large numbers and seize control, in some areas, of the local political apparatus. Literacy rates climbed, and educated blacks began to populate legislatures, open schools, and initiate successful businesses. In 1867, at the dawn of the Reconstruction Era, no black men held political office in the South, yet three years later, at least 15 percent of all Southern elected officials were black. This is particularly extraordinary in light of the fact that fifteen years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 - the high water mark of the Civil Rights Movement - fewer than 8 percent of all Southern elected officials were black.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/while-the-reconstruction-era-was-fraught-with-corruption-and-arguably/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/125/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_while-the-reconstruction-era-was-fraught_403701.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/125/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_while-the-reconstruction-era-was-fraught_403701.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/125/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_while-the-reconstruction-era-was-fraught_403701.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“While the Reconstruction Era was fraught with corruption and arguably doomed by the lack of land reform, the…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“This book argues that mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow and that all those who care about social justice should fully commit themselves to dismantling this new racial caste system. Mass incarceration - not attacks on affirmative action or lax civil rights enforcement - is the most damaging manifestation of the backlash against the Civil Rights Movement. The popular narrative that emphasizes the death of slavery and Jim Crow and celebrates the nation's 'triumph over race' with the election of Barack Obama, is dangerously misguided. The colorblind public consensus that prevails in American today - i.e., the widespread belief that race no longer matters - has blinded us to the realities of race in our society and facilitated the emergence of a new caste system.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/this-book-argues-that-mass-incarceration-is-metaphorically-the-new/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/michelle-alexander-750_affirmative-action_this-book-argues-that-mass-incarceration_2557581.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/michelle-alexander-750_affirmative-action_this-book-argues-that-mass-incarceration_2557581.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/michelle-alexander-750_affirmative-action_this-book-argues-that-mass-incarceration_2557581.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“This book argues that mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow and that all those who care…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 12, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The rhetoric of ‘law and order’ was first mobilized in the late 1950s as Southern governors and law enforcement officials attempted to generate and mobilize white opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. In the years following Brown v. Board of Education, civil rights activists used direct-action tactics in an effort to force reluctant Southern States to desegregate public facilities. Southern governors and law enforcement officials often characterized these tactics as criminal and argued that the rise of the Civil Rights Movement was indicative of a breakdown of law and order. Support of civil rights legislation was derided by Southern conservatives as merely ‘rewarding lawbreakers.’ For more than a decade – from the mid 1950s until the late 1960s – conservatives systematically and strategically linked opposition to civil rights legislation to calls for law and order, arguing that Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy of civil disobedience was a leading cause of crime.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-rhetoric-of-law-and-order-was-first-mobilized-in-the-late-1950s/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd0/michelle-alexander-750_board-of-education_the-rhetoric-of-law-and-order-was-first_2108040.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd0/michelle-alexander-750_board-of-education_the-rhetoric-of-law-and-order-was-first_2108040.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd0/michelle-alexander-750_board-of-education_the-rhetoric-of-law-and-order-was-first_2108040.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The rhetoric of ‘law and order’ was first mobilized in the late 1950s as Southern governors and law…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/michelle-alexander/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/michelle-alexander/", "name": "Civil rights movement Quotes by Michelle Alexander", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/michelle-alexander/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b57/michelle-alexander-750_arrested_eventually-black-men-are-arrested-whethe_348081.png" }, "description": "12 Civil rights movement quotes by Michelle Alexander. Plus more from Michelle Alexander and more Civil rights movement sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/michelle-alexander/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/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": "Civil Rights Movement", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Michelle Alexander", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights-movement/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 } } ] } ```