--- title: "9 Crow Quotes By Michelle Alexander" description: "9 Crow quotes by Michelle Alexander. Plus more from Michelle Alexander and more Crow sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65b/michelle-alexander-750_age_the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-t_432667.png" --- > [The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-the-age-of-colorblindness/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65b/michelle-alexander-750_age_the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-t_432667.png) > [Like Jim Crow (and slavery), mass incarceration operates as a tightly networked system of laws, policies, customs, and institutions that operate collectively…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/like-jim-crow-and-slavery-mass-incarceration-operates-as-a-tightly/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f9/michelle-alexander-750_crow_like-jim-crow-and-slavery-mass-incarcera_1426781.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) > [Since the nations founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/since-the-nations-founding-african-americans-repeatedly-have-been/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/704/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_since-the-nations-founding-african-ameri_50610.jpg) > [ For the rest of their lives, \[black men\] can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries, and legally discriminated… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/for-the-rest-of-their-lives-black-men-can-be-denied-the-right-to-vote/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0f/michelle-alexander-750_access_for-the-rest-of-their-lives-black-men-ca_1846583.png) > [What has changed since the collapse of Jim Crow has less to do with the basic structure of our society than with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/what-has-changed-since-the-collapse-of-jim-crow-has-less-to-do-with/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/218/michelle-alexander-750_behinds_what-has-changed-since-the-collapse-of-j_1682724.jpg) > [More than 2 million people found themselves behind bars at the turn of the twenty-first century, and millions more were relegated to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/more-than-2-million-people-found-themselves-behind-bars-at-the-turn-2/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45f/michelle-alexander-750_access_more-than-2-million-people-found-themsel_2143897.jpg) > [Once you're labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination - employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/once-you-re-labeled-a-felon-the-old-forms-of-discrimination/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/michelle-alexander-750_alabama_once-you-re-labeled-a-felon-the-old-form_1375570.png) > [Arguably the most important parallel between mass incarceration and Jim Crow is that both have served to define the meaning and significance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/arguably-the-most-important-parallel-between-mass-incarceration-and/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13a/michelle-alexander-750_america_arguably-the-most-important-parallel-bet_401963.jpg) ## Other authors on Crow ## 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/crow/michelle-alexander/#itemlist", "name": "9 Crow Quotes By Michelle Alexander", "numberOfItems": 9, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-the-age-of-colorblindness/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65b/michelle-alexander-750_age_the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-t_432667.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65b/michelle-alexander-750_age_the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-t_432667.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65b/michelle-alexander-750_age_the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-t_432667.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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/like-jim-crow-and-slavery-mass-incarceration-operates-as-a-tightly/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f9/michelle-alexander-750_crow_like-jim-crow-and-slavery-mass-incarcera_1426781.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f9/michelle-alexander-750_crow_like-jim-crow-and-slavery-mass-incarcera_1426781.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f9/michelle-alexander-750_crow_like-jim-crow-and-slavery-mass-incarcera_1426781.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Like Jim Crow (and slavery), mass incarceration operates as a tightly networked system of laws, policies…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As a criminal you have scarcely more rights, and arguably less respect, than a black man living in Alabama at the height of Jim Crow. 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": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Since the nations founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die but then are reborn in new form, tailored to the needs and constraints of the time.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/since-the-nations-founding-african-americans-repeatedly-have-been/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/704/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_since-the-nations-founding-african-ameri_50610.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/704/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_since-the-nations-founding-african-ameri_50610.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/704/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_since-the-nations-founding-african-ameri_50610.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Since the nations founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "For the rest of their lives, [black men] can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education and public benefits. So many of the old forms of discrimination that we supposedly left behind during the Jim Crow era are suddenly legal again once you've been branded a felon.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/for-the-rest-of-their-lives-black-men-can-be-denied-the-right-to-vote/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0f/michelle-alexander-750_access_for-the-rest-of-their-lives-black-men-ca_1846583.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0f/michelle-alexander-750_access_for-the-rest-of-their-lives-black-men-ca_1846583.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e0f/michelle-alexander-750_access_for-the-rest-of-their-lives-black-men-ca_1846583.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“For the rest of their lives, [black men] can be denied the right to vote, automatically excluded from…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "What has changed since the collapse of Jim Crow has less to do with the basic structure of our society than with the language we use to justify it. In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and social contempt. So we don't. Rather than rely on race, we use our criminal justice system to label people of color \"criminals\" and then engage in all the practices we supposedly left behind.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/what-has-changed-since-the-collapse-of-jim-crow-has-less-to-do-with/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/218/michelle-alexander-750_behinds_what-has-changed-since-the-collapse-of-j_1682724.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/218/michelle-alexander-750_behinds_what-has-changed-since-the-collapse-of-j_1682724.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/218/michelle-alexander-750_behinds_what-has-changed-since-the-collapse-of-j_1682724.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“What has changed since the collapse of Jim Crow has less to do with the basic structure of our society than…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "More than 2 million people found themselves behind bars at the turn of the twenty-first century, and millions more were relegated to the margins of mainstream society, banished to a political and social space not unlike Jim Crow, where discrimination in employment, housing, and access to education was perfectly legal, and where they could be denied the right to vote.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/more-than-2-million-people-found-themselves-behind-bars-at-the-turn-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45f/michelle-alexander-750_access_more-than-2-million-people-found-themsel_2143897.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45f/michelle-alexander-750_access_more-than-2-million-people-found-themsel_2143897.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45f/michelle-alexander-750_access_more-than-2-million-people-found-themsel_2143897.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“More than 2 million people found themselves behind bars at the turn of the twenty-first century, and…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Once you're labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination - employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion from jury service - are suddenly legal. As a criminal, you have scarcely more rights, and largely less respect, than a black man living in Alabama at the height of Jim Crow. 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/once-you-re-labeled-a-felon-the-old-forms-of-discrimination/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/michelle-alexander-750_alabama_once-you-re-labeled-a-felon-the-old-form_1375570.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/michelle-alexander-750_alabama_once-you-re-labeled-a-felon-the-old-form_1375570.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e9/michelle-alexander-750_alabama_once-you-re-labeled-a-felon-the-old-form_1375570.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Once you're labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination - employment discrimination, housing…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Arguably the most important parallel between mass incarceration and Jim Crow is that both have served to define the meaning and significance of race in America. Indeed, a primary function of any racial caste system is to define the meaning of race in its time. Slavery defined what it meant to be black (a slave), and Jim Crow defined what it meant to be black (a second-class citizen). Today mass incarceration defines the meaning of blackness in America: black people, especially black men, are criminals. That is what it means to be black.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michelle Alexander" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/arguably-the-most-important-parallel-between-mass-incarceration-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13a/michelle-alexander-750_america_arguably-the-most-important-parallel-bet_401963.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13a/michelle-alexander-750_america_arguably-the-most-important-parallel-bet_401963.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13a/michelle-alexander-750_america_arguably-the-most-important-parallel-bet_401963.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Arguably the most important parallel between mass incarceration and Jim Crow is that both have served to…” — Michelle Alexander", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crow/michelle-alexander/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crow/michelle-alexander/", "name": "Crow Quotes by Michelle Alexander", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crow/michelle-alexander/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65b/michelle-alexander-750_age_the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-t_432667.png" }, "description": "9 Crow quotes by Michelle Alexander. Plus more from Michelle Alexander and more Crow sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crow/michelle-alexander/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crow/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": "Crow", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crow/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Michelle Alexander", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crow/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 } } ] } ```