--- title: "5 Race Neutral Quotes By Michelle Alexander" description: "5 Race Neutral quotes by Michelle Alexander. Plus more from Michelle Alexander and more Race Neutral sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb6/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_although-it-is-common-to-think-of-jim-cr_479224.png" --- > [“Although it is common to think of Jim Crow as an explicitly race-based system, in fact a number of the key policies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/although-it-is-common-to-think-of-jim-crow-as-an-explicitly-race/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb6/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_although-it-is-common-to-think-of-jim-cr_479224.png) > [A new race-neutral language was developed for appealing to old racist sentiments, a language accompanied by a political movement that succeeded in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/a-new-race-neutral-language-was-developed-for-appealing-to-old-racist/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea1/michelle-alexander-750_acceptable_a-new-race-neutral-language-was-develope_1891961.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/) [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) > [The War on Drugs, cloaked in race-neutral language, offered whites opposed to racial reform a unique opportunity to express their hostility toward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-war-on-drugs-cloaked-in-race-neutral-language-offered-whites/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c02/michelle-alexander-750_black_the-war-on-drugs-cloaked-in-race-neutral_2461528.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-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) ## 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/race-neutral/michelle-alexander/#itemlist", "name": "5 Race Neutral Quotes By Michelle Alexander", "numberOfItems": 5, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Although it is common to think of Jim Crow as an explicitly race-based system, in fact a number of the key policies were officially colorblind. 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