---
title: "12 Racial Caste Quotes By Michelle Alexander"
description: "12 Racial Caste quotes by Michelle Alexander. Plus more from Michelle Alexander and more Racial Caste 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)

> [I do believe that something akin to a racial caste system is alive and well in America.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/i-do-believe-that-something-akin-to-a-racial-caste-system-is-alive/)

[Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ec/michelle-alexander-750_alive_i-do-believe-that-something-akin-to-a-ra_1890286.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)

> [“No task is more urgent for racial justice advocates today than ensuring that America’s current racial caste system is its last.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/no-task-is-more-urgent-for-racial-justice-advocates-today-than/)

[Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/072/michelle-alexander-750_caste-system_no-task-is-more-urgent-for-racial-justic_973271.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 extraordinary nature of individual black achievement in formerly white domain certainly does suggest that the old Jim Crow is dead, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-extraordinary-nature-of-individual-black-achievement-in-formerly/)

[Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a89/michelle-alexander-750_achievement_the-extraordinary-nature-of-individual-b_1332986.png)

> [When we pull back the curtain and take a look at what our 'colorblind' society creates without affirmative action, we see a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/when-we-pull-back-the-curtain-and-take-a-look-at-what-our-colorblind/)

[Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b6/michelle-alexander-750_action_when-we-pull-back-the-curtain-and-take-a_2904304.png)

> [The fact that more than half of the young black men in any large American city are currently under the control of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-fact-that-more-than-half-of-the-young-black-men-in-any-large/)

[Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9a9/michelle-alexander-750_american-cities_the-fact-that-more-than-half-of-the-youn_2050916.jpg)

> [“The fact that some African Americans have experienced great success in recent years does not mean that something akin to a racial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-fact-that-some-african-americans-have-experienced-great-success/)

[Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae5/michelle-alexander-750_african-american_the-fact-that-some-african-americans-hav_2193735.png)

> [“If the movement that emerges to challenge mass incarceration fails to confront squarely the critical role of race in the basic structure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/if-the-movement-that-emerges-to-challenge-mass-incarceration-fails-to/)

[Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0b0/michelle-alexander-750_caste-system_if-the-movement-that-emerges-to-challeng_2140731.jpg)

> [“The notion that racial caste systems are necessarily predicated on a desire to harm other racial groups, and that racial hostility is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-notion-that-racial-caste-systems-are-necessarily-predicated-on-a/)

[Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a8/michelle-alexander-750_caste-system_the-notion-that-racial-caste-systems-are_2141508.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/)

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                        "text": "“If the movement that emerges to challenge mass incarceration fails to confront squarely the critical role of race in the basic structure of our society, and if it fails to cultivate an ethic of genuine care, compassion, and concern for every human being—of every class, race, and nationality—within our nation’s borders (including poor whites, who are often pitted against poor people of color), the collapse of mass incarceration will not mean the death of racial caste in America. Inevitably a new system of racialized social control will emerge—one that we cannot foresee, just as the current system of mass incarceration was not predicted by anyone thirty years ago. No task is more urgent for racial justice advocates today than ensuring that America’s current racial caste system is its last.”",
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                        "text": "“The notion that racial caste systems are necessarily predicated on a desire to harm other racial groups, and that racial hostility is the essence of racism, is fundamentally misguided. Even slavery does not conform to this limited understanding of racism and racial caste. Most plantation owners supported the institution of black slavery not because of a sadistic desire to harm blacks but instead because they wanted to get rich, and black slavery was the most efficient means to that end. By and large, plantation owners were indifferent to the suffering caused by slavery; they were motivated by greed. Preoccupation with the role of racial hostility in earlier caste systems can blind us to the ways in which every caste system, including mass incarceration, has been supported by racial indifference – a lack of caring and compassion for people of other races.”",
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                        "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.”",
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