If we continue to tell ourselves the popular myths about racial progress or, worse yet, if we say to ourselves that the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control — in prison or jail, on probation or parole — than were enslaved in… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The drug war has been waged almost exclusively in ghetto communities, resulting in what I believe is a racial under cast. — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
There are more African Americans under correctional control, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850 a… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
We have now spent 1 trillion dollars waging the drug war since it began. A trillion. Those funds could have been used… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
For those who say that the war on drugs and the system of mass incarceration really isn't about race, I say there… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Law enforcement in the United States, thanks largely to the war on drugs; routinely targets people of color often living in ghetto… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“With only a few exceptions, the Supreme Court has seized every opportunity to facilitate the drug war, primarily by eviscerating Fourth Amendment… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
In the 1990s - the period of the greatest escalation of the drug war - nearly 80 percent of the increase in… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“We are told by drug warriors that the enemy in the war is a thing – drugs – not a group of… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The fact that our legal system has become so tolerant of police lying indicates how corrupted our criminal justice system has become… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Nothing has contributed more to the systematic mass incarceration of people of color in the United States than the War on Drugs — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Felon disenfranchisement laws have been more effective in eliminating black voters in the age of mass incarceration than they were during Jim… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The fact that people of all colors have been ensnared by the drug war helps to preserve the system as a whole… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Yet far from putting any meaningful constraints on law enforcement in this war, the U.S. Supreme Court has given the police license… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The War on Drugs proved popular among key white voters, particularly whites who remained resentful of black progress, civil rights enforcement, and… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“In October 1982, president Reagan officially announced his administration's war on drugs. At the time he declared this new war, less than… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Mandatory minimum sentences give no discretion to judges about the amount of time that the person should receive once a guilty verdict… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Before we begin our tour of the drug war, it is worthwhile to get a couple of myths out of the way.… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Most Americans violate drug laws in their lifetime, but the enemy in this war has been racially defined. Not by accident, the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“More African American adults are under correctional control today - in prison or jail, on probation or parole - than were enslaved… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The extraordinary increase in prison admissions due to parole and probation violations is due almost entirely to the War on Drugs. With… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The bigger picture is that over the last 30 years, we have spent $1 trillion waging a drug war that has failed… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The enduring racial isolation of the ghetto poor has made them uniquely vulnerable in the War on Drugs. What happens to them… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The resistance within law enforcement to the drug war created something of a dilemma for the Reagan administration. In order for the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
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… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The uncomfortable reality we must face is that California, like the nation as a whole, has treated generations of African Americans and Latinos as… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Seeing race is not the problem. Refusing to care for the people we see is the problem. The fact that the meaning of race… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Since the nations founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die but then… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“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… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“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… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
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… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Civil rights protests were frequently depicted as criminal rather than political in nature, and federal courts were accused of excessive “lenience” toward lawlessness, thereby… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
We cannot 'fix' the police without a revolution of values and radical change to the basic structure of our society. — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
If we continue to tell ourselves the popular myths about racial progress or, worse yet, if we say to ourselves that the problem of… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The mass incarceration of poor people of color, particularly black men, has emerged as a new caste system, one specifically designed to address the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“[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… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
