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
The War on Drugs, cloaked in race-neutral language, offered whites opposed to racial reform a unique opportunity to express their hostility toward… — 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
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
“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
In the war on drugs, state and state law enforcement agencies have been rewarded in cash by the federal government - through… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Non-drug-related policing brought no federal dollars, even for violent crime. As a result, when Jackson County, Wisconsin, quadrupled its drug arrests between… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The dramatically different manner in which we, as a nation, responded to the crisis presented by drunk driving and the crisis caused… — 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
Many people don't realize that financial incentives have been built into the drug war that guarantee that law enforcement will continue to… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Defenders of the system will counter by saying this drug war has been aimed at violent crime. But that is not the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“At the time the drug war was declared, illegal drug use and abuse was not a pressing concern in most communities. The… — 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
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
If the drug war was waged in those communities it would spark such outrage that the war would end overnight. This literal… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“[In late 1989,] a New York Times/CBS News Poll reported that 64 percent of those polled—the highest percentage ever recorded—now thought that… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“From the outset, the drug war could have been waged primarily in overwhelmingly white suburbs or on college campuses. SWAT teams could… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
To make matters worse, federal drug forfeiture laws allow state and local law enforcement agencies to keep, for their own use, up… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The critical point is that thousands of people are swept into the criminal justice system every year pursuant to the drug war… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
All people make mistakes. All of us are sinners. All of us are criminals. All of us violate the law at some… — 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
“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
We would never throw up our hands and say to those white boys - well, too bad, if you had just stayed… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“As if the free military equipment, training, and cash grants were not enough, the Reagan administration provided law enforcement with yet another… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The real point here, however, is not that innocent people are locked up. That has been true since penitentiaries first opened 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
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 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
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
![“[In late 1989,] a New York Times/CBS News Poll reported that 64 percent of those polled—the highest percentage ever recorded—now thought that drugs were the most significant problem in the United States. This surge of public concern did not correspond to a dramatic shift in illegal drug activity…” quote by Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6a2/michelle-alexander-750_political-campaign_in-late-1989-a-new-york-times-cbs-news-p_1649060.jpg)
![“[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 For” quote by Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/fdb/michelle-alexander-750_slavery_t-he-slave-went-free-stood-a-brief-momen_96485.jpg)