American society Quote by Michelle Alexander
““The valiant efforts to abolish slavery and Jim Crow and to achieve greater racial equality have brought about significant changes in the legal framework of American society—new “rules of the game,” so to speak. These new rules have been justified by new rhetoric, new language, and a new social consensus, while producing many of the same results. This dynamic, which legal scholar Reva Siegel has dubbed “preservation through transformation,” is the process through which white privilege is maintained, though the rules and rhetoric change.””
About This Quote
Source Book: The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander, 2010
Legal reforms often mask continuity of racial power by altering language and rules while preserving white privilege.
In simple terms: Changes in law can hide ongoing inequality.
Key Takeaway
Examine how rhetoric shifts while outcomes stay similar.
Themes
racial justice
law
social change
white privilege
policy
preservation through transformation
structural racism
colorblindness
Mood
critical
thoughtful
analytical
Type
analytical
critical
When to use this quote
- education reform
- voting rights
- housing policy
- criminal justice
- employment discrimination
Key Concepts
civil rights activism
legal scholarship
policy reform
Questions to Reflect On
- How do new laws perpetuate old biases?
- What can individuals do to reveal hidden continuities?
A Different Perspective
Legal changes may not alter underlying power structures without deeper societal shifts.
![“[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)
![“The Sexual plight of these children [those adolescents experimenting sexually] is officially not mentioned. The revolutionary attack on hypocrisy by Ibsen, Freud, Ellis, Dreiser, did not succeed this far. Is it an eccentric opinion that an important part of the kids' restiveness in school from the…” quote by Paul Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b5b/paul-goodman-7755_american-society_the-sexual-plight-of-these-children-thos_88140.jpg)
