Diversity in All Forms! discussion
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The New Jim Crow
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The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (August 2018)
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This is on sale on Kindle today for prime members.
I read this book and found it interesting. It has alot of good data and information on the War on Drugs and how government is creating and causing alot of the problems. I am an education advocate. I maybe total wrong, but when your school systems do not offer you a true education crime tends to go up. The link to my review is below:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I got this book from the library this week and hope to start reading it soon.
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Mariah wrote: "“The CIA admitted in 1998 that guerrilla armies it actively supported in Nicaragua were smuggling illegal drugs into the United States- drugs that were making their way onto the streets of inner-ci..."For super detailed info on this scandal, you can check out Dark Alliance
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
It's great investigative reporting and shows many different accounts and all of the supporting evidence he dug up. But it is dense.
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Well, I started reading this last night. The timing is perfect in that I recently finished reading The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Hinton. He spent 25 years on death row for a murder he didn't commit.
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It was powerful and sad. Such an injustice.
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I started The Nee Jim Crow a few days ago. Taking this one slow. I don’t want to rush through and miss the message. My pastor recommended it to me some time ago.
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I will look for that, Maria.I’m just over halfway through this book. It really put a face on the whole Mass Incarceration issue. I had NO IDEA of all the facts she presents about the “war on crime”.
My question is this: What can be done? Write my Congressman? Is there legislation I need to ask them to support?
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I’m just over halfway through this book. It really put a face on the whole Mass Incarceration issue. I had NO IDEA of all the facts she presents about the “war on crim..."
That is a great question! When you watch the documentary at the end it actually gives you things that you can do :)
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I haven’t read that, Mariah, but will add it to my list. I’m going to try to watch that documentary this weekend.
I finished this book last night. Besides all the issues with mass incarceration and the war on drugs, my biggest takeaway was the problem with so called color blindness. And once again the realization that some of my own preconceived notions are just plain wrong.
Joy wrote: "I finished this book last night. Besides all the issues with mass incarceration and the war on drugs, my biggest takeaway was the problem with so called color blindness. And once again the realizat..."Joy, wondering what your preconsieved notions were that his book made clear to you. For discussion.
This is a bit embarrassing to admit:—That sentences for drug possession were reasonable based on the amount of drugs a person had, and that they were similar for all illegal drugs—or maybe worse for harder stuff.
—That people made a choice about using or not and thus “deserved” their punishment if caught.
—That the war on drugs actually reduced drug use.
—That people who were falsely accused had access to public counsel.
—That one party was worse than another when it came to enacting and enforcing these laws.
—That police still needed probable cause to search a car. That going 2 mph over the speed limit would not account for such cause.
To name a few.
Joy wrote: "—That one party was worse than another when it came to enacting and enforcing these laws.I read this book a few years ago when the Black Lives Matter movement was just picking up steam. But yes, that was an eye-opener for me as well.
I mean, I think it's easy to rely on pre-conceived notions of what each party stands for. But this book shed light on my own political ignorance.
Elaine wrote: "Joy wrote: "I finished this book last night. Besides all the issues with mass incarceration and the war on drugs, my biggest takeaway was the problem with so called color blindness. And once again ..."Hey Joy,
Thanks for sharing this, even if it was a little embarrassing :-) We all have blind spots though, right?
It's really helpful for me to see this. Now when I'm discussing these issues with someone, I have an idea of where to start and what may be the holes in their knowledge. It's such a broad topic that understanding what preconceived notions are out there is super useful for starting a conversation.
For me, what this book made me think about was how Obama, Clinton and W. Bush all used drugs at some point in their life. A lot of people do. Imagine if these presidents were thrown in jail for years and not even allowed to vote! In some states, they would never be allowed to vote again. The presidents. Imagine if they couldn't get jobs or into schools based on some stupid and really insignificant choice they made as a youngster.
These men, who helped direct our nation for decades, could have been denied the opportunity for the reforms they obviously made in their lives. When given opportunity, they were able to be productive and giving citizens. And it was just by chance that they weren't caught.
And of course, of the 3, Obama was way more likely to have been caught, have charges brought, and tried federally instead of at a state level. How many other people with potential like him are rotting in jail right now? How will our country suffer because of it?
And Bush used cocaine- but that would have had a lot shorter sentence than a broke person using crack. Still, he would have had the "felony" label and denied the right to vote.
This is why, especially with non-violent crime, I really think we have to approach such cases with rehabilitation in mind. And treat people as someone who made a bad choice but with infinite potential and not as a bad person. We've all done dumb shit at some point. But everyday is a chance to make better choices. What's your incentive though, if no matter what you do, you will never succeed because you're a "felon?" And what are your options when you are denied housing, education and a job?
Using the presidents as an example really highlights the absurdity for me. Of course these are good men, citizens, patriots and hard workers with loving families. I'm sure many of the people sitting in a cell right now are too.
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I just finished this and I BARELY finished it. I have a difficult time reading books that are full of statistics. However, I applaud the author for her research. I'm sure the numbers that she quoted are better now since this book was written years ago but yet I know that the progress is not enough.
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I would love to say "YES", things are getting better but that wouldn't be the truth. When you read cases of people being released after years of being incarcerated for crimes they did not commit, then you know that we still have a problem. Visit any prison and look at the faces of the men and women who are there. The majority of them are minorities and males. I've seen this first hand. Also, poverty has a profound impact on who uses and sells drugs. This was touched on in the book. I wish we had answers to this drastic situation but at least we are having conversations about it. The only thing is that talking with out change is useless. In 2015 2,613 per 100,000 black males were incarcerated. Small movement.......
I do not think things are getting better. My state is one of the worst for incarceration and the stats are truly awful for POC. We are going to have to change some laws and some priorities. I just keep thinking if we would redirect those monies maybe we could actually fund our schools.
Diversity in All Forms!
Books mentioned in this topic
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League (other topics)The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (other topics)
The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander