ANOTHER MANDATORY READ

The New Jim Crow was without a doubt, one of the most powerful yet disturbing things I've ever read. Stating that something is a "must read" sounds cliche, but this is in fact, a book every American should read. Read it ! ( )

pick up on page 22

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander was first published in 2010 and called attention to the impact the War of Drugs had on communities of color. In her preface to the 10th anniversary edition, Alexander discusses what a new version of the book would cover: the hopefulness of prison reform, the complicated legacy of Barack Obama related to incarceration, the horrific legacy of Donald Trump who gave voice to white supremacy.

But she resisted the urge to write an updated book and I agree with the decision. Things have changed since 2010 but as long as police have almost unlimited power to stop and search and prosecutors can keep people of color off juries for silly and superstitious reasons, our system is broken.

I think the biggest change in this edition is that Alexander expresses some hope for change in her preface. Alexander presents a meticulously researched historical timeline that shows how we moved from slavery to Jim Crow to mass incarceration as answers to segregation and racism. The latter is seemingly so entrenched legally, politically, culturally and economically that Alexander doesn't offer much hope for reversing it in her first edition. She is particularly hard on Civil Rights lawyers and activists who seem to ignore the issue because it often deals with people who did break the law and that makes it harder to defend them.

If you are interested in learning more about mass incarceration and how your state measures up, the Prison Policy Initiative is a good starting point. ( )

A perceptive examination of the consequences of mass incarceration and of the failures of progressives to acknowledge the problem. The chapters on the history of Jim Crow and on court decisions that prevent claims of racial bias from being made are excellent. I think the focus on the War on Drugs is misplaced--nonviolent drug offenders are a small part of the prison population--but the overall argument seems right even in the face of that. ( )