by Dr. Boyce Watkins
from ThyBlackMan.com
"More African American men are in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War began," according to Michelle Alexander, a law professor at The Ohio State University. Alexander is the author of an interesting new book called "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindedness."
According to Professor Alexander, increases in crime rates do not explain the massive growth in black male incarceration that has taken place over the last 30 years.
"In fact, crime rates have fluctuated over the years and are now at historical lows," according to Alexander. "Most of that increase is due to the War on Drugs, a war waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color."
The professor also mentions that whites use and sell illegal drugs at rates that are as high or higher than African Americans. In many inner city communities across America, four out of five black males are expected to be in the criminal justice system at some point during their lifetime.
Where the Jim Crow aspect of Professor Alexander's argument comes into play is primarily during the disenfranchisement that occurs after a man or woman has become part of the criminal justice system. After committing a crime at a very early age, a convicted felon then has his/her right to vote stripped away, along with the ability to obtain gainful employment. This forms a legalized caste system that keeps many families, particularly black and brown ones, in the bottom rung of our society. The same way the government once served as an accomplice in keeping black people from having opportunities, it does the same thing now with convicted felons and their families.
"What do we expect them to do?" asked Professor Alexander. "Well, seventy percent return to prison within two years, that's what they do."
Professor Alexander accurately notes that money is part of the reason that the prison industrial complex remains intact. She says that if prison populations were to go back to what they were before the failed War on Drugs, more than a million people would lose jobs in the system. Additionally, corporations now earn billions of dollars every year from cheap prison labor that they can't find anywhere else in the world.
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