How the Drug War Fuels a New Racial Caste System in America

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/how-drug-war-fuels-new-racial-caste-system-america



Michelle Alexander wrote a paradigm-shifting exploration of modern racism, the so-called war on drugs and the prison-industrial complex. You can obtain a copy of this eye-opening paperback, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," directly from Truthout right now by clicking here.


Mark Karlin: Before we get into the details, is it accurate to characterize your thesis, in a colloquial way, by saying that institutionalized racial casting is alive and even ratcheting up in the United States in 2012?

Michelle Alexander: Yes, I do believe that something akin to a racial caste system is alive and well in America. For reasons that have stunningly little to do with crime or crime rates, we, as a nation, have chosen to lock up more than two million people behind bars. Millions more are on probation or parole, or branded felons for life and thus locked into a permanent second-class status. The mass incarceration of poor people of color, particularly black men, has emerged as a new caste system, one specifically designed to address the social, economic, and political challenges of our time. It is, in my view, the moral equivalent of Jim Crow.

[marmar]

1. k/r

[Vattel]

2. This is one reason why we need more progressives in our party.

We need to fight injustice, not go along with it for political reasons.

[eShirl]

3. It is my honor to send this to the Greatest page.

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. K&R for another victory in the WOD. n/t

[Nambe]

5. Link would not work in AZ. This one does.

https://members.truth-out.org/bgift92-gift/choose-type-donation

[4th law of robotics]

6. Racial and gendered caste

the vast majority of all prison inmates are men. The imbalance between blacks/non-blacks is much much smaller than the imbalance between men/women.