While I have yet to finish The New Jim Crow, I am thoroughly impressed thus far. Michelle Alexander maintains a strong and persuasive yet very honest voice. She mentions in her preface that she has a specific audience in mind for the book, and I feel as though I fit into that audience. Alexander says she writes for those who have tried to convince the people around them that "... something is eerily familiar about the way our criminal justice system operates, something that looks and feels a lot like an era we supposedly left behind, but who have lacked the facts and data to back up their claims." She hopes to empower her audience, and I could use that empowerment. It's difficult to make unpopular arguments like the ones surrounding race unless you are equipped with the proper information to back up your argument. The argument that racial discrimination still exists in America is not one many want to hear, and in order to convey it effectively, facts and figures and analogies are needed. I hope that as I work my way through the book, I will become knowledgeable about this new racial caste system that has been perpetuated by the current prison system and war on drugs.
Something that has particularly struck me in the introduction is that the U.S. incarcerates more of its racial or ethnic minorities than any other country in the world. I'm always weary of the way that statistics can be skewed or manipulated to prove a certain point. But regardless of however this statistic could be argued, it's horrifying. No matter what other reasons could be attributed to this phenomenon, this is a blatantly race based problem. I had no idea that the U.S. held this position in the world. It's startling and disturbing and more disgusting than I thought. I'm excited to complete this book because I can only imagine that I will stumble across more facts that will completely shake my existing sense of societal realities.
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