The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander Presentation by Lyrik Courtney, Amirah Garland, Erin Harris, TyLeslie Johnson, Vylencia Morton, Taelyn Reid, & Connie Tran
THE MYTH: People of color use and sell more drugs than white people do, and as a result, face higher incarceration rates. THE REALITY: The actual reason for these higher incarceration rates is the propagation of a criminal identity assigned to people of color (especially Blacks) by politicians during the Jim Crow era and weaponized against them during the “War on Drugs.”
When the class is full, there are 25 of us. If your slip has “young black male” on it consider this...
“In major cities wracked by the drug war, as many as 80% percent of young African American men now have criminal records and are thus subject to legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives.” (Alexander 7) Mural at Afropunk ATL 2016
That would be 20 out of 25 classmates
If your slip says “young white male” consider this... “White youth were actually the most likely of any racial or ethnic group to be guilty of illegal drug possession and sales.” (Alexander 99) “White youth have about three times the number of drug-related emergency room visits than their black counterparts.” (Alexander 99)
Demographics
Demographics of Incarceration Rates by Race Human Rights Watch reported in 2000 that, in 7 states, African Americans ● constitute 80-90 percent of all drug offenders sent to prison. (Alexander 98) In at least 15 states, Blacks are admitted to prison on drug charges at a rate ● from 20 to 57 times greater than that of white men. (Alexander 98) ● The War on Drugs gained full steam in the mid-1980s, prison admissions for blacks skyrocketed, nearly quadrupling in three years, and then increasing steadily until it reached in 2000 drug admissions for latinos was twenty-two times the number of 1983 admissions. (Alexander 98)
Rabuy, Peter Wagner and Bernadette. “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017.” Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017 | Prison Policy Initiative , www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2017.html
Rabuy, Peter Wagner and Bernadette. “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017.” Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2017 | Prison Policy Initiative , www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2017.html
White Drug Crimes Rates “Whites have been admitted to prison for drugs offenses at an increasing rate as well-the number of whites admitted for drugs offenses in 2000 was eight times the number admitted in 1983-but their relative number are small compared to Blacks’ and Latinos’.” (Alexander 98)
Black men have been admitted to prison on drug charges at rates 20-50 times greater than those of white men. (Alexander 7)
Political Influence in Creating a Racialized Criminal Identity
Nixon During Nixon’s presidency in order to continuously support the reach of ● the Republican party the administration appealed to poor white southerners racism and vulnerability. (Alexander 44-45) “Ehrlichman (Nixon’s counsel) urged the president to appeal to whites’ ● racial fears and highlighted their alienation by the Democratic party and civil rights progress. White Southerners intensely resented racial reform. Nixon stressed that “the whole problem was really the Blacks.” (Alexander 44-45)
Reagan Reagan portrayed the the criminal as “a staring face--a face that belongs to a ● frightening reality of our time: the face of the human predator.”(Alexander 49) The transformation from “community policing” to “military policing,” began in ● 1981, when President Reagan persuaded Congress to pass the Military Cooperation with Law Enforcement Act, which encouraged the military to give local, state, and federal police access to military bases, intelligence, research, weaponry, and other equipment for drug interdiction.
Nancy Reagan's: “JUST SAY NO” to Drugs http://img.etonline.com/1242911076001/201603/1597/1242911076001_4794333251001_show-001-n ancy-regan-0309-lands.jpg?pubId=1242911076001
Clinton Bill Clinton vowed that he would never permit any Republican to be perceived as tougher on ● crime than he was. True to his word, Clinton chose to fly home to Arkansas to oversee the execution of Ricky Ray ● Rector, a mentally impaired black man who had so little conception of what was about to happen to him that he asked for the dessert from his last meal to be saved for him until the morning. After the execution, Clinton remarked, “I can be nicked a lot, but no one can say I’m soft on ● crime.” (Alexander 56) “Three Strikes and You’re Out” Law ● “AFDC” to “TANF” ● Housing Exclusion ●
Media Portrayal of Criminals and Influence on Public Opinions
Media “Criminal” or “felon” ● Stigma and stereotypes ● Additionally, the masses consume the images of criminality that the media pushes ● and believe the unwavering misconception that all criminals are deserving of the consequences-when in reality racialized policies and conduct are at play in the criminal justice system. In 1986, Newsweek declared crack to be the biggest story since the Vietnam ○ War and the Watergate Scandal, and in August of that year, Time magazine termed crack as “the issue of the year.” (Alexander 52)
Source: http://www.thesociologicalcinema. com/uploads/4/8/3/9/4839762/957 9847.jpg?1369427708
Source: http://flashbackmiami.com/wp-content /uploads/2014/09/scan.1489.jpg
Government Funding for The War on Drugs
Increasing Funds for The War on Drugs Between 1980 and 1984, FBI anti-drug funding increased from $8 million to $96 ● million. (Alexander 49) Department of Defense anti drug allocations increased from $33 million in 1981 to ● $1,042 million in 1991. (Alexander 49) ● DEA anti drug spending grew from $86 to $1,026 million, and FBI anti drug allocation grew from $38 to $181 million. (Alexander 49) In contrast, funding for agencies responsible for drug treatment, prevention, and ● education was dramatically reduced. (Alexander 50)
As a Result... Prison and jail populations exploded along with law enforcement budgets ● In 1991, the Sentencing Project reported that the number of people behind bars in ● the U.S. was unprecedented in world history Despite the jaw-dropping impact of the “get tough” movement on the African ● American community, neither the Democrats or the Republicans revealed any inclination to slow the pace of incarceration. (Alexander 56)
Stages of Incarceration
The 1st Stage of Incarceration: ROUND UP Police conduct, which is characterized by incredible discretion among them to enact their racial biases. Whren v. United States “Once blackness and crime, especially drug crime became conflated in the public consciousness, the “criminalblackman,” would inevitably become the primary target of law Source: http://www.myajc.com/rf/image_large/Pub/p6/AJC/2015/1 enforcement” (Russel 107) 2/04/Images/photos.medleyphoto.8456054.JPG
The 2nd Stage of Incarceration: CONTROL Once arrested, and convicted, defendants are generally denied ○ legal representation and pressured to plead guilty, whether they are or are not. (Alexander 185) Prosecutors are free to load up defendants with extra charges ○ and their decisions cannot be challenged for racial bias. (Alexander 185) 100 to 1 sentencing on crack v. cocaine. (Alexander 113) ○
Control SCOTUS has not overturned racist policies because the are “Facially Neutral” meaning the policy uses language that does not explicitly use racial identifiers or slurs, but nevertheless these policies have a disparate impact on racial groups- typically minorities. Source: https://i.pinimg.com/236x/fe/2b/4e/fe2b4 ed73ec6f2790db6003dbd0b4cd3--wood- wall-decor-diy-wall.jpg
SCOTUS CASE: McCleskey v. Kemp “The Supreme Court Ruled in McCleskey v. Kemp that racial bias in sentencing, even if shown the credible statistical evidence, could not be challenged under the Fourteenth Amendment in the absences of clear evidence of conscious, discriminatory intent.” Statistical evidence presented by Baldus Study: “Georgia Prosecutors sought the death penalty in 70 percent of cases involving black defendants and white victims, but only 19 percent of coses involving white defendant and black victims. “(Alexander 110)
The 3rd Stage of Incarceration: RELEASE Once convicted, you are under a system of formal control virtually every ● aspect of one’s life is regulated and monitored by the system and any form of resistance or disobedience is subject to swift sanction. Whether it be time in jail or prison or time on probation or parole. (Alexander 185) ●
Conclusion In sum, our present system of mass incarceration is indisputably linked to Jim Crow, with the former being a mere transformation of the latter. The nature of carceral “justice” in this country leaves many Black and Brown people systemically disadvantaged and disregarded with the same scope as the racialized caste system of the 50s and 60s. “People of color are convicted of drug offences at rates out of all proportion to their drug crimes, and that has greatly contributed to the emergence of a vast new racial undercaste” (Alexander 102 ) Myth debunked!
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