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Jonathan DeMik

Professor Granillo

English 101

12 September 2018

There is No “New Jim Crow”

Is there racism in the United States, are there racist people in power in the United States,

and is racism an issue many people face on the daily? The answer to all of these is yes. No

matter what anyone says, the truth is that the United States has always been and still is, in fact, a

racist country. Despite this; however, to say that the justice system is a from of “New Jim Crow”

is somewhat of a stretch.

Our legal system is designed around “equality” and whether or not you believe this, it is

the truth. There will always be internal issues with some of the people running the system

though, like racist police officers or the off chance you get a racist judge. These internal

problems do not mean that our legal system, as a whole, is out to detain all of black America,

contrary to what Michelle Alexander thinks.

In the introduction to Michelle Alexander’s book ​The New Jim Crow​ she states “What

has changed since the collapse of Jim Crow has less to do with the basic structure of our society

than with the language we use to justify it.” Essentially, Alexander is saying that the problem is

that we haven’t actually changed the structure of the country, but continue to use the old racist

ways and cover it up with new terms and legal protections. She also states that “As a criminal,
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you have scarcely more rights, and arguably less respect, than a black man living in Alabama at

the height of Jim Crow.”

Despite there being some similarities between the Jim Crow laws and the restrictions you

have as a felon, there are still substantial differences between the two. During the times of Jim

Crow, African Americans could not eat in the same restaurant, use the same drinking fountains,

ride in the front of a bus, live in the same towns, or use the same parks as white people. In

addition, interracial marriage was also illegal, black people would recieve insults including racial

slurs on a regular basis and on some occasions they would be physically assaulted for no reason.

In modern times a felon you lose the right to vote, travel outside the country, jury duty, parental

rights, public assistance in housing, and some employment options. On a regular basis felons

don’t receive open hatred due to being a felon by random bystanders, or get physically assaulted.

These two can almost not be compared equally, mostly for the fact that the Jim Crow laws only

applied to African Americans, whereas the felon restrictions apply to all felons regardless of

your color. If the legal system was out to get all African Americans there wouldn’t be white

felons.

Furthermore, in her introduction Alexander brings up the war on drugs, brought forward

by President Reagan. She proceeds to declare that it was all one big conspiracy to incarcerate the

black population. She reinforces this point by saying “crack and other drugs were being brought

into black neighborhoods by the CIA.” (Alexander 237-238). Not long after, Alexander states

“the word on the street turned out to be right, at least to a point. The CIA admitted in 1998 that

guerilla armies it actively supported in Nicaragua were smuggling illegal drugs into the United

States, drugs that were making their way onto the streets of inner-city black neighborhoods”
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(Alexander 238). The truth behind this is that the CIA wrongfully allowed the Contra rebels to

do this to gain the finances to fund the rebel army, not to get black people to do drugs and get

arrested. “​The 450-page report, issued by the CIA last month, for the first time reveals

information sent to the CIA by its field operatives about the activities of the Contra groups

during the 1980s.” (CNN 1). Out of the entire 450 page report, there was no evidence to show

that the CIA had any intentions of allowing this to get to inner city neighborhoods, it was purely

financial help to the rebels.

The entire introduction of ​The New Jim Crow ​seems to be a far fetched conspiracy, based

on other conspiracies that have circulated and been disproven. It feels very opinionated and not

backed by enough factual evidence for my to believe it willingly.

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Works Cited

Michelle Alexander. ​The New Jim Crow. ​They Say I Say

​ NN.com
CIA Admits it Overlooked Contras’ Links to Drugs. C

Civil Rights Movement. ​History.com