Post #5 - Argument Analysis, Final Thoughts

Nick Miller 

Ms. LaClair 

The New Jim Crow 

Final Post (#5)

At this point, I have now finished reading The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander. Having now read the entire book and consequently gained a new understanding of Alexander's points and overall argument, I'm going to structure this post as a continued analysis and qualification of her argument.  However, I'm also going to frame the post in the context of the question, "what’s next?"

Throughout the book, a central claim has been the general idea that there is a system of control in place that impacts African Americans in all walks of life - but especially in the criminal justice system - and therefore, we need a grassroots transformation of our institutions to address the imbalances.  

My response to the causes of present imbalances:  

Put shortly, I disagree with the first part of Alexander's claim, but I agree with the second part, to an extent. For the reasons I have outlined in previous posts, I don't agree with the idea that there is a shadowy group of white supremacists in the United States government, or a majority in the police force, that specifically implemented or continues to implement public policy with the insidious goal of incarcerating African Americans. I believe that policy ended with the nationwide abolition of Jim Crow, and I will get into why in a moment.     

Just to be clear, Alexander never specifically states this in the book - rather, I have drawn it as a conclusion from her other statements referring to police departments, courts, and public policy concerning drugs and the “Drug War” as "systems of control." 

In my view, a system of control is designed in a specific way by a particular group of people to achieve the desired outcome of oppressing a minority or other group.  I don't believe the Drug War was conducted in such a way. I think it was conducted to save lives and protect American communities from being overrun by already pervasive and increasing drug use.  

And prominent African American leaders agreed with me.  For example, Larry Elder, an African American attorney states in an article for RealClearPolitics,

In the '80s and '90s, many black leaders supported tough anti-drug laws. Facing an inner-city explosion of gang activity, violent crime and a crack epidemic, black politicians pressured Congress to pass these laws. The Rev. George McMurray was pastor of Harlem's Mother A.M.E. Zion Church in the '70s, a time when New York City faced a major heroin epidemic. He favored life sentences for convicted drug dealers (Elder).  

This statement supports my previous assertions that many drug laws - which have produced lopsided racial results - derived from an effort to reduce drug crime, not from an effort to control and incarcerate blacks. If the cause were the latter, why would prominent African American politicians support such laws?  

Later in his article, he references Harlem Representative Charlie Rangel, "Standing behind Ronald Reagan" when he signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 into law (Elder). The pattern continues in 1994, where Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke - also African American - referenced new drug policy in the following way: 

I believe the crime bill ... is part of the answer, and the crime bill should be supported by us. We do need to send a signal throughout our communities that certain types of activities will not be tolerated, that people will be held accountable and that if there is evil manifested by actions taken by individuals who choose to prey upon our residents that that evil will be responded to quickly and correctly (Elder).

Other similar laws were endorsed by influential Black clergymen and the Congressional Black Caucus (Elder).  

Based on this evidence, it seems that the first part of Alexander's argument - the part where she refers to drug policy as a "system of control" - is not accurate. If it was, why would prominent African American politicians, at the time of passage, endorse these policies and herald them as potential solutions to the problems their communities faced?  

Given this information, I think that the Drug War was just that - a war on drugs that happened to produce lopsided results. I don't think skin color played a prominent role in its design. However, I do think that previous discrimination and the societal imbalances it produced as America entered the 1980s caused the divide we see today - and that is where I agree with at least some of what Alexander argues.  

My response to the solutions for present imbalances:  

We need grassroots efforts to fix these problems.  

Throughout her book, Alexander cites poverty as a reason why African American inner-city drug use is high, and I agree wholeheartedly with this point. I even agree with her that the systems that produce this poverty - predominately the imbalance in educational opportunities afforded to inner-city pupils vs their mostly white counterparts - need to be radically transformed.  

Continuing to operate on a system where property taxes provide the bulk of public funding for education, for example, only perpetuates poverty in inner-city communities because the property is less valuable, which generates less revenue for school systems. Studies have continually linked a lack of educational opportunities with crime and poverty, so I think that having the federal government assume control of inner-city schools and supplement them with substantial public funding would be the most prudent way to fix gaps in educational opportunity and by extension, poverty and crime.   

I also support the legalization of Marijuana and a softening of low level drug penalties, some of which were reformed through the First Step Act.  Through these measures, we can reduce African American poverty by reducing incarceration - again, a factor linked to poverty through numerous studies - and raise more people out of the inner cities.  

These measures - both the increase in opportunity for blacks, and prison reform - will drastically decrease crime rates in the inner cities and narrow gaps in prison demographics and other areas of American life, including wealth.  

In my view, they are the best ways to address current inequality. While I disagree with Alexander about the root causes of the imbalances in present society, I agree with her that we should take action as a society to mitigate these imbalances.  

Everyone wants a fair society, everyone wants equal opportunity, and everyone wants a prosperous country - we just arrive at that vision by different means.  As long as we can openly discuss ideas with each other, we will assuredly get there. That is what America is all about.  

Thanks for reading, 

Nick   

• Works Cited - 

Elder, Larry. "If Tough Anti-Drug Laws Are 'Racist,' Blame Black Leaders."

     RealClearPolitics, 14 June 2018, www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/

     2018/06/14/_if_tough_anti-drug_laws_are_racist_blame_black_leaders_137273.html.

     Accessed 4 Apr. 2020.