Dr. Robert L Bing

The book that I have selected is titled The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness. While it is not the only book that I am fond of, it is one that I use and talk about on a daily basis. The author, Michelle Alexander makes you think about the so-called war on drugs. Of many points, she argues that the war on drugs has had a disproportional impact on the poor and people of color. In this book, Alexander details the collateral consequences of a conviction for drug offenses and correctly points out that the penalties for drug use may exceed those imposed upon offenders sentenced for violent crimes. She reminds us that the war on drugs helps to fund the prison industrial complex. In other words, that the so-called war, while profitable for many criminal justice agencies, decimates families and destroys lives. She correctly observes that drug use is a public health problem and should not be under the purview of the criminal justice system. Alexander’s book transcends race – as she makes it abundantly clear that all offenders (including Blacks, Whites and Hispanics) suffer the shame and stigma and blocked opportunities that freed black slaves encountered after slavery, during the era of Jim Crow, hence the title, The New Jim Crow. Alexander’s book is provocative and forces you to rethink the government’s failed drug policy. It is difficult to imagine anyone reading her book and not being impacted by the cogent points made her scholarship.