February 2026 - THE NEW JIM CROW: MASS INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS, by Michelle Alexander

Post composed by Ralph Edwards

As the Black History Month selection, this book encapsulates the historical journey of African Americans in the convoluted evolution of the American experiment. To best understand the architecture and impact of the New Jim Crow, it’s helpful to know the genesis of Jim Crow and Black Codes and the centrality of American enslavement to our society’s stratification and wealth.  The author illuminates the competing, contradicting images of Black and white Americans, i.e., a colorblind, egalitarian society versus a caste society.

Beginning in 1619, Africans from all walks of life and social strata – parents, children, warriors, doctors, government officials, entrepreneurs, farmers, educators, artists, etc. – were captured and enslaved.  Brought to America, they were the basis of agrarian wealth and capital creating, flourishing financial institutions.  When the Civil War ended “the peculiar institution” and Reconstruction promulgated and disbanded, draconian legal and socio-cultural practices were initiated to reestablish the controls of slavery and maintain a caste system.  Jim Crow laws codified legal restrains and cultural practices such as sharecropping, poll tax and “Grandfather clause”, criminalizing unemployment and vagrancy, and other segregation laws to regulate where Black folks resided, work conditions, civic participation, etc, thus sustaining an American apartheid, lasting until 1965, with remonstrating by the demonstrating of the Civil Rights era.

Passage of Civil Rights legislation promoting educational and employment opportunities improved the lot of Black Americans and communities.  White women and other marginalized groups also benefited from the changed socio-economic, cultural landscape.  However, the “War on Drugs” with its disproportionate enforcement and sentencing resulted in mass incarceration of Blacks, especially Black males.  American policing originating in ante-bellum “pattyrollers”, white men designated to patrol the roads to capture undocumented, enslaved Africans, evolved into law enforcement activities perpetuated against Black citizens and communities.  Police harassment, “stop and frisk policy” justified and exacerbated by the “War on Drugs” are examples of emasculating community controls that removed a significant percentage of males from the community.  This contributed to broken families, high unemployment, poverty and despair.  Prosperity for posterity was “a dream deferred”.

 Like enslavement, Jim Crow and Black Codes, mass incarceration limited the prospects of individuals. Deemed as a personal failure rather than an outcome of denigrating societal control, a caste system was reinforced.  And through the lens of “colorblindness” further abrogated societal responsibility.

A strong case is made for review and revamping of criminal justice social policy.