The War On Drugs Is “The New Jim Crow”

Here is some reading to celebrate Martin Luther King Day: Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. I confess up front I have not read the book. I’ve just read some things about it. Here is a short write-up from the author’s interview on NPR.

 The book came to my attention as I was reading Leonard Pitts’s column in the newspaper this morning. I read Pitts regularly, although not necessarily because I agree with him. Rather, reading him helps me to see things from a point of view different from mine.

 Blacks are hit harder by the War on Drugs at least partly because their drugs of choice are more likely to be illegal. Tossing back a couple of shots of bourbon is an adult thing to do. Smoking a joint is a crime. I think the racial profiling argument has merit too. Despite the title of Alexander’s book, many people aren’t colorblind, and that includes people in law enforcement.


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