Race Issue: Mass Incarceration and Other Forms of Slavery

You may recognize Michelle Alexander from her appearance and commentary in the documentary film, 13th. The legal scholar and civil rights attorney is one of the chief commentators in the film and for good reason: her 2010 publication, The New Jim Crow, explains how 'mass incarceration' amounts to a revival of Jim Crow laws: those laws established in the 1870s to ensure the 'lawful' enforcement of segregation. In addition laws calling for 'separate but equal' facilities, the widespread criminalization of activities such as loitering and joblessness, the white power structure of the late nineteenth century set in motion a system of re-iterating the institution of slavery in a number of guises. When combined, Alexander's book and the film, 13th offer us a trenchant examination of the mechanisms of racism in the prison and legal systems, they also remind us of the ways history repeats itself--and warns us that if we do not pay careful attention, it can return with even worse repercussions.

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