The Insidious Effects of Racism and Poverty (Relevance)

     After having been isolated in my house for days on end, it comes to mind to talk about COVID-19 in relation to Michelle Alexander's book The New Jim Crow. These days it's hard to avoid the subject of this pandemic. The coronavirus is affecting the entire world, and like the effects of racism, it is hitting poorer families especially hard and its origins are bringing ugly racism to the surface (Galea; Chandra).
     Systemic racism that lasts long after someone has served their sentence and walked out of prison is a central theme in Alexander's book. In this week's section, former prisoners are barred from getting jobs due to past prison time, as they have to check the box on most job applications admitting to their felony conviction in they are "in the box" of joblessness (Alexander 153). Once they release this information, the job offers dry up. About 33 percent of young black men are out of work, and the number is as high as 65 percent for those who have dropped out of school, including those incarcerated (152). Their past convictions, even long after their sentences have been served, affect their ability to get housing, to support their families, sometimes even to vote, and to survive.
     Similarly, while COVID-19 can affect anyone, the long-lasting effects of it are more present and harmful in families with lower socioeconomic status, affected by homelessness or lack of affordable housing, refugees, and other "low-income and marginalized communities" (Benfer and Wiley). Not being able to work or afford to stock up on two weeks worth of groceries or seek medical care makes these families more vulnerable to this virus. Lack of a job is a major financial burden because not everyone can work from home. For example, laborers or other physical jobs do not have the luxury of working online, which creates a massive financial burden. The mom who works in the grocery store or is a cashier at the pharmacy can't bring her kids with her to work, creating an impossible situation.
     In this time, our president has called this virus the "Chinese Flu" and the "Kung Flu" (Chandra). This type of blatant racism causes discrimination toward Asians and Asian Americans, especially when such language is used by a government official. There have been many videos online of people moving away from Asian Americans on the subway.  A writer in Psychology Today says, "For the president to not take a clear line denouncing these racist and fear-based actions puts the entire Asian American community at risk . . . The problem is not just the term 'Chinese Virus,' but also the implicit linkage to a long history of anti-Asian rhetoric and violence" (Chandra). This sort of racism embedded within our government is not unlike the systemic racism discussed in The New Jim Crow.
     This pandemic is on everyone's minds and affecting everyone's day to day lives. Although none of us can escape the harmful effects of the virus, except maybe by social distancing, we can do something about the criminal justice system, employment policies, housing policies, and the United States' long history of racism against Asian Americans.
                                                       Works Cited
Benfer, Emily A., and Lindsay F. Wiley. "Health Justice Strategies To Combat COVID-19: Protecting Vulnerable Communities During A Pandemic." Health Affairs, 19 Mar. 2020, www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200319.757883/full/. Accessed 24 Mar. 2020.
Chandra, Ravi. "Calling COVID-19 a 'Chinese Virus' or 'Kung Flu' Is Racist" ["psychology Today"]. Psychology Today, 18 Mar. 2020, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-pacific-heart/202003/calling-covid-19-chinese-virus-or-kung-flu-is-racist. Accessed 24 Mar. 2020.
Galea, Sandro. "The Poor and Marginalized Will Be the Hardest Hit by Coronavirus." Scientific American, 20 Mar. 2020, blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-poor-and-marginalized-will-be-the-hardest-hit-by-coronavirus/. Accessed 24 Mar. 2020.

The Caste System: Systemic Racism in the United States (Argument)

The purpose of The New Jim Crow is to expose the discriminatory and ingrained, systemic racism that distorts the American foundations of equality and justice. Author Michelle Alexander shows where this racism lurks in a society that used to enslave people and now uses the criminal justice system to incarcerate African-Americans. I agree that systemic racism is ingrained in our society because I have seen inequality first hand both in New York City, where I was born, and in New Hampshire where I live. The book gives me a larger perspective on how poorer schools are primarily black and how this affects teaching staff and distribution of resources. This is the caste system that Alexander describes.

Most people think of Indian when they hear the words “caste system,” but the author shows the rebirth of this system in the United States. Writing about the birth of slavery and then indentured servitude, Alexander calls the system that was developing, which affects today’s criminal justice system, “legalized terror against black and white bondsmen” (23). The author argues that our government, through systemic racism, made terror and atrocious acts on an entire race acceptable. Furthermore, this racism has taken many forms throughout history, the most recent being the way the legal system functions and rising levels of imprisonment of African-Americans. Alexander writes, “Since the nation’s founding, African Americans repeatedly had been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die, but then are reborn in new form, tailored to the needs and constraints of the time” (21). This is how our nation pretends to repeal unjust laws without fixing the effects of them and then reimplementing them in other forms.

Alexander looks at how segregation is one of the oldest forms of systemic racism, whether its through slavery, through racism, or through incarceration. She builds toward defining the problems with U.S. prisons with this term. She also examines how the successes of African-Americans, such as President Barack Obama, do not outweigh or erase the serious problems that still plague the United States related to race. She shows the work at the system level that urgently needs attention.

Doublespeak Lives On In the Criminal Justice System (Rhetorical Analysis)

When discussing race or other sensitive topics, it is important to weigh one’s words carefully. Michelle Alexander not only weighs her words in The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, but she also looks at how language is used within the criminal justice system in ways that harm people of color. Language appears, along with prosecutors and judges, as a character in this important book.

Coded language is a tool used by those in the criminal justice system that allows racism to flourish. Alexander shows how words like “crack cocaine” and “crime” are used racially to suggest African-Americans (105). The use of this coded language has allowed many cases that are rooted in racism to go unseen and unchallenged. Alexander quotes Jerome Miller, former executive director of the National Center for Institutions and Alternatives. Miller says, “There are certain code words that allow you never to have to say ‘race,’ but everybody knows that’s what you mean and ‘crime’ is one of those. . . . So when we talk about locking up more and more people, what we’re really talking about is locking up more and more black men” (qtd. in Alexander 105). The ellipses are used to create a sort of cause and effect relationship between the statements before and after the ellipses. The first part connects the word “crime” with African-American men, and Alexander shows how they are incarcerated at much higher rates than white men. Although evidence says that African-Americans do not use or sell drugs more than other races, 93 percent of those convicted of crimes involving crack cocaine are black (Alexander 112). The second part of Mitchell’s quote shows the effect of this use of the word “crime, which is the high number of convictions, long sentences, loss of jobs and family life, and other harmful effects.

Alexander also speaks to the sense of “doublespeak” that is used when referring to the kind of policing that leads to these convictions (131). This “doublespeak” is exemplified by an attitude that says “we do not racial-profile; we just stop people based on race” (131). This use of opposites helps Alexander point out hypocrisy both in policing and in the courts. Similar to intense patrols of African-American neighborhoods, jurors can be weeded out and dismissed based on race without ever using that word. Alexander shows how “prosecutors almost never fail to successfully craft acceptable race-neutral explanations to justify striking black jurors” (121). The clothing they wear, poverty, educational level, and other terms may signify racial motives. This exclusion of black jurors makes it unfair for black defendants because they may not have a jury of their peers.

As stated in the preface, this book was written for people who do not fully understand or appreciate the scale of the injustice described in the book. This may be because they have never been a black defendant facing a judge or jury and a long prison sentence. Or perhaps the reader has never been in such a severe unfortunate circumstance. In Chapter 3, “The Color of Justice,” the opening passage heavily uses the “you” voice. This makes the reader feel more connected to the argument that the author is making. This is an efficient way to draw the reader in, grab their attention, and instead of making it just a study, it humanizes the problem. “You are also now branded a drug felon. You are no longer eligible for food stamps,” Alexander writes (97). This grips the reader and makes the problem real, all too real for the 2 million people incarcerated in the United States, a country that we call home that has the highest rate of incarceration now in the world (6).