The New Jim Crow (The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness)

"The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander argues that mass incarceration in the U.S. functions as a racial caste system, disproportionately targeting Black and Latino communities through harsh sentencing and the war on drugs. This system results in widespread disenfranchisement, job loss, and social marginalization, maintaining racial inequalities under the guise of colorblindness. Like Jim Crow laws of the past, it stigmatizes and controls Black populations, perpetuating systemic racism in modern society. The book highlights how legal and criminal justice practices have been transformed into mechanisms that sustain racial hierarchies under the veneer of fairness.