This book is an important,
but tough, read. Important because we
need to know the extent of our massive prison population and how it got that
way. Important because we need to
understand that mass incarceration, in the name of the war on drugs and “law
and order,” has been applied discriminatorily against our black and brown
youth, particularly boys and young men.
Important because mass incarceration is the new face of a very, very old
attempt to keep black and brown people from being full members of society. Important because those of us who are part of
the white majority need to see the face of our society from the perspective of
those who are not white.
The book is tough because
the conclusions are inescapable. It’s tough
because well-meaning Christian white Americans have let this happen under our
eyes. It’s tough because our response,
if it is to combat this problem at its root, must be far more than simply
revising our mandatory minimum sentencing laws.
Michelle Alexander brings
incredible research to these points, carefully laying out facts and figures
from her experiences as the director of ACLU’s Racial Justice Project inNorthern California and as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A.
Blackmun and as a professor of law at Ohio State University.
She argues that, contrary
to what most of us want to believe, “colorblindness” is part of the problem and
not part of the solution. In her final
chapter, entitled “The Fire This Time,” she challenges us to rethink denial, to
talk openly about race, and to adopt an “all of us or none” attitude toward
justice.
Like most of our societal
problems today, this one is complex.
Solutions will not be based on 30-second sound bites, but on systemic work
to rid ourselves and our institutions of implicit bias.
Not an easy read. Yes, a tough one. But one that’s necessary.—Jeanie Smith
No comments:
Post a Comment