The Birth Of "The New Jim Crow"

For my Junior Theme, I have started to research the topic of mass incarceration in the United States, particularly focusing on the fact that there are a disproportionate number of African Americans in prison today- why? Through my preliminary research, I have found that there is a (surprisingly) large amount of history around this issue. The controlling of African Americans has been around for centuries; the method of doing it simply changes as society and the law changes. In the words of Michelle Alexander, "African Americans repeatedly have 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."

Although prison may seem completely unrelated to slavery at the surface- we imprison people of all ages, genders, and races- the industry has deep ties to slavery in the United States- some would even argue that it is a result of it. Slavery was first introduced because white people needed cheap laborers. However, after slavery was abolished, "the idea of race lived on" (Alexander 26). Slavery essentially established an idea of racial superiority in the minds of the white people; they soon found they needed another way to control the African American population. Thus, another system of legally controlling African Americans.

The birth of mass incarceration started in the years and decades after the end of the Jim Crow South. In these years, "reported street crime quadrupled and homicide rates nearly doubled" (Alexander 41). Almost understandably, "the public debate shifted focus from segregation to crime" (Alexander 43); white people blamed the black people. Also at this time, an alarming number of black men were unemployed; the solution was to sell crack cocaine. This "crack epidemic" was used as a way for the Reagan Administration to dramatically increase funding and media for the War on Drugs, and "build public and legislative support for the war" (Alexander 5). This media frenzy surrounding the crack cocaine epidemic essentially turned the War on Drugs into an actual war.

The War on Drugs was allegedly declared to, in the words of President Nixon, crack down on "public enemy number one." (Although at the time the war was declared, "less than 2 percent of the American public viewed drugs as the most important issue facing the nation" (Alexander 49).) The cause seems good, as drugs are clearly bad. However, this war was clearly intented to "crack down on" the African American population moreso than the white population. The punishments for crimes related to crack- associated with African Americans- were made much harsher than the punishments for crimes related to powder cocaine- associated with whites (Alexander 53). Why? Perhaps because the United States needed a new way to systematically control the African American population. (Of course, all legislation was formally race-neutral and did not involve intentional race discrimination.)

As the War on Drugs became more popular in the media and received much more funding, the prison population boomed: "The Clintion Administration... policies resulted in the largest increases in federal and state prison inmates of any president in American history" (Alexander 56). African Americans were being imprisoned at an alarming rate("Ninety percent of those admitted to prison for drug offenses in many states were black or Latino" at the turn of the century (Alexander 58), although, as I stated above, all legislation was formally race-neutral. This is perhaps because following the end of slavery and the Jim Crow South, white people needed another way to systematically control African Americans. It's a cycle. In the words of Michelle Alexander, "the New Jim Crow was born."