Introduction
After Barrack Obama became the first African American president, many people believed that his presidency signaled that the United States made good on the promise of racial equality. However, now the country experiences a major disparity due to racial discrimination. The disproportionate incarceration of the African American men justifies the existence of a racial caste system in the United States, something that threatens the achievements made by the Civil Rights Movement. This paper develops Michelle Alexander’s argument for seeing more African American men under the US criminal justice system as evidence of a racial caste system.
Race and Politics in the United States
According to Sweet, a caste system refers to a social structure whereby heredity determines the classes of people (26). Under the system, individuals from a poor class will always remain poor. Alexander believes that the current American society is an example of a caste system, and the African Americans face discrimination due to the country’s criminal justice system. Many African American men are unable to vote today. This happens after they are labeled felons in the United States. Although many people suggest that Obama’s presidency has helped to reshape the issue of racial equality in the country, the agreeable fact is that the country has a long way to go (Alexander 1). What has happened is that the aspects of racial discrimination have simply evolved. Many African Americans are subject to new forms of discrimination and oppression, which portrays the racial caste system existing in the country.
The end of Jim Crow only signified the structure of America’s society. The new Jim Crow is evident today because the country uses colored people as “scapegoats” through its criminal justice system. In America, it has become a normal trend to discriminate against African Americans. This makes it easier to label them as criminals. This is exactly that used to happen many years ago. Once a black man is considered a felon, it becomes “legal” to practice the old forms of oppression and discrimination against the individual (Alexander 4). As mentioned earlier, people of color are targeted by the criminal justice systems, which gives room to the practices the country left behind in the name of Jim Crow.
The targeted “felons” are unable to vote, face employment and housing discrimination. In addition, they cannot access quality healthcare, education, and other public benefits: “Once you have been labeled a criminal, you have no rights” (Alexander 2). It could be indicated that, as a sovereign state, America has not ended its racial caste (Alexander 8). In fact, the caste system is redesigned to continue discriminating against the minority groups. After the election of President Obama, many people claimed that the election marked America’s triumph over the issue of racial caste.
In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan’s administration publicized the war against crack cocaine and other illegal drugs. According to Alexander, the media presented images of blacks “crack dealers” or “crack whores” (5). This confirmes that the war on drugs was definitely the new Jim Crow. The American society continues embracing the increased levels of incarceration. Today, the African American communities record the highest point of it. Studies have projected that more African American men will be in prisons in the coming years. It is also notable that most of the American civil rights groups are quiet over the issue. Civil rights pioneers and activists mainly devote their attention to other issues and ignore the increasing level of the African American incarceration. This means that president Obama inherited a range of national issues and problems that were unprecedented in their complexity at the time he took the oath of office (Greenberg and Page 365).
From this discussion, it is agreeable that many will wonder how a racial caste can exist in a country where its people are opposed to discrimination. However, the outstanding fact is that caste systems founded on race do not require bigotry or racial hostility to survive (Alexander 14). It is evident that racial indifference continues to affect more people in the United States than ever before. Although there might be new laws aimed at reducing or repealing mandatory sentencing and drug laws, the important thing to understand is that America’s racial dimensions of the war on drugs have already destroyed many families and souls.
The country continues to face various differences like mass incarcerations of the African American men and the instances of legal discrimination. This is definitely what Michelle Alexander calls the New Jim Crow. These racialized systems still control the relationship amongst different groups in the United States. Although some of these differences might appear less dramatic, they significantly explain the ways in which such systems of social control have evolved over the decades (Alexander 14). This clarifies the need to dismantle this “New Jim Crow” in the country. However, a movement towards such a goal might be impossible if the people keep behaving as if there is racial equality in the country.
Conclusion
In conclusion, most of the Americans deceive themselves that the country has recorded significant racial progress. Consequently, the people face a nightmare that affects their human rights. The situation in the United States calls for a new consensus about the issue of race and equality. That being the case, it would be extremely wrong to equate Obama’s presidency with a triumph over inequality, racial discrimination, and prejudice in the US (Alexander 1). With a new consensus, it will be possible for Americans to apply the criminal justice system impartially and reconsider new strategies in order to support the minority neighborhoods in the country.
Works Cited
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: The New Press, 2010. Print.
Greenberg, Edward, and B. Page. America’s Democratic Republic, New York: Pearson, 2010. Print.
Sweet, Frank. America’s Odd Two-Caste System, New York: Backintyme Press, 2000. Print.