For today’s readings, we were given Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, where we were given the preface, introduction, and first chapter. These readings are highly intense for me since I have family members in the criminal system. The main point of Alexander’s book is to show how the United States criminal justice system still continues racism in law even though many people say it is gone. In the first chapter, Alexander summarizes the history of racism in the United States, especially for African Americans in the U.S.
In my life, I have not personally experienced racism of any sort. As for my uncle who is in the criminal justice system, he writes to me all the time about who is favored and who is treated poorly. As americas on the other side, we tend to not believe these serious situation happen on a daily basis. Everyday there is someone out there in the world experiencing racism. When Alexander mentioned there are some people who think racism is not evident in this world anymore, I had to take a second glance. I believe they do not want to believe the truth since it is horrible to still have racism in this world.
If history teachers taught their children the seriousness of racism and how it can have a cause and effect in every situation. Do you think there could be a more positive effect on there education and how they tend to deal with certain situations?
Alicia’s Digital Education Blog 