1. M. Alexander claims that the main explanation of why so many people are sent to jail in the U.S. today is deeply wrong. One of the prominent reasonings M. Alexander portrayed was the simple fact that President Ronald Reagan announced the War on Drugs in 1982, which was when before the crack epidemic officially started and was acknowledged by the public. “there is no truth to the notion that the War on Drugs was launched in response to crack cocaine. President Ronald Rea gan officially announced the current drug war in 1982, before crack became an issue in the media or a crisis in poor black neighborhoods..” (Alexander Pg. 5). M. Alexander points out a crucial point in showcasing the prevalence of the media and how it seemed the focus point by the government, rather than actually working on a proper strategy to solve the issue. “The Reagan administration hired staff to publicize the emergence of crack cocaine in 1985 as part of a strategic effort to build public and legislative support for the war.” (Alexander Pg. 5). One amongst Alexander’s main points is that the War on Drugs is a racially motivated effort to dehumanize Black folks and offer a scapegoat for economic woes and difficulties caused and triggered by inefficient governmental policies and predatory corporate greed and further corruption. According to Alexander, rising public worry over the drug problem in America is not tied to the real extent of the issue or an increase in drug-related crime, but rather is linked to the level of public influence, and coverage placed on the subject. As stated that, “The media campaign was an extraordinary success” (Alexander Pg.5). Thereby, Alexander demonstrates that perhaps the War on Drugs was assembled to divert attention away from politicians’ selfish, egotistical goals decisions to preserve there own affluence and fortune and to construct political influence and power through subtly persuading their mostly white audience that being hard on crime meant keeping Black citizens in their place within the caste system.
2. The reason provided by Alexander M that discredits that notion is due to the fact that studies have shown that people of all colors (all races) both are indicted and subjected to selling and using drugs at fairly similar rates. Alexander M also suggests that even the few existing or hypothetical reports existing showing different statistics, it shows that white people, particularly white youth are more apparent and likely to participate in drug related criminal activities than than people of color. Which naturally, given what’s known and factually shown, it doesn’t correlate to what one would think, simply because most of the population and the demographics in prison, black people are in much greater ration and numbers than white people, and are also in much higher rates to be admitted in prison than white people. Also, about 80% of young African Americans have criminal records which subject them to legal discrimination all their lives. “Studies show that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates.” (Alexander Pg. 7).
3. In my perspective, the phase “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.” showcases a lot of meanings, many showing a deeper value of understanding and prevalence than what is simply on the surface. America is a country known for social misconduct and social injustice. That’s not to say racism and other social issues aren’t prevalent in other parts of the world, but America is emphasized for many reasons. Regarding the phase, a prison is a grounded system, created for justice, incarceration, authority and integrity, but that’s simply not true on a deeper vision. Any person with a slight interest in the prison system in Amercia realizes an unjust pattern, a pattern so normalized to the point where it’s placed as one of America’s cultural roots, displayed in movies, tv, music, despite being an ugly reality. As Alexander pointed out, people of all races, all colors engage in drug crimes, and even the few reports showing otherwise, it showcases how White people have a higher rate of engaging in drug crimes than black people, though that doesn’t show the end result of a logical reality. Black people are in much higher population in prison than white people. That very simple fact gives credibility to the notion that the American prison system is controlled by social control. That comes with a great impact. The American prison population extended from 300,000 to 2 million, by estimates, with drug related crimes being the primary conviction. Making America having the highest rate of incarceration in the world, miniaturing the rates of every developed country, surpassing repressive and highly populated countries like China, Iran and Russia, while having eight times the rate of people in prison compared to an another highly populated (though less populated) country, Germany. And the racial element and aspect of it is astonishing compared to the rest of the globe, no other country imprisons that much of its racial minorities than the US. All of these statistics in place, with such high margins that doesn’t logically narrate the expected results with the concluded facts, especially compared to much more repressive, stricter countries, makes one wonder about how isn’t the US prison system isn’t a socially controlled, and it precludes the fact that race drives and motivates a huge element, in fact a significant one.

~1. Alexander argues that the war on drugs and rising and incarceration rates are not a because of the crack problem she says that the crack problem was really high but there is no truth that the war on drugs was made in response to crack cocaine . The president Ronald Regan officially announced the current drug war in 1982 before crack became the issue in the media or crisis. Drugs and crack cocaine was Morley being sprayed in poor black neighborhoods

~2. Racial disparity cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes because there is little racial disparity in the world of drugs. They have found that in surveys token white particularly white youth are more likely to engage in drug crimes than people of color but the prisons and jails in America are flowing with black and brown drug offenders so it proves the opposite

~3.The way I understand the phrase that our penal system can no longer be seen as the justice and fairness as it is shown in the reading it is it is more one that wants to control us and our people and it has a lot of favoritism for the whites and discriminates people of color and communities

1. M. Alexander claims the the main explanation of why so many people are sent to jails in the United States is wrong based on the following arguments: As stated by M. Alexander, the War on Drugs was started by the U.S. government “before crack became an issue in the media or a crisis in poor black neighborhoods (Alexander pg. 5)”. Therefore the crack cocaine epidemic began to affect inner city black communities after the war on drugs began and was inadvertently caused by the U.S. government itself. U.S. political interests in Nicaragua contributed to illegal drug networks trafficking drugs into the U.S., mainly into inner city black communities. Therefore a war on drugs that was started before an actual drug epidemic began can not serve as a justification as to why so many people in the U.S. are incarcerated. How the media can be manipulated to serve a singular one-sided purpose can be detrimental. The media campaigns spearheaded by the government also had a hand in creating a stereotypical and erroneous portrayal of inner city black communities as drug addicts who would do anything to procure drugs, including commit crimes. According to M. Alexander, “images that seemed to confirm the worst negative racial stereotypes about impoverished inner-city residents (Alexander pg. 5).”, were successful in convincing the public that inner city black communities were creating a state of disorder. This state of disorder created fear in the public and contributed to a “by any means necessary” attitude to combat crime and protect society and if it means creating laws and penalties that specifically target inner-city black and brown people of color then these methods of control become acceptable.  

2. Racial disparities in the rates of incarceration cannot be explained by the rates of drug crimes because according to M. Alexander, “Studies show that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates (Alexander, pg. 5)”. In its simplest logical explanation, drugs and alcohol are substances that people of all races can engage in, if  they choose to do so.

3. My understanding with regards to the phrase: “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.”, is that the government will use different methods to exercise control over its population, from the most invasive to the most extreme. This unparalleled system of social control however has done the most harm to the American population of black and brown color. To know that at one point in time the United States had more people of color (black population)  incarcerated than what the South African government had imprisoned during the pinnacle of apartheid is shocking. Because we see that governments like China, Iran and Russia are so austere with their population to the point where they suppress all forms of civil rights we automatically think that these governments would have an overflowing prison population, but they don’t. Moreover, this type of social control method can for some individuals, leave a long term negative effect in their lives. According to M. Alexander, African American men who have been incarcerated are later subjected to some form of “legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives (Alexander, pg. 7).” There is no doubt that the American penal system has to be changed and restructured, the issue then becomes when are we finally going to do something about it.

1. M. Alexander claims that the main explanation of why so many people are sent to jail in the U.S. today is deeply wrong. Explain her argument by referring to the various examples she mentions to backup her point. (see p. 1-2)

First, the War on Drugs was announced by President Ronald Reagan before, and not after, crack cocaine became a public issue or a crisis among the poor and minority neighborhood. In fact, crack cocaine was found in abundance in the said neighborhood only after the war was declared officially. As M. Alexander mentions a few paragraphs later, the War on Drugs was paradoxically launched “at a time when the illegal drug use was on the decline.” This opens up room for suspecting if this War was an attempt to end the illegal use of drugs or to target a particular community. Second, crack cocaine became a severe issue in the said neighborhood only subsequent to the mainstream media projecting racist images about the black population involved in drug dealing. In fact, it was such racist media intervention that fuelled the war against drugs which was just another name for the war against the black population. Thirdly, the War on Drugs has been described by some as a racist conspiracy to annihilate the black population of America. Such a conspiracy theory is not altogether wrong because, attempts were made, as per the admission of the CIA, to implicate the black population in drug crime as guerrilla armies, through their drug networks, continued supplying drugs to the black neighborhood. Shockingly, the CIA did not play any proactive role in preventing such networks from functioning. Finally, the War on Drugs led to a massive increase in the penal population in the U.S. – “from 300,000 to over 2 million.” The most shocking aspect of this rise is the incarceration of a huge percentage of racial minorities. The prison records strongly support the thesis that the War on Drugs was a means to implicate, torture, and imprison the ethnic population.   

2. Why is it that racial disparities in the rates of incarceration “cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes”?

According to M. Alexander, people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at a similar rate, and, statistically, in some cases, white youth are found to be more into drugs than youth of color. This means all should equally be subjected to penalty and imprisonment, and in some cases, the white population might have to be penalized more. However, the reality of prisons is completely opposite and this accounts for the racial disparities at least at two levels. First, prisons have a negligible presence of white offenders and are overcrowded by offenders from people of color. And second, in some cases, the charges against black offenders are twenty to fifty times greater compared to those against white offenders. As M. Alexander points out, the black population is targeted in such a massive way that in some cities, about 80% of the black youth have criminal records which leads to their permanent ostracization from mainstream society.

3. How do you understand the phrase: “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.”?

Prisons are considered to be a place where criminals are to be confined until they complete their terms. Imprisonment is a measure against crimes plaguing society and can help in the reduction of crimes or freeing society of crimes. However, as per the argument of M. Alexander, the American penal system does not aim at eradicating crimes. White offenders are allowed to roam free, while ethnic minorities, irrespective of whether they have committed any offense and irrespective of the degree of their crime, are indiscriminately targeted and put behind the bars for years. American penal system ultimately becomes a system of controlling, subjugating, ghettoizing, and exploiting people of color. It is fundamentally an instrument to uphold white supremacy. The American penal system, under the garb of eradicating crimes, advances racist agenda. As M. Alexander notes, it is worse than the maltreatment of the blacks during the apartheid in South Africa. The incarceration of the thousands of black population, in the name of crime, is nothing but a form of racial discrimination and a means of white domination in American society.

1. M. Alexander claims that the main explanation of why so many people are sent to jail in the U.S. today is deeply wrong. Explain her argument by referring to the various examples she mentions to backup her point. (see p. 1-2)

Alexander claims that the war on drugs and rising incarceration rates are not a symptom of the crack epidemic. She says “While it is true that the publicity surrounding crack cocaine led to a dramatic increase in funding for the drug war (as well as to sentencing policies that greatly exacerbated racial disparities in incarceration rates), there is no truth to the notion that the War on Drugs was launched in response to crack cocaine. President Ronald Reagan officially announced the current drug war in 1982, before crack became an issue in the media or a crisis in poor black neighborhoods.”

2. Why is it that racial disparities in the rates of incarceration “cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes”?

Because there is too little racial disparity in the world of drug use for there to be drug-related racial epithets, or further, for there to be such a racial disparity in incarceration rates.

“Studies show that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates.10 If there are significant differences in the surveys to be found, they frequently suggest that whites, particularly white youth, are more likely to engage in drug crime than people of color.11 That is not what one would
guess, however, when entering our nation’s prisons and jails, which are overflowing with black and brown drug offenders.”

3. How do you understand the phrase: “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.”?

I understand it to be a thesis statement, emphasizing the name of the book “the new jim crow.” I don’t believe Alexander would have considered it to be appropriate to use such a raw reference from African American history as “Jim Crow” unless she believed it to be an accurate metaphor. As her entire premise and title is about “social control” I think the statement must’ve been written to be emblematic of her argument as a whole.

Veronica Gonzalez

POL 100 (0504) – Intro. to American Govt. – Fall 2022

Discussion Board 2.1

Questions:

1. M. Alexander claims that the main explanation of why so many people are sent to jail in the U.S. today is deeply wrong. Explain her argument by referring to the various examples she mentions to backup her point. (see p. 1-2)

Response 1:

M. Alexander claims the the main explanation of why so many people are sent to jails in the United States is wrong based on the following arguments: As stated by M. Alexander, the War on Drugs was started by the U.S. government “before crack became an issue in the media or a crisis in poor black neighborhoods (Alexander pg. 5)”. Therefore the crack cocaine epidemic began to affect inner city black communities after the war on drugs began and was inadvertently caused by the U.S. government itself. U.S. political interests in Nicaragua contributed to illegal drug networks trafficking drugs into the U.S., mainly into inner city black communities. Therefore a war on drugs that was started before an actual drug epidemic began can not serve as a justification as to why so many people in the U.S. are incarcerated. How the media can be manipulated to serve a singular one-sided purpose can be detrimental. The media campaigns spearheaded by the government also had a hand in creating a stereotypical and erroneous portrayal of inner city black communities as drug addicts who would do anything to procure drugs, including commit crimes. According to M. Alexander, “images that seemed to confirm the worst negative racial stereotypes about impoverished inner-city residents (Alexander pg. 5).”, were successful in convincing the public that inner city black communities were creating a state of disorder. This state of disorder created fear in the public and contributed to a “by any means necessary” attitude to combat crime and protect society and if it means creating laws and penalties that specifically target inner-city black and brown people of color then these methods of control become acceptable.  

2. Why is it that racial disparities in the rates of incarceration “cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes”?

Response 2: 

Racial disparities in the rates of incarceration cannot be explained by the rates of drug crimes because according to M. Alexander, “Studies show that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates (Alexander, pg. 5)”. In its simplest logical explanation, drugs and alcohol are substances that people of all races can engage in, if  they choose to do so.

3. How do you understand the phrase: “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.”?

Response: My understanding with regards to the phrase: “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.”, is that the government will use different methods to exercise control over its population, from the most invasive to the most extreme. This unparalleled system of social control however has done the most harm to the American population of black and brown color. To know that at one point in time the United States had more people of color (black population)  incarcerated than what the South African government had imprisoned during the pinnacle of apartheid is shocking. Because we see that governments like China, Iran and Russia are so austere with their population to the point where they suppress all forms of civil rights we automatically think that these governments would have an overflowing prison population, but they don’t. Moreover, this type of social control method can for some individuals, leave a long term negative effect in their lives. According to M. Alexander, African American men who have been incarcerated are later subjected to some form of “legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives (Alexander, pg. 7).” There is no doubt that the American penal system has to be changed and restructured, the issue then becomes when are we finally going to do something about it.

1. I agree with M. Alexandar’s claims. She claims that so many people are sent to jail in the U.S today is deeply wrong. Michelle Alexandar stated in, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, “While it is true that the publicity surrounding crack cocaine led to a dramatic increase in funding for the drug war (as well as to sentencing policies that greatly exacerbated racial disparities in incarceration rates), there is no truth to the notion that the War on Drugs was launched in response to crack cocaine.” What she shows in this example is how America’s mass incarceration can’t be explained accurately but it isn’t true that most people go to jail because of crime that is being committed. Another reason why she is correct is that she didn’t agree with how people got arrested for “drug charges” which technically isn’t a crime because it doesn’t inhibit criminal behavior. Due to the mainstream media circulating the crack cocaine racist images and people of color getting named called because the people of color were the targets during the time the drugs were being disturbed in their neighborhoods. The “War on Drugs” was a very talked-about topic during the 1980s, since their main focus was to get the people of color involved as much, even the CIA was responsible for putting crack cocaine out on the streets and later getting distributed by other sellers to get the people of color in the poor community incarcerated.
2. Michelle Alexandar stated how the racial disparities in the rates of incarceration, “Can’t be explained by the rates of drug crimes because “These stark racial disparities cannot be explained by rates of drug crime. Studies show that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates.10 If there are significant differences in the surveys to be found, they frequently suggest that whites, particularly white youth, are more likely to engage in drug crime than people of color. That is not what one would guess, however, when entering our nation’s prisons and jails, which are overflowing with black and brown drug offenders. In some states, black men have been admitted to prison on drug charges at rates twenty to fifty times greater than those of white men. And in major cities wracked by the drug war, as many as 80 percent of young African American men now have criminal records and are thus subject to legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives. These young men are part of a growing undercast, permanently locked up and locked out of mainstream society.” This example shows how not only the people of color are guilty of drug crimes but the entire race of humans including, ” Whites, Blacks, Latin, and Asian Americans.” Anyone worldwide can be a potential drug user, drug addict, or possibly a drug dealer. Their main targets are also the minorities and people of color in the criminal justice system just because of their skin color and are more prone to getting incarcerated because the criminal justice system is racist and it can’t be that way because drugs don’t discriminate based on a race because they can be used by anyone.
3. The phrase, “The American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history” is based on how prisons aren’t places where we have any control, the criminal justice sends people to prison who break the law or hurt others physically or killed. Michelle Alexandar made a point on how a prison is a place where society is controlled by criminal justice and where people get unequal treatment based on different ethnicities.

1. M. Alexander claims that many people of color are sent to jail unfairly, and her points do make quite a bit sense. One of her points is that “Whites, particularly white youth tend to do more drug crimes than people of color” (p.7). And yet, when looking at our jail system today, people of color double in convictions for drug crimes compared to white people (p. 7). She even described how “The CIA admitted in 1998 that guerilla armies it actively supported in Nicaragua were smuggling illegal drugs into the United States—drugs that were making their way onto the streets of inner-city black neighborhoods” (p.6). Just by these two explanations, it can be seen how the system is showing an unfavorable hand to the black neighborhoods by knowing the issues and ignoring them.

2. Disparities cannot be explained by the rates of drug crimes, due to the fact that “White, particularly white youth, are more likely to engage in drug crime than people of color.” (p.7) And yet, it’s widely disproportionate in our jail system.

3. My understanding of the phrase is that our penal system can no longer be seen as one of fairness and honor, as shown by the reading. It is described as one that wants to control our fellow people with favoritism for those of fair skin and that to this day it still discriminates against black communites and minority groups in a show of control.

M. Alexander claims and argues that the main explanation of why so many people are sent to jail in the U.S today is deeply wrong. She supports this argument by discussing upon “The racial dimension of mass incarceration is it’s most striking feature”. Within her article “The New Jim Crow”, she discusses about how the Unites States is the only country to imprison of it’s “racial or ethic minorities”. The racial disparities in the rates of incarceration “cannot be explained by the rates of drug crimes” because stating in her article, M. Alexander describes “Studies show that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates”. She also goes on to state how the media portrayed mainly African Americans the main source of crime rates and illegal drug crimes to strike up in the U.S. The phrase “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history” means the penal system continues to have control on who to target, which continues to impact our minorities lives.