Pages 40-96
I must say, after spending a few hours with this book, I finally feel as though it’s getting easier to read the more I get into it. Though the history chapter was interesting to me, I found it a bit dense at times. This chapter (Chapter 2, “The Lockdown”) felt like a breeze in comparison. The purpose of this chapter seemed to be to inform the reader of how law inforcement fits into the puzzle, but also to argue that the system itself is unjust. Due to the argumentative nature of this chapter, I figured this post should focus on that aspect.
It may just be my opinion—feel free to disagree in the comments—but I found that the arguments Alexander made in this section were mixed in quality. She started the chapter off with a long list of claims: “Full-blown trials of guilt or innocence rarely occur; many people never even meet with an attorney; witnesses are routinely paid and coerced by the government; police regularly stop and search people for no reason whatsoever; penalties for crimes are so severe that innocent people plead guilty, accepting plea bargains to avoid harsh mandatory sentences; and children, even as young as fourteen, are sent to adult prisons” (Alexander 59). While I don’t necessarily disagree with the claims she makes, she makes no effort in the beginning of the chapter to provide evidence for them. The same goes for the “Bad Deal” section, in some parts. I felt as though, because I am not particularly knowledgeable in the way this system works, I was forced to trust her point blank, though I’m not sure I entirely do. This lack of evidence improved throughout the chapter, though still lacked in some parts.
The other main section that I felt could’ve been improved with the argumentative writing aspect was the “Time Served” piece. She asks us to “imagine a young man, eighteen years old, who is arrested as part of an undercover operation and charged with two counts of dealing cocaine to minors,” then goes on to describe the hypothetical situation in which this young man could be eligible for life imprisonment (Alexander 91). “Or,” she writes, “imagine a woman struggling with drug addiction, unable to obtain treatment, and desperate for money so she can feed her habit” who also, through a series of hypothetical events, could be “locked up for the rest of her life” (Alexander 91). Sure, these cases could happen in real life, but I personally would’ve found it far more effective to include actual cases of individuals like the two described here.
This is not to say that I thought the whole chapter was lacking in its well-supported arguments; I actually found it to be very eye-opening and interesting as a whole with quite extensive evidence in several parts. Alexander used plenty of Supreme Court cases in other sections of the chapter as evidence for the unjustness of the freedoms given to law enforcement in order to be “tough on crime”. These sections, to me, were the strongest in terms of arguments. I had kind of an interesting moment while reading it where things just clicked. Before, I knew that this was a thing that happens based on the evidence in the opening of the book, but I couldn’t quite seem to make the connection between how African-Americans went from living normally to being sent to jail for 5 year minimum sentences by the masses. Alexander did a really great job outlining the incentives that motivate and the manners in which law enforcement employees execute this system of mass incarceration.
It’s interesting how the more I read this book, the more I feel as though I’m uncovering details of a secret system of oppression not known or talked about by the American public. As she described in the introduction, not even major organizations like the NAACP have this in the forefront of their minds, yet it seems so pressing of an issue because of its prominence and widespread effects. We frequently hear about protests for the lives of African-Americans taken by police officers, yet we do not hear of the people whose lives are ruined by the label “felon”. Perhaps this is because even those fighting for African-American rights are still slightly off-put by the criminal actions they would be forced to defend. Though, as Alexander seems to agree, it is not about defending their actions, but rather arguing against the unjust system that punishes them. Please feel free to share your opinion on any of the topics discussed thus far, I would love to get your input. Thanks for reading!
It may just be my opinion—feel free to disagree in the comments—but I found that the arguments Alexander made in this section were mixed in quality. She started the chapter off with a long list of claims: “Full-blown trials of guilt or innocence rarely occur; many people never even meet with an attorney; witnesses are routinely paid and coerced by the government; police regularly stop and search people for no reason whatsoever; penalties for crimes are so severe that innocent people plead guilty, accepting plea bargains to avoid harsh mandatory sentences; and children, even as young as fourteen, are sent to adult prisons” (Alexander 59). While I don’t necessarily disagree with the claims she makes, she makes no effort in the beginning of the chapter to provide evidence for them. The same goes for the “Bad Deal” section, in some parts. I felt as though, because I am not particularly knowledgeable in the way this system works, I was forced to trust her point blank, though I’m not sure I entirely do. This lack of evidence improved throughout the chapter, though still lacked in some parts.
The other main section that I felt could’ve been improved with the argumentative writing aspect was the “Time Served” piece. She asks us to “imagine a young man, eighteen years old, who is arrested as part of an undercover operation and charged with two counts of dealing cocaine to minors,” then goes on to describe the hypothetical situation in which this young man could be eligible for life imprisonment (Alexander 91). “Or,” she writes, “imagine a woman struggling with drug addiction, unable to obtain treatment, and desperate for money so she can feed her habit” who also, through a series of hypothetical events, could be “locked up for the rest of her life” (Alexander 91). Sure, these cases could happen in real life, but I personally would’ve found it far more effective to include actual cases of individuals like the two described here.
This is not to say that I thought the whole chapter was lacking in its well-supported arguments; I actually found it to be very eye-opening and interesting as a whole with quite extensive evidence in several parts. Alexander used plenty of Supreme Court cases in other sections of the chapter as evidence for the unjustness of the freedoms given to law enforcement in order to be “tough on crime”. These sections, to me, were the strongest in terms of arguments. I had kind of an interesting moment while reading it where things just clicked. Before, I knew that this was a thing that happens based on the evidence in the opening of the book, but I couldn’t quite seem to make the connection between how African-Americans went from living normally to being sent to jail for 5 year minimum sentences by the masses. Alexander did a really great job outlining the incentives that motivate and the manners in which law enforcement employees execute this system of mass incarceration.
It’s interesting how the more I read this book, the more I feel as though I’m uncovering details of a secret system of oppression not known or talked about by the American public. As she described in the introduction, not even major organizations like the NAACP have this in the forefront of their minds, yet it seems so pressing of an issue because of its prominence and widespread effects. We frequently hear about protests for the lives of African-Americans taken by police officers, yet we do not hear of the people whose lives are ruined by the label “felon”. Perhaps this is because even those fighting for African-American rights are still slightly off-put by the criminal actions they would be forced to defend. Though, as Alexander seems to agree, it is not about defending their actions, but rather arguing against the unjust system that punishes them. Please feel free to share your opinion on any of the topics discussed thus far, I would love to get your input. Thanks for reading!
I totally agree with the point you made in your final paragraph -- it's incredibly vexing and upsetting to realize that all this injustice is occurring right under our noses and that as we are, there isn't a whole lot we can do about it. The people may have done something wrong, but it's the comparison to white people who have done the same things that really makes one realize just how corrupt the system is and how much it's failed the side of justice.
ReplyDeleteHi Myah, my experience has been similar to yours, in that there are times where I feel Alexander makes claims about some of the intentions (of politicians, laws, etc.) that I want more specific evidence of. For example, the idea that the War on Drugs was specifically intended to impact African Americans, versus the idea that it was intended to deal with the drug problem in America. No matter the intention, the effects of these choices are certainly incredibly disheartening, especially given the current events we hear about unarmed black men being killed my police officers.
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