1 : Book: The New Jim Crow[Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness] By Michelle Alwxander
Introduction
• What is the author's profession and specialization within that profession?
• Two reasons Jarvious Cotton cannot vote. His father? His grandfather?
• What year did the War on Drugs begin? What U.S. president initiated it?
• Approximately how many people does the U.S. presently incarcerate?
• Metaphorically speaking, what is the New Jim Crow?
• What happened in Tulia, TX in 1999?
• Define the terms racial caste and mass incarceration.
• According to Dr. Martin Luther King, what do racial caste systems need in order to thrive? (Alexander repeats this argument in her last chapter.)
2 : Michelle Alexander at Riverside: New Jim Crow convict under-caste
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BSwEYyFu2E&t=44s
IN-CLASS FILM: MICHELLE ALEXANDER
1. In what historic church does her talk take place?
2. Who has also spoken there? What was his topic?
3. What is her assessment of the image of the Obamas and people's attitude about racism?
4. Given that former President Obama has admitted to smoking marijuana and using cocaine, why was he never "stopped and frisked"?
5. What is Jim Crow?
6. What is her evidence that mass incarceration of black men is the "New Jim Crow"?
7. What was the main cause of the spike in prisoners beginning in the 1980s?
8. How fast has the inmate population grown in 30 years?
9. Do blacks use drugs at higher rates than other groups?
10. In what areas of life is it legal to discriminate against someone labeled a felon?
11. What is Alexander's profession?
12. Which West Coast police department was investigated for planting drugs on citizens?
13. Define convict leasing. How did it work?
14. Is it true that black children have less chance today than in slavery to be raised by 2 parents?
15. What was the Southern Strategy?
16. Which Republican U.S. president hired staff to create a media crack sensation?
17. Which Democratic U.S. president got even tougher in his War on Drugs?
18. How do ex-felons "pass"?
19. How much money has the U.S. spent on the War on Drugs?
20. What did the Supreme Court decide in Harmelin v. Michigan (mentioned briefly at the end of the film, so you may have to look it up).
3 : Tim Wise on White Privilege (this is a 9-minute video but should be critiqued like a written assignment)
Tim Wise Film
1. What does he mean when he says that there is "no such thing as the white race"?
2. In which ways did white land owners co-opt poor whites, thus preventing them banding together with slaves?
3. What happened in Chalmette, LA after Hurricane Katrina?
4. How did residents prevent African American victims from coming to their town?
5. Who was David Duke? What percentage of Chalmette residents voted for him?