James Foreman Jr.’s Racial Critiques of Mass Incarceration: Beyond The New Jim Crow (SSB)

Citation:

Forman, Jr. “Racial Critiques of Mass Incarceration: Beyond the New Jim Crow.” Hein Online, Harvard Law School Library , 29 Nov. 2011,

Thesis:

“The idea that the new Jim Crow analogy leads to a distorted view of mass incarceration- and therefore hampers our ability to challenge it effectively- is the central theme of this article.” (Forman 25)

            Foreman essentially wishes to argue in this article that even though she understands what the new Jim Crow analogy is attempting to accomplish, he sees some problems according to how the analogy views incarceration vs the original Jim Crow laws he wishes to address.

            The author hooks the reader in with historical context, introducing the shocking statistic that more African Americans are incarcerated today, than before the Brown v. Board of Education court case was in effect. She then defines how this represents the new Jim Crow and how scholars argue that the increase in black incarceration is to blame (exposition). He then creates a road map as to what will be discussed in the eight separate parts of his article.

            In part one of his article, he introduces who he will be responding to with much evidence. He will add to the conversation of William Buckman and John Lamberth who assert the new Jim Crow is present through our transportation system as well as the Ila Glasser with the ACLU for which they work for. In academia, she will respond to those in Temple University’s panel, U.S. Laws: the New Jim Crow as well as the book The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. (25-27)

            In part two, Forman analyses the term “the New Jim Crow.” She analyzes how the two greatest consequences to overincarceration are the stripping away the rights of an increased number of African Americans who make it through the prison system as well as an increased stigma towards the African American community. She acknowledges that she understands why this analogy has been used as an effective way to illustrate the issues of Americas justice system. (27-34)

            In part three and four, he argues how the term obscures social aspects of the mass incarceration issue. He adds a crucial piece of evidence often overlooked by supporters of the New Jim Crow term, that crime skyrocketed at the same time as the dramatic increase in incarceration. Foreman argues that the term makes the issue seem like a systemic one when more effort should be investigated how we can decrease crime in lower income areas of the United States. He adds to this that a few areas like DC have black majority legislature that would in theory seek to counter this New Jim Crow but haven’t. He acknowledges that DC doesn’t necessarily represent how each state would handle the New Jim Crow but argues further that the term is rarely discussed in formal legislature. (34-45)

            In part five, he focuses specifically on how the War on Drugs relates to the new Jim crow. Foreman argues that supporter of the New Jim Crow looks specifically at the crime statics related to drug abuse, but not violent crimes. He shows evidence that most incarcerated people are in prison for violent crimes and property crimes, but few regarding the war om drugs. He analysis that focusing so exclusively on drug crimes takes from the credibility of the idea (45-52)

            In part six, Foreman makes a distinction between the old Jim Crow relating to everyone, versus the new Jim Crow relating primarily to the lower class. He wishes for the reader to consider the fact that the original Jim Crow applied to every black person equally whereas evidence shows that the new Jim Crow only applies to those in the lower class. He suggests that these issues may be down to economic inequality regarding in the classes rather that outright racism.  (52-58)

            In parts seven and eight, He looks at how the new Jim Crow takes away from the struggles of other racial groups as well as not affecting African Americans to the extent of original Jim Crow laws.  (58-64)

            Forman concludes by restating that he believes the new Jim Crow analogy is effective in getting people involved in the discussion of our broken prison systems and racial injustice. He believes there are still a few logical fallacies believers of the analogy need to iron out to make sound and trueful arguments. (64-end)