“We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.”
The Author is denouncing the fact that racism in America is a thing of the past. Nowadays, instead of being explicitly racist, like we were in the era of slavery and Jim Crow, we use our criminal justice system as a disguise to keep Black people at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
Because we can all agree that criminals are bad, and that criminals should be given less rights and freedoms, Blacks are incarcerated and criminalized at a much higher rate than any other racial group in America. This does not mean that Blacks naturally commit more crimes, according to her research, but this is being done on purpose to suppress them, to control them, and to keep them in the “undercaste,” a system that is alienated from the other members of the social hierarchy, to ensure they can’t even fathom to climb the ladders of opportunity.
On the surface, criminalizing someone does not equal racism. However, the author argues that racism segregation and injustice starts after a person has gone through the criminal justice system, or released from prison. They then enter an unanticipated, hidden world of legalized discrimination, and social exclusion. The criminal justice system is not there to help correct misconduct, because it has done a poor job on this pretence. Instead, it exists as a gateway into racial stigmatization and permanent marginalization, particularly targeted at African Americans, and people of color. The negative connotations associated with prison and criminals is then linked to the existence of African Americans, prompting the rest of America to associate this entire race as such. The cycle of racism and discrimination begins again, only this time, it is redesigned as hatred towards criminals, criminals who just happen to be Black for the majority of cases.
I agree that the main reason that racism and segregation persist in the U.S is because of this legalized segregation. The reason why the criminal justice system can get away with it is that they put the idea in the public that every person in jail deserves to be there, like there is no one who is falsely incarcerated. If the system is not redesigned there won’t ever be true racial equality.
I agree with you that by using the criminal justice system, racism was disguised. The unhealthy cycle of forming stereotypes and the justification of legal discrimination is continuous for this reason. This affects those that had gone through the system and the entire colored community, such that the stereotypes formed will affect their reputation(as a community) and job opportunities(as individuals).