“we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.”
What the author, Michelle Alexander, meant by this quote was that we haven’t ended racial discrimination and the prevention of voting for certain groups. We just found a more acceptable way to prevent people voting by labeling them criminals and removing certain rights from them, such as the right to vote. Rather than discrimination against race, we discriminate against criminals, and do what we supposedly ended after racism became socially unacceptable. Alexander backs up this argument by bringing up Jarvious Cotton. She mentions how his ancestors where discriminated against their race and due to this, they weren’t able to vote. However, nothing has changed for him, because like his ancestors, he can’t vote, but not because his race, but because he is, like many other African Americans, a criminal. She also mentions about her experiences working for the ACLU, and how the Drug War is the new Jim Crow. She discovers how the mass incarceration in the United States drew parallels to Jim Crow. African American criminals were legally denied the rights to work, obtain property, etc. just as they were during the Jim Crow era.
This idea of labeling is one that is critical, as it shows the way people stereotype all colored people. No only do they do this, but they also use their criminal record in order to prohibit their rights. This can be viewed as their fault but in reality, it is the government and the polices expected path for them.
Your analysis of the quote and text as a whole are very concise. The Drug War draws parallels back to the Jim Crow era because specifically African American criminals are denied the right to vote or find work. Michelle Alexander’s experiences helped her see the truth behind the corrupt system.