Read Women discussion

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Hi, I'm MJ and will be leading this discussion i.e. asking questions when not much discussion is happening. Am excited about the number of people who voted to choose this book as a group read and hope that you and many others will make time to join in this discussion.

Feel to jump in at any time to make comments or ask questions.

I thought I might try to break up the book into reading chunks as there is a lot of information provided that might be new, unsettling or enraging and take time to digest.

I have the 10th Edition with a new Preface etc. and plan to break up into 3 parts.

Part 1 - New Preface, Forward, Introduction & Chapter 1 The Rebirth of Caste, pages 1-74

Part 2 - Chapter 2 The Lockdown & Chapter 3 The Colour of Justice, pages 75-174

Part 3 - Chapter 4 The Cruel Hand & Chapter 5 The New Jim Crow & Chapter 6 The Fire this time, pages 175-325

While this book is set in the United States, what is discussed is quite prevalent around the world. If you have found similar examples that you see or have experienced in your own country and are willing to share them with the group, I think it might enliven our discussion and everyone's understanding about an important global issue.

Looking forward to your participation.

I read this book not too long ago, and I think one of the things that stuck with me the most was how Alexander was able to carry the concept of caste into and throughout her writing. Looking forward to reading people's thoughts.

Thinking about joining this one - my June bookish plans are already crazy though, so we'll see how it turns out...

Goodreads tells me I read this book 6 years ago. One thing that stuck with me is that a side effect of mass incarceration is disenfranchisement. So it’s doubly effective as a tool for those who are trying to disempower black and brown people.

This book is the one book I wish everyone would read. Everyone. It’s that essential. Once a reader has read Michelle Alexander’s book and sees the straight line from Jim Crow to the War on Drugs and the loss of voting rights for felons who’ve served their time, along with everything in between, she can’t unsee it.

Ava DuVernay’s documentary, 13th (Netflix), is the 1 hr 40 minute version.

If NJC gets a little dense for you and you need a break, watch the doc and return fresh :)

Carol wrote: "This book is the one book I wish everyone would read. Everyone. It’s that essential. Once a reader has read Michelle Alexander’s book and sees the straight line from Jim Crow to th..."

That's a fantastic pairing recommendation! Thanks Carol.

Anita wrote: "Carol wrote: "This book is the one book I wish everyone would read. Everyone. It’s that essential. Once a reader has read Michelle Alexander’s book and sees the straight line from ..."

Sure thing :)

Susan wrote: "Goodreads tells me I read this book 6 years ago. One thing that stuck with me is that a side effect of mass incarceration is disenfranchisement. So it’s doubly effective as a tool for those who are..."

Yes, this, Susan!

Thanks everyone for their comments to date.

Anita – appreciate your comment that Alexander kept the caste system prominent throughout – part of the U.S. solution (often unrecognized by many) to maintain black and brown people as second class citizens and prevent their prosperity.

Jassmine – hope you can find time to join in.

Susan – thanks for your memory of the author’s focus on mass incarceration and felon’s disenfranchisement.

You and others who have previously read the book might appreciate reading a new introduction by Alexander and a preface by Cornel West and other extra pages in the 10th edition re-issue that I’m reading. It’s been 23 years now since The New Jim Crow was first published in 2010……and sadly not much has changed for the better.

Carol – really agree with and appreciate you strong encouragement to read this book. Your suggestion for the documentary movie is a good one as you’re right - the book is “dense.” Was thinking of the same word for much of my reading but didn’t want to discourage people. Like you, I totally agree it is well worth reading. It is very impactful to have all this information together. Kind of smacks you in the face.

Reading Alexander’s analysis in print makes it all so very real. I am finding her knowledge, analytical skills, research, language and writing remarkable. It just isn’t a “quick read” or book to skim.

It’s pretty quiet out there. Recognizing that The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness was of great interest by so many who voted for this book but also how quickly things can come up that make us too busy to read a whole book (been there…done that). Am wondering if reading the entire book might be too daunting right now.

I’d like to try a different approach - asking you to read small chunks and see how it goes.

Please take some time to read Chapter 1 The Rebirth of Caste (and perhaps the new intro in the 10th edition introduction if you have read the before and would like to join in without re-reading the entire book). It's also a great summary of what's to come for new readers.

I’m hoping this short read and answers to the following questions might pique some interest and activate more discussion.

1. What if anything did you learn that was new to you?
2. Was there any surprise information that contradicted your previous thoughts about the issues discussed?
3. How did the book make you “feel”? The book is full of information and there is a lot of herstory and facts written – but am interested in your sharing of how this read may have impacted your guts and hearts, not just your heads.
4. Feel free to make any other comments.

Looking forward to your thoughts. No expectations that if you start to read and comment you need to finish the entire book. Whatever you're willing to share is much appreciated and am confident it will make this month's discussion fuller.

I forgot to turn on notifications for this thread 🙈😂 I'm not sure what went wrong here...
I'm still planning to read this, I just want to finish my current audio first and then I'll alternate between this one and a fiction read, which is working well for me lately, even if it means that I'm progressing only slowly. I expect I won't finish this one this month, but seeing how quiet it's here, I suspect I won't be the only one...

@Carol: Thank you for the documentary rec!

Starting this now!
What I don't get though, is how this audiobook can be almost 17 hours long while the tenth edition is "only" 421 pages long, this doesn't add up to me...

Hi Jasmine,

Glad you're hoping to join in. Not an audio fan myself (process visually) but I do know that people read aloud or even when they just speak to others..... much more slowly than people can read and process the same number of words with their eyes and brain..

I know you can increase the speed when listening to audio books. That's what I did when I listened...I found it dragged a lot. Everyone has a different speed they're comfortable with and it really depends if you're listening for information or want to hear the nuances in the reading.

from gotranscript - The average reader can read 2X as fast as listening:

Reading vs. Listening – Which is More Efficient for Studying

Reading is actually faster than listening. For example, reading 300 words takes an average of one minute, whereas listening takes 150 words per minute. Because of the speed, you may listen to an audiobook in one hour, whereas reading a book takes only 30 minutes!

Mj wrote: "Glad you're hoping to join in. Not an audio fan myself (process visually) but I do know that people read aloud or even when they just speak to others..... much more slowly than people..."

Yeah, it's just that I read two comparably long books this month and the book that was about 100 longer had audiobook that was still a bit shorter. Which caught my attention simply because I'm in a phase where I'm just a little bit intimidated by long books (which is new to me). It's not really a problem, it was just something that I noticed 😁
I can't really listen on higher speed. English isn't my native language and even though I understand well, listening on higher speed would be unnecessarily pushing it.

On another note, I'm almost two hours in the book and I'm still in the foreword to the tenth edition 😂😂😂
A lot of the things here aren't new to me, but it's good hearing them all together. The book reminds me a lot of Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty, which I read last year and it was a read that impacted me greatly (it's a bit dated in places, but I would definitely recommend it). The theme where the books directly meet are crack babies. But in spirit they seem to be two sides of one coin to me....
The part that was most interesting for me so far and that I didn't know is how mass incarceration shifts into mass deportation and the rhetorics around it.

Jassmine wrote: "Mj wrote: "Glad you're hoping to join in. Not an audio fan myself (process visually) but I do know that people read aloud or even when they just speak to others..... much more slowly than people......"

I still need to read Killing the Black Body and I'm glad you reminded me.

Off-Topic (audio books): Admittedly, I kick the speed up to 1.4 most of the time, but one of the things I like about audio for nonfiction is that it opens up my ability to consume nonfiction during the daytime. I'm a "before I go to bed" reader of tangible books, and I much prefer a story before bedtime than learning or fact. Even though I'm much more a visual learner, audio has given me a way to consume nonfiction while I'm driving, engaging in other tasks outside that don't require my brain, etc. Which is all to say, trying different media is a great way to explore what sorts of media and context work best for each reader. I admit, I'd be intimidated by 17 hours, but honestly, I think with this particular book, whether you read 3 hours, 6 hours or all 17, there are valuable takeaways. Finishing it isn't the only win. Just my take.

@ Carol - fully agree with you, that any time spent listening to or reading The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is well worth it. It will provide lots of insight, new ways to look at things and much to ponder.

Am still hoping that some other members might follow Jassmine's initiative - revisit Message 10 from me - read as much as you're able and then answer any 1 of the 4 questions listed to get some discussion going. Thanks in advance.

Carol wrote: "Even though I'm much more a visual learner, audio has given me a way to consume nonfiction while I'm driving, engaging in other tasks outside that don't require my brain, etc."

Yeah, I'm the same. I didn't use to listen to audiobooks much, but once person starts there is so much opportunities. I actually like cleaning now 🤭
And I manage to consume more non-fiction than if I read it physically. I usually don't remember things that well, but it's good enough to make it worth it.


To the theme: I finished the foreword and the other introductory parts, but otherwise didn't make a great progress.