"Knowing as I do the
difficulty of seeing what most everyone insists does not exist, I
anticipate that this book will be met with skepticism or something
worse. For some, the characterization of mass incarceration as a "racial
caste system" may seem like a gross exaggeration, if not hyperbole.
Yes, we may have "classes" in the United States—vaguely defined upper,
middle, and lower classes—and we may even have an "underclass" (a group
so estranged from mainstream society that it is no longer in reach of
the mythical ladder of opportunity), but we do not, many will insist,
have anything in this country that resembles a "caste."
The aim of this book is not
to venture into the long-running, vigorous debate in the scholarly
literature regarding what does and does not constitute a caste system. I
use the term racial caste in this book the way it is used in common
parlance to denote a stigmatized racial group locked into an inferior
position by law and custom. Jim Crow and slavery were caste systems. So
is our current system of mass incarceration."
From the introduction of The New Jim Crow page 12. You can also read the introduction at the following site, Truthout.org article titled "America's Current Racial Caste System - We Need to Ensure That It is Our Last": click here
Source of Image: All Things Harlem
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