I had always heard of the work “The New Jim Crow,” but had never engaged in the material or knew what it was about. Before reading, I wondered “How is the Jim Crow Era being continued in today’s world?” I was excited to read it, as I knew the piece has recieved such positive feedback, especially during these times in the BLM Movement. In addition, I had never seen the documentary “Pushout: The Criminilization of Black Girls in Schools.” I come from an area and school that does not have many people of color, and so I knew this was going to be a new and educational experience.

“The New Jim Crow” raises some really interesting points about the War on Drugs. The quote “Almost overnight, the media was saturated with images of black ‘crack whores,’ ;crack dealers,’ and ‘crack babies’ — images that seemed to confirm the worst negative racial stereotypes about impoverished inner city residents” brought up some things that I have been learning about in sociology. The roots of The Opioid Crisis can be traced back to white privileged doctors who started selling the opioids in order to get ahead in business, not thinking about the consequences it could have on the lower class. Ultimately, it was the lower classes that were affected the most by it because they got addicted and relied on this new business to make money. However, instead of people looking at The Opioid Crisis as a societal issue, blame was placed on the affected individuals and it was seen as a personal problem. People looked at the drug addicts as worthless, poor, and shameful human beings. People don’t see the drug addicts as a consequence of a larger societal issue, but rather place the blame on them for how their lives turned out. This idea is prevalent in “The New Jim Crow,” as people typically don’t look at the bigger picture: black people are not to blame for the distressing situation society has put them in. Rather than seeing mass incarceration of black people as a societal problem, the blame is being placed on the black individual for having a criminalized stereotype. This also relates to the documentary in that the teachers were unfairly targeting black girls, causing a build up of depression and anger among black girls. When the black girls would act out, the blame was placed on the individual: they needed to get their emotions under control, they were a safety hazard etc. People were not paying attention to the actual root of the problem, which was that all black girls, as a total population, were experiencing discrimination and unhealthy learning environments by white adult teaching figures.

These materials also brought back a discussion I had had in my law and government class my senior year. In fact, these materials have changed my opinion. The discussion we were having was if parole was a freedom and a second chance at life, or just another step in the criminal justice system. I originally had argued last year that it was a second chance at life and a freedom. My thought process was that it gave criminals a chance to assimilate back into life earlier than they were supposed to. However, after engaging with “The New Jim Crow” material, my stance has changed. Just because you are on parole and given slightly more freedom, does not undue the reputation and social death that has been thrust upon the former innmate. They will still have a criminal record that disables them to vote, excluded from juries, and have incredibly hard time receiving jobs, especially if they are black.