In 2004, there were more black men disenfranchised than in 1870 - the year the 15th Amendment was ratified, prohibiting laws that deny the right to vote exclusively on the basis of race.
Michelle AlexanderRead
I think we've become blind in this country to the ways in which we've managed to reinvent a caste-like system here in the United States, one that functions in a manner that is as oppressive, in many respects, as the one that existed in South Africa under apartheid and that existed under Jim Crow here in the United States.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the parallels between modern societal structures and historical systems of oppression.
Michelle Alexander's quote draws attention to the hidden forms of systemic inequality that persist in contemporary American society, suggesting that they mirror the oppressive caste systems of the past, such as apartheid in South Africa and Jim Crow laws in the United States. This reflection calls for awareness and action to address these injustices that have often gone unnoticed.
Themes
OppressionCasteInjusticeAwarenessSystemic
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on social justice, one might use this quote to illustrate the persistence of inequality.
More from Michelle Alexander
All quotes →My experience and research has led me to the regrettable conclusion that our system of mass incarceration functions more like a caste system than a system of crime prevention or control.
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The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. In Washington, D.C., our nation’s capitol, it is estimated that three out of four young black men (and nearly all those in the poorest neighborhoods) can expect to serve time in prison.
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We have avoided in recent years talking openly and honestly about race out of fear that it will alienate and polarize. In my own view, it’s our refusal to deal openly and honestly with race that leads us to keep repeating these cycles of exclusion and division, and rebirthing a caste-like system that we claim we’ve left behind
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Michelle AlexanderRead
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