Takeaways from "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

For the country’s entire past
A particular feature held fast.
    Since the US began
    There has always been
A racialized undercaste.

Earliest forms of this knavery,
Particularly cruel and unsavory,
    Were solidified in
    The legal system’s
Invention of chattel slavery.

After the Civil War though,
Slavery was forced to go.
    But Reconstruction
    Was brought to an end
Allowing the birth of Jim Crow.

Then Civil Rights organizations
Brought about Jim Crow’s cessation.
    But it came back again
    As the system we’re in
Mass criminal incarceration.

The War on Drugs has bias.
With no mention of race or class,
    Every step of the system
    Targets as its victim
The racialized undercaste.

Even out of jail it’s permissible
To treat them in ways most despicable.
    Long-term probation
    And discrimination
Generate undercastes of criminals.

War and powerful inducements
Were needed for prior improvements.
    Prison decommission
    And full abolition
Requires a national movement.