[Peace] Wednesday Oct 19 / 7pm / New Jim Crow Reading Group chapter 3, IMC

[Karen Medina]

The next The New Jim Crow reading group meeting is this Wednesday,
October 19. We will cover Chapter 3. The discussion will start at
7:00pm. Meet us the basement of the IMC, near the north west stairs.

Dates for Reading Group:[past: Sept -21; Oct: 5 and } October 19;
Nov.: 2, Nov. 16 and Nov. 30

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Some notes from the first meeting several weeks ago.

Below are a few things that emerged from our discussion of the video.
Most of them will re-surface as we move through the book.

 The video raised a number of issues for people which we can explore
as we move forward.  First of all, some people were angered and upset
by the video, that a problem of this nature and scale could exist at
all.  Everyone seemed to be quite affected by what Michelle Alexander
had to say. Some key issues:

1.      The historical factors

a.       That this process has happened very fast, yet  it has deep
historical roots

b.      That mass incarceration could be a key issue in the schools to
help African-American youth in particular understand slavery and other
modes of oppression, since mass incarceration is familiar

c.       There was curiosity about other moments where this notion of
“racial caste”  may have been important

2.      Race, class and gender

a.       Why does she call this a “racial caste system”?

b.      Is this a problem of economics and capitalism and not
primarily about race?

c.       Why are “self-blame” narratives one response to mass incarceration?



3.      Implications for social justice activism

a.       How do we oppose this when certain people/elements of society
benefit, like private prison companies and overwhelmingly white rural
communities where prisons generate jobs? Can we make alliances with
such people?

b.      How do we deal with  the “social psyche”, the “group think” of
capitalism which disconnects the majority of the public from the
reality of mass incarceration?

c.       The law is not neutral.  Practicing law and the legal
profession compromises people. Yet the law itself is unfair and
racist.

d.      How do we address the stigma and demoralization that
accompanies incarceration or being linked to someone who is/has been
incarcerated?



4.      A surprise: why would a woman be writing a book about such a
“male” issue? Or is this a “male” issue? How does Alexander view the
gender dynamics of all this?