Michelle Alexander took us relatively quickly through the history of the rise of slavery, its fall, through the era of Jim Crow laws and the following Civil Rights movement. With every win obtained by the black community, white supremacists, namely rich white people, were right behind that win with new ways to subjugate the black population. The most well known form of subjugation post-slavery is the Jim Crow era, marked by segregation, servitude, and rampant race based violence
Post Civil Rights saw the rise of vagrancy laws and slavery through incarceration. “Convicts had no meaningful legal rights at this time and no effective redress. They were understood, quite literally, to be slaves of the state. The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had abolished slavery but allowed one major exception: slavery remained appropriate as punishment for a crime ” (Alexander, 2010, p. 46). This is still an issue today that more people should recognize. Oregon only passed laws closing the slavery loophole for prisoners in our own constitution this past November. While prisoners are not loaned out in the manner that they were at the beginning of vagrancy laws, they are still used for what is recognized as slave labor. Additionally, convicts still have no meaningful rights.
Where do you see remnants of Jim Crow laws in present day society and how would you suggest going about eliminating those remnants?
What legislative first step do you believe would be the most effective at decreasing our prison population?
What rights do you believe should be afforded to incarcerated persons and why?
Anderson transitioned to the War on Drugs, the disregard for the Fourth Amendment and police brutality, ushered in by Ronald Reagan, prefacing by stating, “Before we begin our tour of the drug war, it is worthwhile to get a couple of myths out of the way. The first is that the war is aimed at ridding the nation of drug “kingpins” or big-time dealers. Nothing could be further from the truth. The vast majority of those arrested are not charged with serious offenses. In 2005, for example, four out of five drug arrests were for possession, and only one out of five was for sales. Moreover, most people in state prison for drug offenses have no history of violence or significant selling activity” (Alexander, 2010, p. 74).
A major factor in our inflated incarceration rate is racism, which Anderson highlights repeatedly, expanding on the issue of lack of education around one’s Constitutional rights, targeted police interactions, and the federally funded militarization of our police forces. As the War on Drugs progressed and the Fourth Amendment was stripped of its weight, many Americans were, and still honestly are, subjected to unjust and warrantless searches and seizures, many that were consented to when individuals either didn’t realize they gave consent or didn’t know that they could refuse. Even if people did know that they could refuse to consent, and did refuse, then they increase their chance of being subjected to police violence. Even today, people often don’t realize what their rights are when interacting with police. An important takeaway from this week’s reading is how relevant all of these points still are today. These are very real issues that still permeate our society and they’re well documented, yet people still seem shocked when they find out that their police department has a tank.
Would you feel comfortable refusing to consent to a search by officers? Why or why not?
Before this week’s reading, did you know that you had the right to refuse to be searched (your person or your property) by officers without a warrant? If yes, where did you learn about this right? If no, why do you think you weren’t taught about this right?
