The world is crazy right now. I don’t want these posts to be political, but I would like to talk about a book I read last year. I think it’s extremely relevant.
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.
Last year I was in a program called the Jesuit Volunteer Corps or JVC. Explaining my year in JVC would need a dozen other posts. So, to summarize: JVC is the Peace Corps with Jesuit values.
The Jesuits are just cool Catholic priests.
The coolest.
That’s all you really need to know.
I lived with 3 other wonderful Jesuit volunteers in Detroit, Michigan.
It was life changing.
I lived on 7 mile.
For you rap fans out there, you might be familiar with a street one mile away; a street made famous by rapper and songwriter Eminem. Eminem is from 8 mile. Detroit claims Eminem and Eminem claims Detroit. For a lot of young people today, Eminem made Detroit famous. Eminem is certainly why I knew of the city when moving there. I’m a fan of his music.
Turns out, Eminem isn’t from Detroit. He’s from Missouri. He moved to Michigan at a very young age. This much I knew. What I didn’t know and what the locals told me was that Eminem never actually lived in Detroit. He lived in Warren, a city just north of Detroit. A lot of the people I talked to in Detroit thought it was ridiculous that Eminem claimed Detroit as “his city.”
He did spend his time at local bars on 8 mile, the street made famous by his movie of the same name. But 8 mile is the border of north Detroit. Once you pass 8 mile, you’re not in Detroit.
In his song “Marshall Mathers,” Eminem makes fun of the Insane Clown Posse, a rap group that also claims Detroit. He says, “Look at y’all runnin’ your mouth again / When you ain’t seen a ****** mile road south of 10.”
That’s an interesting point to make / when you haven’t seen a mile road south of 8.
I have.
I lived there for a year.
I might be more Detroit than the famous Detroit rapper.
Of course, I’m joking. I claim Los Angeles all the time and I’m from Long Beach.
All of this is beside the point. During our time in Detroit, we decided to read a book together to be more informed on social justice issues. We chose The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.
Now I don’t want to get political, but, to give you a little insight on my political views, I started reading this book with a closed mind. I was ready to disagree with Michelle.
And it didn’t help that Michelle is aggressive, man. She starts the book hot. She comes swinging. She’s angry and she’s ready to fight for her argument.
What is her argument?
That the mass incarceration of black people today is metaphorically the new Jim Crow.
Jim Crow Laws: state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States during the late 1800s and the early 1900s.
The term “Jim Crow” came from a song and dance called “Jump Jim Crow” which was performed by a white actor in blackface. “Jim Crow” was synonymous with “Negro.”
Believe it or not, racism still existed even after the 13th Amendment. The American Civil War abolished slavery, not racism.
The Jim Crow Laws were a way to segregate and disenfranchise black people in America. They were finally removed in 1965 during the Civil Rights movement.
Racial issues have gotten better since then, right? I would like to think so.
I would like to think things aren’t as bad as the Jim Crow Laws.
But Michelle doesn’t think so.
As much as I wanted to disagree with her, as much as I wanted to say her point was ridiculous, I couldn’t.
Because the fact is there are more black people in prison for drug related crimes than any other race.
Drugs are not exclusive to black people.
I went to college.
I went to a very white college.
White kids do drugs too. I would argue more so, but that’s anecdotal.
In an ideal world, there would be just as many white people in prison for drugs as black people, if not more.
Actually, in an ideal world there wouldn’t be drugs at all.
Or crime.
Or prison.
I would love to live in that world.
I still disagree with Michelle a bit. I think things have gotten better since the Civil Rights movement.
But I don’t think that’s the point.
The point was best said by one of my students.
In Detroit, I worked at a Catholic elementary school. I was a teacher, club organizer, custodian, you name it.
I fell in love with the students there. They were good kids.
I ran a journalism club in which the students worked on a school newspaper. We were discussing ways in which the school could be better. The students had a lot of complaints. The class turned into everyone roasting the school. It got out of hand.
As a teacher, I felt the need to defend the school. I said, “You guys are lucky to be here. This school is better than most schools in Detroit. Appreciate where you are.”
One of the brightest students in the class responded, “I am happy to be here. This school is wonderful but that doesn’t mean we can’t try to be better.”
She was right.
We can always try to be better.
And right now, we can be so much better.
Whether or not you agree with Michelle, this fact cannot be disputed: there are a disproportionate amount of black people in prison.
That isn’t an argument. That’s the truth.
And that’s a problem we need to solve.
In an ideal world there wouldn’t be drugs or crime or prison or injustice.
Some would say that world is unrealistic.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t strive for it.
The progress we’ve made since the Civil Rights movement is good, but we can be better.
We should always try to be better.
I recommend The New Jim Crow.
It’s a good book.