30 Quotes by James Forman, Jr.

A black man of my generation born in the late 1960s is more than twice as likely to go to prison in his lifetime then a black man of my father's generation. I was born after the Voting Rights Act, after the Civil Rights Act, after the Fair Housing Act.

In court, judges tell people that their conviction carries a sentence of years, or probation. The truth is far more terrible. People convicted of crimes often become social outcasts for life, finding it difficult or impossible to rent an apartment, get a job, adopt children, access public benefits, serve on juries, or vote.

One consequence of racism and segregation is that many American whites know little or nothing about the daily lives of African Americans. Black America's least-understood communities are those poor, hyper-segregated places we once called ghettos. These neighborhoods are not far away, but they might as well be on the moon.

What if we strove for compassion, for mercy, for forgiveness? And what if we did this for everybody, including people who have harmed others?

There is a certain amount you can learn from reading, but you also need to see and experience things.

I think I've always had that orientation to try to understand the humanity behind people with whom I disagree.

Mass incarceration will have to be dismantled the same way it was constructed: piecemeal, incrementally and, above all, locally.

Actually creating a positive school climate, particularly in schools that are in communities that are themselves not calm and orderly, is hard work.

While mass incarceration is a national crisis, it was built locally.