374 Quotes by Michelle Alexander
- Author Michelle Alexander
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Colorblindness, though widely touted as the solution, is actually the problem.
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- Author Michelle Alexander
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In Waquant's words: "Racial division was a consequence, not a precondition of slavery, but once it was instituted it became detached from its initial function and acquired a social potency all its own." After the death of slavery, the idea of race lived on/
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- Author Michelle Alexander
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The notion of racial difference—specifically the notion of white supremacy—proved far more durable than the institution that gave birth to it.
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- Author Michelle Alexander
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There is no inconsistency whatsoever between the election of Barack Obama to the highest office in the land and the existence of a racial caste system in the era of colorblindness. The current system of control depends on black exceptionalism; it is not disproved or undermined by it.
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- Author Michelle Alexander
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The same drug that had been considered fearsome twenty years earlier, when associated with African Americans and Latinos, was refashioned as a relatively harmless drug when associated with whites.
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- Author Michelle Alexander
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Although crack cocaine had not yet hit the streets when the War on Drugs was declared in 1982, its appearance a few years later created the perfect opportunity for the Reagan administration to build support for its new war. Drug use, once considered a private, public-health matter, was reframed through political rhetoric and media imagery as a grave threat to the national order.
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- Author Michelle Alexander
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Until 1988, one year of imprisonment had been the maximum for possession of any amount of any drug.
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- Author Michelle Alexander
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Racial attitudes—not crime rates or likelihood of victimization—are an important determinant of white support for 'get tough on crime' and antiwelfare measures.
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- Author Michelle Alexander
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The shift to a general attitude of 'toughness' toward problems associated with communities of color began in the 1960s, when the gains and goals of the Civil Rights movement began to require real sacrifices on the part of white Americans, and conservative politicians found they could mobilize white racial resentment by vowing to crack down on crime.
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