Journal entry 8
A year ago, I would probably have felt apprehensive to know that my reading material for school would be so nonfiction heavy. Normally I consider myself partial to fiction and literature, but this year I am taking two nonfiction English courses, so I've had to adapt. I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised by the depth and variety of nonfiction that I've been exposed to so far, including both of the books that I read for journalism this semester.
Both of these books have raised my interest in social justice issues and political
Science, two subjects I wasn't very interested in previously. I have been able to connect the material from these books to my AP English and AP US classes, which has heightened my awareness of the connection among different subject areas. My education this year has been very interdisciplinary.
I'm interested in starting a program where I would get to run a creative writing workshop with prisoners , and this idea was inspired by what I learned from The New Jim Crow. It might have to wait until college, but I never would have thought of it if not for that book.
Journal Entry 7 - 1/13-1/22 - page 298 out of 298
A book talk about A Crime So Monstrous would probably be put to the best effect on a somber talk show like Oprah.
Questions:
1. Where did the idea for this book come from and how did you choose your topic?
2. How did you decide where to travel in order to conduct your research?
3. Were there ever times when you felt overwhelmed by the enormity of your topic of slavery?
4. What were some of the most emotionally affecting experiences you had while writing this book?
5. What can ordinary people do in order to combat modern day slavery?
6. Have you been happy with the way that readers have received/reacted to your book?
7. Have you seen anyone directly moved to action by your book?
8. Have we made any important strides in eradicating slavery on a global scale?
9. Were there examples of slaves working in the United States?
10. What do you want readers to take away after reading your book?
Journal Entry 6 - 1/6-1/14/14- page 285 out of 298
John Miller, the director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons in Washington, D.C., is one of the most active modern day abolitionists living in America. He has fought with many different politicians from many different countries, including his own, in his attempts to better condition for those living in bondage. One of his most lonely and quixotic abolitionist quests was when he took up the fight against India, where millions of debt slaves were held in bondage and remained unacknowledged by the government.
His goal was to demote India's human trafficking status to Tier Three, which would require action from the United States against Indian government. He had some allies in Congress but many anti-slavery voices would not take up his fight because the slaves he was talking about were debt slaves, not sex slaves, and helping free sex slaves was one of the primary goals for many anti-trafficking individuals and organizations, particularly Baptist Christians. Many politicians favored protecting economic relations with India rather than issuing sanctions against them for abolitionist purposes.
In order for Miller to be successful, he would have to garner support and convince important state officials and speakers that slavery in India was real and that the United States had a responsibility to try and stop it.
Journal Entry 5 - 12/16-12/20 - page 251 out of 298
Although the topic of this book was fairly foreign to me when I started reading and it was an eye-opener in many ways, I can still find ways to connect it to my life and the lives of my fellow students at Columbia High School.
The most important way to connect this book to the lives of my peers is to make a point about the roles we play as free citizens of the United States as well as the role we play as consumers. Since much of the abuse of slaves takes place underground and out of sight of the law and mainstream society, we always have the option of looking the other way, of being passive as opposed to active members of a free society. We always have the option of removing ourselves from the horrors that take place in third world countries or even in urban parts of the developed world because it is not shoved in our faces. Skinner is an investigative journalist who went to great efforts to gather the information for his book. While we may not have to travel the globe in order to glean information about human trafficking, it is important that we take steps to inform ourselves about the place of slavery in the modern world.
Only when we have the information and motivation to act on behalf of the abused can exercise our considerable power as consumers and US citizens to implement change. We can boycott companies that use slave labor or abused workers to create products and urge politicians to take action against human trafficking. This book has shown me the importance of resisting complacency and taking a more active role in helping those who are vulnerable to the atrocities of slavery.
Journal Entry 4 - 12/9-12/13 - page 236 out of 298
This book features a wide cast of characters/subjects because of the breadth of Skinner's research; he studies slavery on four continents and interviews hundreds of people. Usually, the people he pays the most attention to and describes with greatest detail are the slaves themselves, like Tatiana, a former sex slave in the Netherlands, and Gonoo, a debt slave in India. However, he also spoke with people who participate in the slave trade as buyers and sellers of human beings, and these are the people who might be considered more "minor" characters because their perspectives are often used as part of the stories of the slaves themselves.
Take Florian Costache, a buyer and seller of young women in Romania. Skinner met with Costache in the Jilava maximum security prison, where some of the region's worst criminals resided among rats and other vermin and were supervised by guards famous for sadism. Costache worked for the Camataru, the top crime lords in Romania. Costache's parents were Roma, or gypsies. Like many of the Roma, Costache and his family resided in a state of poverty and economic insecurity. Costache claimed to have a distaste for the drug trade, so he taught himself how to sell women. Pimping and trafficking were low-risk ways to make large profits. Most of the girls he sold ranged from 14 to 16 years old. Many of them came from devastatingly poor backgrounds themselves, had families who had been touched by alcoholism and domestic violence. He abused and manipulated already desperate women so that they were too scared to try to escape.
Slavery, especially sex slavery, often arises in countries among populations where destitution and poverty are the norm. The Roma are one such population. Traffickers often come from poor backgrounds themselves, and understand the weakness and desperation of their victims and are willing to use it to their own advantage.
Journal Entry 3 - 11/26-12/3 - page 185 out of 298
The entirety of the book A Crime So Monstrous forces its audience to look at the world through a different lense; it shows readers a dark underworld that many didn't know existed. Once they realize the scope of the shockingly cruel political, economic, emotional, and psychological forces behind modern slavery, they are confronted with the fact that they now have to process this issue using an "outside the box" manner of thinking in the same vein as the thought processes explained in Freakonomics.
One of the largest topics covered in the book is how political leaders can move to combat human trafficking. Slavery generates intense controversy among politicians who choose to focus on it - the very definition of slavery can be debated. Some choose to zero in only on the women and children who are sold into bondage for sex and prostitution, while slaves who are forced to labor for different reasons, such as the production of goods to pay off ancestral debts, do not attract nearly as much political attention. The phrase "human trafficking" typically conjures an idea of young women and girls who are bought and sold for the purpose of sex, but Skinner shows his readers that the scope and variety of human bondage is infinitely broader.
The book also shows readers the gap between the official illegality of slavery in most countries and the harsh reality of the underground networks that traffic millions of slaves all around the world. This gap between what is perceived by the general population and what is actually occurring is reminiscent of the Sumo wrestling cheating and corruption in Japanese culture that was discussed in Freakonomics.
Journal Entry 2 - 11/19-11/26 - page 138 out of 298
In the author's note of Crime Benjamin E. Skinner writes, "Human bondage is today illegal everywhere. But if we accept that one slave exists in a world that has abolished legal slavery, then, if we look closely, we soon must accept that millions of slaves exist."
Skinner wrote this book in order to educate people about modern slavery. His aim is to help people understand the plight that millions of slaves face as well as understand the role they play as consumers in the lives of slaves who labor for certain corporations.
While slavery as a legalized institution may be dead, lack of enforcement and UN power has created a seething, global underworld of human bondage. Even the word for buying and selling human beings has been changed from the harshness of slavery to the euphemistic term "human trafficking." Modern day slavery is, for the most part, covert and unacknowledged by the developed world. It is difficult to cull accurate data about slavery since those who have been impacted by it often keep silent out of fear. As Skinner points out, slaves are hardly going to raise their hands to be counted as slaves for the census. He has investigated slavery on four continents, but did not interfere with the treatment of slaves. "I withheld action to save one person, in the hopes that this book would save many more," Skinner writes. "Writing that now, it still feels like an excuse for cowardice."
Journal Entry 1 - 11/12-11/19 - page 61 out of 298
My last nonfiction book introduced me to topics of social justice, economics, and politics, subjects which up until recently I harbored very little interest in because I didn't know much about them. Most of the nonfiction I've read in the past has been about history or important figures in art and sports, but I've been broadening my horizons.
I went to visit Middlebury College for a tour a few weeks ago and I attended a lecture being given by the author of this book. The lecture was part of a symposium coordinated by the student organization Stop Traffic, which focuses on human trafficking. The lecture was eye-opening - slavery is something that I usually view as confined to history textbooks and documentaries, but that is far from the case. Although it was outlawed by the UN, slavery continues to thrive in many countries. Skinner, an investigative journalist, defines slavery as being compelled to work for no pay under threat of violence. He told the stories of several slaves he had interviewed. He made me realize that as an American consumer, I have a responsibility to make sure that I don't support companies who benefit from slave labor, and that my standard of living as well as the economy of the country I live in is more tied to slavery than I realized. Because much of the brutality and abuse of slavery takes place in underdeveloped countries, people in developed countries have the option of turning a blind eye to what conditions contribute to their standard of living. Skinner made me realize that things that I use on a daily basis, from the food I eat to the clothes I wear, could have been made by slaves. In his lecture, Skinner did not even go into the sex slaves or the domestic child slaves that he covered in his book, which I bought after the lecture.
I chose to read this book because Skinner's lecture made me realize that slavery is not dead, not by a long shot. I want to inform myself about the nature of modern day slaves and the people who buy and sell them so that I can understand what role I play in the global slave economy and hopefully take part in stopping it.
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Journal Entry 6 - 11/5/2013 - page 261 out of 261
My selection of this book indicates that I harbor an interest in the modern criminal justice system as well as the legacy of racism in America. People who are interested in the New Jim Crow and intrigued by its contents are curious not only about the impact of the criminal justice system on modern day men and women of color but also about the history behind it. History has always been one of my favorite subjects because it helps me understand how the past never truly dies, and that we are constantly affected by it. This book is a strong reminder of how America's history of oppressing people of color still impacts us today, and will continue to impact us well into the future. Alexander's goal in writing this book was to appeal to an audience who would get a conversation started about how "colorblindness" in the criminal justice system is harming society, and to inform them about the precise nature of this institution. It has certainly made me rethink much of me previous conceptions about crime, poverty, and prisons. Alexander is looking to arm readers like me with facts and information so that we can eventually go about not only starting a conversation but heading towards reform movements for the institution of mass incarceration.
Journal Entry 5 - 10/25/2013 - page 200 out of 261
Name: Clinton Drake
Age: 55
I come from a military family. I served in the army and fought in Vietnam at 18. My oldest son was in the Marines and fought in the Persian Gulf Wars, and my youngest son is in the army, fighting in Iraq. I was arrested in 1988 for posession of marijuana, then again for the same crime five years later. As a repeat offender, I faced between ten and twenty years in prison. I took my public defender's advice and accepted a plea bargain, one that would allow me to spend "only" five years in prison. After I was released, I was forbidden by law from voting until I paid $900 dollars in court fines. This was a nearly impossible task, since being branded a felon limited my employment oppurtunities to low-waged jobs which would never allow me to save hundreds of dollars. I was off parole in 1999, but I am still not allowed to vote because I have not yet paid this fine.
I have family, friends, and friends of friends who are in a similar situation of disenfranchisement due to their inability to pay court fines. Our voice is being kept silent by the so-called colorblindness of the criminal justice system and the racial stigma of the war on drugs. Despite the fact that African Americans are technically a minority, our demographic might have made a large difference in the election of 2000. If the 600,000 former felons in Florida who completed their sentences, had paid their court fines and been able to vote, Al Gore would have been elected president of the United States rather than George W. Bush.
Journal Entry 4 - 10/19/2013 - page 155 out of 261
Alexander does not focus on any specific character throughout The New Jim Crow - rather, she uses individual testimonies and research data to show her readers larger trends and cast a focus on the bigger picture. A particularly resonant story she invokes is that of Emma Faye Stewart, a single African American mother of two who was arrested as part of a drug sweep in Hearne, Texas. Although she was innocent, Stewart was held for a month in jail for refusing to plead guilty. She was released on probation and had to pay heavy fines; she was also branded a drug felon, which meant that she was no longer eligible for food stamps or public housing. She would be discriminated against if she tried to find a job, and when she became homeless her children would be taken away from her. Even more heartbreaking is the story of Clifford Runoalds, who was involved in the same drug sweep and was handcuffed at the funeral of his eighteen-month-old daughter. The prosecutors needed him to testify against others who were arrested in the drug sweep, and they refused to let him get a final look at his daughter before taking him away. His alleged involvement with the drug sweep would later cause him to lose his job, housing, and property.
Alexander uses the story of those involved in the Hearne drug sweep to illustrate the brutality of the War on Drugs. She points out that the tactics used on these two people, both of whom were African American, would cause an outcry if they occurred in a predominantly white middle class neighborhood. However, because the War on Drugs focuses on a thing rather than a group of people, many falsely assume that the targets are not racially defined. It is an issue of both class and race, since most of these emotionally wrenching stories occur in poor neighborhoods with large black and Latino populations. The story shows how the War on Drugs serves as justification for depriving a certain racial group of their basic rights as Americans - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, not to mention protection of private property and privacy.
Journal Entry 3 - 10/10/2013 - page 118 out of 261
Michelle Alexander is an associate professor of law at Ohio State University and the former director of ACLU's Racial Justice project in Northern California. She states her purpose for writing in the introduction of The New Jim Crow: "What this book is intended to do - the only thing it is intended to do - is to stimulate a much-needed conversation about the role of the criminal justice system in creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy in the United States" (16). She also writes about her intended audience in the preface, stating, "This book is not for everyone. I have a specific audience in mind - people who care deeply about racial justice but who, for any number of reasons, do not yet appreciate the magnitude of the crisis faced by communities of color as a result of mass incarceration." She offers plenty of disturbing evidence to show her intended audience just how oppressive the institution of mass incarceration can be - she gathers important statistics from recent studies and offers true stories about people who have suffered within this system. She also supports her argument that mass incarceration is comparable to Jim Crow laws through historic facts. The San Francisco Chronicle called this book "The bible of a social movement" - so I'm going to assume that it has facilitated much more than just a conversation since it was published.
Journal Entry 2 - 10/7/2013 - page 98 out of 261
Some of the main issues the author of The New Jim Crow discusses are mass incarceration as a form of oppression on a racial basis, the War on Drugs, the Supreme Court's more recent rulings and their impact on Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights, abuse of power by police officers, and many more. Alexander's central claim is that the criminal justice system's alleged color blindness prevents people from acknowledging that there is a racial bias behind mass incarceration. Mass incarceration strips African Americans of enfranchisement, housing, and property in the same way that Jim Crow laws did in the post-Reconstruction South. The government’s policies of being “tough on crime” and declaring a War on Drugs are in fact methods of oppressing minorities.
Many of the facts and statistics that Alexander presents are difficult to argue with. She writes “No other country in the world imprisons so many of its racial or ethnic minorities. The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid” (6). Most of the African Americans being held within this system are imprisoned for drug crimes, even though, according to a recent study by the United States Department of Justice, “white youth are more likely than black youth to engage in illegal drug sales.” She argues that, “In some states, black men have been admitted to prison on drug charges at rates twenty to fifty times greater than those of white men” (7) in spite of the criminal justice systems’ claim to color blindness.
Although I have been aware of the racism in the criminal justice system to a certain extent, this book becomes increasingly shocking as it progresses. Although the issue of colorblindness is certainly debatable, it is hard to come up with a counter argument when faced with the sheer amount of evidence that Alexander supplies. I agree that mass incarceration and the politics behind it are consistent with everything I have learned about evolving methods of oppressing minorities in America. I would like to finish the book before I formulate a concrete opinion about this central issue, but my reading so far has made me curious about how the criminal justice system violates and/or inhibits people’s rights as citizens. It has also gotten me thinking about how introducing a more comprehensive system of legal education to public school curriculums and helping people become more educated about their rights could help combat abuse of power by law enforcement.
Journal Entry 6 - 11/5/2013 - page 261 out of 261
My selection of this book indicates that I harbor an interest in the modern criminal justice system as well as the legacy of racism in America. People who are interested in the New Jim Crow and intrigued by its contents are curious not only about the impact of the criminal justice system on modern day men and women of color but also about the history behind it. History has always been one of my favorite subjects because it helps me understand how the past never truly dies, and that we are constantly affected by it. This book is a strong reminder of how America's history of oppressing people of color still impacts us today, and will continue to impact us well into the future. Alexander's goal in writing this book was to appeal to an audience who would get a conversation started about how "colorblindness" in the criminal justice system is harming society, and to inform them about the precise nature of this institution. It has certainly made me rethink much of me previous conceptions about crime, poverty, and prisons. Alexander is looking to arm readers like me with facts and information so that we can eventually go about not only starting a conversation but heading towards reform movements for the institution of mass incarceration.
Journal Entry 5 - 10/25/2013 - page 200 out of 261
Name: Clinton Drake
Age: 55
I come from a military family. I served in the army and fought in Vietnam at 18. My oldest son was in the Marines and fought in the Persian Gulf Wars, and my youngest son is in the army, fighting in Iraq. I was arrested in 1988 for posession of marijuana, then again for the same crime five years later. As a repeat offender, I faced between ten and twenty years in prison. I took my public defender's advice and accepted a plea bargain, one that would allow me to spend "only" five years in prison. After I was released, I was forbidden by law from voting until I paid $900 dollars in court fines. This was a nearly impossible task, since being branded a felon limited my employment oppurtunities to low-waged jobs which would never allow me to save hundreds of dollars. I was off parole in 1999, but I am still not allowed to vote because I have not yet paid this fine.
I have family, friends, and friends of friends who are in a similar situation of disenfranchisement due to their inability to pay court fines. Our voice is being kept silent by the so-called colorblindness of the criminal justice system and the racial stigma of the war on drugs. Despite the fact that African Americans are technically a minority, our demographic might have made a large difference in the election of 2000. If the 600,000 former felons in Florida who completed their sentences, had paid their court fines and been able to vote, Al Gore would have been elected president of the United States rather than George W. Bush.
Journal Entry 4 - 10/19/2013 - page 155 out of 261
Alexander does not focus on any specific character throughout The New Jim Crow - rather, she uses individual testimonies and research data to show her readers larger trends and cast a focus on the bigger picture. A particularly resonant story she invokes is that of Emma Faye Stewart, a single African American mother of two who was arrested as part of a drug sweep in Hearne, Texas. Although she was innocent, Stewart was held for a month in jail for refusing to plead guilty. She was released on probation and had to pay heavy fines; she was also branded a drug felon, which meant that she was no longer eligible for food stamps or public housing. She would be discriminated against if she tried to find a job, and when she became homeless her children would be taken away from her. Even more heartbreaking is the story of Clifford Runoalds, who was involved in the same drug sweep and was handcuffed at the funeral of his eighteen-month-old daughter. The prosecutors needed him to testify against others who were arrested in the drug sweep, and they refused to let him get a final look at his daughter before taking him away. His alleged involvement with the drug sweep would later cause him to lose his job, housing, and property.
Alexander uses the story of those involved in the Hearne drug sweep to illustrate the brutality of the War on Drugs. She points out that the tactics used on these two people, both of whom were African American, would cause an outcry if they occurred in a predominantly white middle class neighborhood. However, because the War on Drugs focuses on a thing rather than a group of people, many falsely assume that the targets are not racially defined. It is an issue of both class and race, since most of these emotionally wrenching stories occur in poor neighborhoods with large black and Latino populations. The story shows how the War on Drugs serves as justification for depriving a certain racial group of their basic rights as Americans - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, not to mention protection of private property and privacy.
Journal Entry 3 - 10/10/2013 - page 118 out of 261
Michelle Alexander is an associate professor of law at Ohio State University and the former director of ACLU's Racial Justice project in Northern California. She states her purpose for writing in the introduction of The New Jim Crow: "What this book is intended to do - the only thing it is intended to do - is to stimulate a much-needed conversation about the role of the criminal justice system in creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy in the United States" (16). She also writes about her intended audience in the preface, stating, "This book is not for everyone. I have a specific audience in mind - people who care deeply about racial justice but who, for any number of reasons, do not yet appreciate the magnitude of the crisis faced by communities of color as a result of mass incarceration." She offers plenty of disturbing evidence to show her intended audience just how oppressive the institution of mass incarceration can be - she gathers important statistics from recent studies and offers true stories about people who have suffered within this system. She also supports her argument that mass incarceration is comparable to Jim Crow laws through historic facts. The San Francisco Chronicle called this book "The bible of a social movement" - so I'm going to assume that it has facilitated much more than just a conversation since it was published.
Journal Entry 2 - 10/7/2013 - page 98 out of 261
Some of the main issues the author of The New Jim Crow discusses are mass incarceration as a form of oppression on a racial basis, the War on Drugs, the Supreme Court's more recent rulings and their impact on Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights, abuse of power by police officers, and many more. Alexander's central claim is that the criminal justice system's alleged color blindness prevents people from acknowledging that there is a racial bias behind mass incarceration. Mass incarceration strips African Americans of enfranchisement, housing, and property in the same way that Jim Crow laws did in the post-Reconstruction South. The government’s policies of being “tough on crime” and declaring a War on Drugs are in fact methods of oppressing minorities.
Many of the facts and statistics that Alexander presents are difficult to argue with. She writes “No other country in the world imprisons so many of its racial or ethnic minorities. The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid” (6). Most of the African Americans being held within this system are imprisoned for drug crimes, even though, according to a recent study by the United States Department of Justice, “white youth are more likely than black youth to engage in illegal drug sales.” She argues that, “In some states, black men have been admitted to prison on drug charges at rates twenty to fifty times greater than those of white men” (7) in spite of the criminal justice systems’ claim to color blindness.
Journal Entry 1 - 10/2/2013 - page 58 out of 261
I love fiction. I love reading about people and places and things writers make up out of their heads. Non-fiction, to me, is an acquired taste. Until I was about thirteen, I read almost exclusively fiction, stories that I viewed as an escape from real life when it got too boring.
Eventually I was forced to read things like biographies and newspapers for schoolwork. Though I initially resented this, I grew a grudging appreciation for this new genre. Non-fiction showed me that the world was a far bigger and more complicated place than I knew, and that true stories could be just as varied, detailed, emotional, and exciting as their fictional counterparts.
I like reading non-fiction that is personal and offers me insight into the minds and lives of other people (which sounds very creepy, now that I think about it). I enjoy memoirs like Andre Agassi's Open and Cheryl Strayed's Wild. I'll read just about any subject as long as there are characters that I find compelling. I especially love history.
The New Jim Crow is different from non-fiction I have read in the past. It is not a memoir, and it is very much centered on politics and economics. I first heard about it from my mother, who read and recommended it because it ties in to the nature of her work as a criminal defense attorney. I also chose it because of its connection to Reconstruction, which I am learning about in history. I am only about sixty pages in, and so far I haven't been able to identify any real characters. However, it is definitely helping me to get a better understanding of racial prejudice in the modern world, and it also provides me with an interesting take on the material I am covering in history. My goal in reading this book is to gain a better understanding of the social/political movement of the New Jim Crow.
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