In "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," Dr. Michelle Alexander
says the "War on Drugs" and "tough on crime" policies of the last 30 years have
created a generation of young, black men under the control of the criminal justice system.
Alexander, a civil rights lawyer and associate professor of law at Ohio State University and The Kirwan
Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, will discuss her book at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in 206
Bowen-Thompson Student Union.
Since its publication, Alexander has been a guest on PBS’ "Bill Moyers Journal" and Amy
Goodman’s "Democracy Now." Her writing has appeared in newspapers and magazines ranging from
The New York Times to The Nation.
Alexander will discuss what she calls the misleading tactics of the law enforcement community, the
colorblind language used to frame these policies to the public and the manner in which both major
political parties are complicit with the creation of "the new Jim Crow."
The talk is sponsored by the Department of Ethnic Studies and the School of Cultural and Critical
Studies.