In 2004, there were more black men disenfranchised than in 1870 - the year the 15th Amendment was ratified, prohibiting laws that deny the right to vote exclusively on the basis of race.
Michelle AlexanderRead
I believe this system of mass incarceration would have Dr. King turning in his grave. There's no doubt in my mind that Dr. King would be doing everything in his power to build a movement to end mass incarceration in the United States; a movement for education, not incarceration.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes Dr. King's likely opposition to mass incarceration and his advocacy for education over imprisonment.
In this quote, Michelle Alexander reflects on how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would react to the modern issue of mass incarceration in the United States. She suggests that Dr. King, known for his deep commitment to civil rights and social justice, would actively oppose the current penal system and advocate for education as a means to uplift and empower communities rather than imprison them. This underscores the idea that social justice movements should evolve and address contemporary challenges, continuing Dr. King's legacy of fighting for equality and dignity.
Themes
Mass IncarcerationEducationDr. KingSocial JusticeMovement
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech at a social justice rally.
More from Michelle Alexander
All quotes →My experience and research has led me to the regrettable conclusion that our system of mass incarceration functions more like a caste system than a system of crime prevention or control.
Michelle AlexanderRead
The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. In Washington, D.C., our nation’s capitol, it is estimated that three out of four young black men (and nearly all those in the poorest neighborhoods) can expect to serve time in prison.
Michelle AlexanderRead
We have avoided in recent years talking openly and honestly about race out of fear that it will alienate and polarize. In my own view, it’s our refusal to deal openly and honestly with race that leads us to keep repeating these cycles of exclusion and division, and rebirthing a caste-like system that we claim we’ve left behind
Michelle AlexanderRead
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
Michelle AlexanderRead
There has been an outpouring of anger and concern because of the actions of George Zimmerman, a private citizen who profiled a young boy and pursued him and tried to confront him, perhaps. But what George Zimmerman did is no different than what police officers do every day as a matter of standard operating procedure.
Michelle AlexanderRead
Similar quotes
To me poverty, mental health, and addictions don't sound like criminal justice problems. They sound to me like a social justice problem.
Jagmeet SinghRead
If I wrote in Michael Harrington's time, roughly 50 years later when he published 'The Other America', I'd still be writing about poverty and also entrenched racial injustice.
Matthew DesmondRead
What I think is different today is the lack of political connection between the black middle class and the increasing numbers of black people who are more impoverished than ever before.
Angela DavisRead
I've always been bothered by systems that don't work for everybody. It doesn't mean we're all equal. I am not naive about that. But we should have a more inclusive society.
Paul PolmanRead
When I worked as a prosecutor in Richmond, Virginia in the 1990s, that city, like so much of America, was experiencing horrific levels of violent crime. But to describe it that way obscures an important truth: for the most part, white people weren't dying; black people were dying. Most white people could drive around the problem.
James ComeyRead
When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. That's a terrible burden.
Kareem Abdul-JabbarRead