Wonder Woman of the Week: Michelle Alexander

Born: October 7, 1967

School: Vanderbilt University, Standford Law School

Awards: NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Nonfiction

Books: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

The “War on Drugs” that garnered the admiration and support of both republicans and democrats for decades in an effort to become “tough on crime” has been seen in new light over the past few years. What was once thought to be an effort to make the United States of America safer, healthier, and better, is now recognized as a systematic oppressive effort primarily targeting POC communities, those at a socioeconomic disadvantage, and gearing the U.S. justice system to maximize profits of privatized incarceration facilities. This bipartisan wake-up call to both parties can be largely attributed to the extensive advocacy and research completed by Michelle Alexander. Born in 1967, Alexander attended Vanderbilt University and Stanford Law School, devoting her career to the mass incarceration system and the systematic oppression of POC in America today.

Michelle Alexander’s bestselling 2010 novel, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, brought the historical and political context of racism in the United States to a general audience in an approachable manner. Later, in 2016, Alexander was featured in the Netflix-original Academy award nominated documentary 13th. The documentary addressed not only the interconnectedness of race, incarceration rates, and discrimination, but also brought in key elements of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election’s Donald Trump and his campaign, drawing on the likeness between Trump’s campaign rhetoric and that of the white supremacists of the Civil Rights Movement.

While these ideas are often seen in criticism of the Republican party, in 2016, Alexander wrote an article for The Nation, “Why Hillary Clinton Does Not Deserve the Black Vote” (Link: https://www.thenation.com/article/hillary-clinton-does-not-deserve-black-peoples-votes/). In this article, Alexander tackles the effects of Bill Clinton’s presidential legacy, in which black communities in America were left with high incarceration rates and the highest unemployment rates on record for those without a bachelor’s degree. The connection between the prison system and the unemployment rate is the cause of continued systematic injustice.

“About the Author.” newjimcrow.com. The New Jim Crow; nd. Web. 30 June 2017.