How did America come to have the highest rate of incarceration in the
world? In this video, lawyer and activist Michelle Alexander says that
unfortunate fact is not simply a response to crime but deeply connected
to racial attitudes, fears and anxieties exploited by politicians over
the decades.
“The political strategist who conceived of the get
tough movement and the war on drugs quite deliberately used not so
subtle racial appeals and racial code language with the purpose of
trying to exploit both conscious and unconscious racial biases and
stereotypes for political gain.” Alexander traces these strategies back
to Nixon’s presidency and sheds light on how Bill Clinton “escalated the
drug war far beyond what President Reagan or President Nixon had even
dreamed possible.”
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