Michelle Alexander on racial caste
According to Michelle Alexander, a racial caste is a racial group locked into an inferior position by law and custom. In the caste system, a person’s social status is held for life.
The class system is a system of hierarchy that is determined by wealth, occupation, income and education.
The difference between class and caste system is that in class system people can move up the social classes whereas racial caste members are struck in the same caste their whole life.
In The New Jim Crow, Alexander argues that slavery and Jim Crow have their roots in society and supported equality and freedom while denying both to Black people.
Although Jim Crow laws have been eliminated the racial caste system it set up was not eradicated it’s simply been redesigned now racial control functions through the criminal justice system.
According to Alexander, white politicians systematically oppress African Americans using both laws and violence to keep the population in check. Many African Americans were arrested for nonexistent changes and refused due process. She highlights that mass incarceration operates through the justice system but functions more like a caste system than one of crime control.
One of the examples from the movie 13th could be young people who get arrested for possessions with intent to sell. They face high mandatory minimums. All the collateral consequences those people face will influence them rest of their lives. These people are denied the right to vote, and they are automatically excluded from juries, legally discriminated against employment, do not have access to education, housing, public benefits. All these create a caste system in which people feel like there is no way out.