From the book The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

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More African American adults are under correctional control today–in prison or jail, on probation or parole–than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began. The mass incarceration of people of color is a big part of the reason that a black child born today is less likely to be raised by both parents than a black child born during slavery. The absence of black fathers from families across America is not simply a function of laziness, immaturity, or too much time watching Sports Center. Thousands of black men have disappeared into prisons and jails, locked away for drug crimes that are largely ignored when committed by whites.

Excellent book, and I highly recommend that you take the time to let Alexander pummel you with facts until your conscience kicks in and forces you to acknowledge the racial and social injustice in America’s criminal justice system.

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” ~MLKJr