{"id":101,"date":"2024-10-31T21:13:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T01:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wri101.tateh.dcreate.domains\/?p=101"},"modified":"2026-09-30T19:20:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T23:20:37","slug":"secondary-source-blueprint-alexander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wri101.tateh.dcreate.domains\/?p=101","title":{"rendered":"Secondary Source Blueprint (Alexander)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I. Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness<\/em>. Introduction. New Press, 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

II. Identify the thesis of the article or chapter, aka WHAT is its central argument?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. \u201cThis book argues that mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow and that all those who care about social justice should fully commit themselves to dismantling this new racial caste system. Mass incarceration – not attacks on affirmative action or lax civil rights enforcement – is the most damaging manifestation of backlash against the civil rights movement. The popular narrative that emphasizes the death of slavery and Jim Crow and celebrates the nation’s \u201ctriumph over race\u201d with the election of Barack Obama, is dangerously misguided. The colorblind public consensus that prevails in America today – i.e. the widespread belief that race no longer matters – has blinded us to the realities of race in our society and facilitated the emergence of a new caste system.\u201d (11-12)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Mass incarceration marginalizes people in similar ways to the Jim Crow laws of post-reconstruction America. The civil rights movement of today is not focused on the true issues that are impacting African American citizens. The notion that race no longer matters (after the election of Obama, etc.) prevents us from seeing the remaining impacts of race in our society that has lead to a development of a caste system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

III. Analyze and describe HOW the argument is organized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first section broadly describes the problems that the author is going to talk about and introduces the general idea that mass incarceration is a negative thing that brings about a similar effect to Jim Crow. Draws on an anecdote of a man whose lineage has been unable to vote for varying systemic\/social reasons. (1-2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander follows this by talking more about incarceration in the United States and its disproportionate impact on people of color. She compares it to the rates of incarceration in other countries and also provides historical background on the War on Drugs and other things that have led to increasing imprisonment. (2-7) This is continued through the mention of the dramatic increase in imprisonment during the 70s, and the shifting stance on the matter throughout the War on Drugs. (7-9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander continues with more history, this time focusing on the Civil Rights movement post-1964. She tracks the movement from targeting Jim Crow laws and segregation to affirmative action. She argues that this is not a good focus, time would be better spent addressing the problems of the criminal justice system. She says that Civil Rights leaders of today do not spend enough time talking about the real issue. (9-12)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander then responds to a great number of counter arguments, refuting each and talking about the places where she disagrees. (12-15)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final section is Alexander laying out her argument and giving general summaries for what she is going to talk about for each chapter and each point. She returns to some counter arguments to refute them in this chapter as well.  (15-19)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IV. List three rhetorical strategies you would like to apply to your own essays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– I like the initial responses to the counterargument, many questions might arise (these are jarring claims) and it was beneficial to remedy some of the immediate concerns very early on.
– Alexander is a very clutterless writer, most of her sentences are very readable and understandable. 
– I do not hate the idea of giving a longer\/more general summary of each point that she is talking about in her later chapter. It frames the argument in a larger sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

V. (Optional) List any rhetorical moves you do not want to imitate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– The thesis is very broad and she has a lot to talk about even in the introduction. This does not allow her to talk about the statistics that she presents in great detail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honor Code TH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I. Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Introduction. New Press, 2012. II. Identify the thesis of the article or chapter, aka WHAT is its central argument? A. \u201cThis book argues that mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow and that all those who care about social justice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-assignments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wri101.tateh.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wri101.tateh.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wri101.tateh.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wri101.tateh.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wri101.tateh.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wri101.tateh.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113,"href":"https:\/\/wri101.tateh.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wri101.tateh.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wri101.tateh.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wri101.tateh.dcreate.domains\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}