“The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (10th anniversary edition)” (The New Press, 2020) is not easy to get through. But I’m glad I did.

Michelle Alexander’s book was first published in 2010. It was considered revolutionary and groundbreaking then. Unfortunately, it seems like the United States has evolved so little since then.

Alexander in the anniversary edition of the book writes a new preface, bringing a decade of relevance to the forefront without writing a new book.

She didn’t need to write another book because the first one was so definitive. She thoroughly explains how the criminal justice system ensnares black people, mostly men and never allows them to be truly free even once released.

For anyone still not sure why there are more black people in prison than white, this is a must read. For anyone who believes in social justice, this is a must read.

As with so many books that I’ve read in the last year, I keep learning. Not everything I learn do I like. But I hope it makes me a better person simply because now I am more educated, and that will lead me to ask better questions of those in society who are our “leaders” and making the decisions that affect us all.

It could be easy to dismiss these injustices as a black issue, but that is wrong. If one segment of society is being mistreated, it impacts everyone. We all need to care.

This book will help people better understand how the war on drugs was a just another way to keep the black man down.

If you aren’t angry reading this book, well, I’m going to guess you are part of the problem.