For my first blog post, I will be talking about my first thoughts of impressions of the book. The reading we have done of The New Jim Crow so far was mostly historical background. This first chapter started early with the original Jim Crow laws, the first sentence is “Jarvious cotton cannot vote”. Starting the reader off with the idea of old Jim crow and the racism behind that. The text then digs into the racism around laws and voting, the chronologically getting closer to the current day, only taking brief tangents, then getting back to the timeline. The way this was done was very seamless, it didn't feel like we were following history to get the current event, it felt like all of this information was vital and as interesting as the current-day topic. This timeline didn't spent too much time on any one topic over another so it flowed well and quickly. I found this section a very fast read, regardless of the dense information.
In this timeline I found two parts very interesting, it could be because I have little prerequisite knowledge of these two topics, or because the author went into deep detail. These two topics being 1) the number of black voters before and after voting rights laws were put in place and 2) Clinton's stance of crime and its effects on the black community.
I was in awe of how many black voters there were before and after voting laws were put in place. One section shows this “Mississippi, 6.7 percent to 66.5” when talking about black voter registration. This section I found interesting because in school I was taught that not a lot of black people could vote but l didn't know the sheer volume of how many couldn't vote. For that, I found this section interesting. It was also dense in statics which was a good break from just commentary.
The other section I liked was the section about Bill Clinton. I didn't know a lot about Bill Clinton's policies so when I read “I can be nicked a lot, but no one can say I'm soft on crime” It set up a good scenario to explain the beginning of the new Jim crow.
The last thing I liked about the section was regarding the timeline I mentioned before, it started with the old Jim crow and the last sentence was “the new Jim crow was born”. This structure came very full circle and set a good landscape to start the author's argument. This structure moderately felt like the whole first chapter was like a very long introduction to a paper, only now talking about the thesis.
I like what you’ve got so far. I like what you have so far, especially the structural focus and how it was circular (going from the old Jim Crow to the new Jim Crow.) I would elaborate on a few things if I were you, mainly the part about Clinton—what specifically about that quote introduces ideas about the new Jim Crow, and what exactly are they?
ReplyDeleteThank you! Your right I definitely could have had more commentary and more of a voice. I mentioned Clinton then never really elaborated, I will keep this is mind for my next post. Thank you for your comment.
DeleteHi Mady!
ReplyDeleteI really like that your post is straight-forward. You establish what you like and describe your reactions to what you have read thus far. Specifically, I liked that you said you were "in awe" about the black voters that there actually were before they were nationally given voting rights.
I agree with Tommy that you could have elaborated more on Bill Clinton's policies, but I appreciate that your honesty about not knowing a lot on this topic.
Overall, this post was like you described the book, a fast read but still flowed well and it came full circle, from the description of the timeline structure, to some of your thoughts, and back to the structure of the section.
Madison, it might be helpful to remember that not everyone is reading this book with you, so providing more specific information to help develop the points you're making. Make sure you slow down in your discussion.
ReplyDeleteI like that you were very to the point in your post, which made your ideas very direct and easy to understand. The way you discussed multiple aspects of the book was interesting, especially how you mentioned that statistics were a nice break from commentary. I agree, I enjoy the commentary from my book as well, but I think incorporating other forms of information was a good decision on the author's part. I wish you had elaborated more, because I think your ideas are good and I would like to hear them in a little more detail, but overall your post was interesting to read.
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