Assignment:
• Describe the experience of the Jena : who, what, when, where. How was the case eventually adjudicated?
• By and large, what has been the attitude of the civil rights community on the War on Drugs?
• What one area of criminal justice has most been the focus of civil rights lawyers?
• Why was Rosa Parks chosen to be the symbol of courage by not giving up her seat on the bus?
• Who were Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith? Why were they not chosen to represent the bus boycotters?
• Why does Alexander include these examples (Parks, Colvin, Smith) in her discussion of criminal advocacy?
• Do poverty and unemployment statistics include people behind bars?
• On what basis does Bruce Western argue that it is "pure fiction" that the Clinton years were good for African Americans?
• What is the Corrections Corporation of America?
• Besides for-profit prisons, name at least three "prison profiteers."
• Does mass incarceration contribute substantially to lower crime rates?
• What did California's Proposition 36 mandate?
• What is colorblindness and why is it problematic as an approach to the War on Drugs?
• What is California's Proposition 54 (endnote #34). Did it pass or fail?
• Why does the author consider affirmative action as a "racial bribe"?
• What are the four threats to the declining circumstances of white men in the U.S.? Hint: one is NOT affirmative action.
• Does the presence of people of color as workers in the criminal justice make a difference in light of all the problems discussed in the book? Why or why not?
• Has President Obama's administration made things worse or better? How does Alexander support this answer?
• Who said, "Look, you know, when I was a kid, I inhaled. Frequently. That was the point"?
• Which writer said to his nephew, "this is your home...do not be driven from it. ...we can make America what it must become"?
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
o Who is the author
o To whom was the letter directed?
o What did St. Augustine say about an unjust law?
o Who was Albert Boutwell? Bull Connor?
o Which U.S. Constitutional Amendment guarantees peaceful assembly?
Antiracist Activism
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Antiracist_Activism_for_Teachers_and_Students/White_Activists/Activists
• What is the name of Beverly Tatum's 1997 book?
• What is Tatum's definition of "antiracist activism" using the metaphor of the conveyor belt?
• Is there such a thing as passive antiracism? Why or why not?
• Describe who each of these antiracist activists are and what they did to end racism.
o Margaret Burnham
o Terry Davis
o Dr. Martin Nathan
o Dr. James Cameron
o Dr. Beverly Tatum
o Timothy Jacob Wise
https://peacelawandjustice.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/newjimcrow-ch-1.pdf