There will be a guided discussion of the book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarnation in the Age of Colorblindnness, by Michelle Alexander. The book documents the charge that the War on Drugs, begun in the Reagan era, is in fact a coded strategy to incarcerate black males for small offences that target them for the rest of their lives as "criminals." The leaders of the discussion will be Bridget Carter and Richard Eldridge, who have expertise in African-American literature and culture. This is the first of what will be a series of discussions, continuing in the fall.
The discussions are free and open to the public.
The Westchester Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute for Nonviolence is a not-for-profit community organization whose purpose is to educate our communities about the relevance of Dr. King's life and philosophies to today's struggles for social justice and racial understanding. Its library, free and open to the public, has unusual, important books and films for adults and children on subjects such as nonviolence and anti-racism, Dr. King and other great peacemakers, and other outstanding African Americans. The Institute also has workshops and discussions for community groups; and a project for youth where we collaborate with law enforcement officers to give young people the chance to talk about the challenges they face in their lives, and develop the leadership skills to work with others to solve them.
