Sisters Book Club August/September 2013 Selection

The August/September Sisters Book Club selection will be:

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Since I kind of sprung Sisterland on you all last month, I thought I’d give you a little advance notice about the book for August and September so you can procure it before August 1, if you’d like to read with us.

From the back cover of the book:

With dazzling candor, legal scholar Michelle Alexander argues that ‘we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.’ By targeting black men through the War on Drugs and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control—relegating millions to a permanent second-class status—even as it formally adheres to the principle of colorblindness. In the words of Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, this book is a ‘call to action.’

Since this is a pretty heavy and involved subject, we’ll read this book through August and September and choose a new book for October.

Along with the book, my sister and I will also be following the study guide published by the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference. It includes reflection questions and historical context for each chapter. It also includes relevant passages from the Bible, if that’s something that would enhance your experience of the book. If not, it’s easy enough to skip those sections. I don’t think it’s necessary to use the study guide at all, but I like it as a way to provide some structure for discussion, so my sister and I are giving it a try.

If you would like to purchase the study guide along with the book, you can purchase it from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference here: The New Jim Crow Study Guide. (I have no affiliation with the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, have received no materials from them (except what I’ve bought from them), and receive no incentive for purchases made on their online store. The links are simply for your convenience.)

If you’re planning to read along and discuss The New Jim Crow with us, drop us a note in the comments or join our Goodreads Group!

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• Sisters Book Club July 2013 Selection: Sisterland (imperfecthappiness.wordpress.com)