What Alexander's "The New Jim Crow" Adds to “If Beale Street Could Talk” Anjali Berdia College

Michelle Alexander’s introduction to “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” helps readers understand the larger context of the theme of imprisonment in James Baldwin’s “If Beale Street Could Talk.” Baldwin’s novel illustrates the racial bias in the justice system through the imprisonment of Fonny. Alexander’s introduction takes the theme of imprisonment in Baldwin’s novel a step further, claiming the justice system is not only racially biased, but also reflective of a larger racial division in American society. Alexander gives readers a lense through which to view the unjust imprisonment of Fonny in Baldwin’s novel, as she claims that this corruption is in place of Jim Crow and thus creates a socioeconomic divide or a “racial caste system.”

The plot of Baldwin’s novel revolves around the unjust imprisonment of Fonny and, in doing so, highlights the corruption in the justice system. To readers and most of the characters in the novel, Fonny is innocent because Baldwin writes his novel from the perspective of the girl in love with Fonny, Tish. As a result the evidence readers are presented with depict Fonny as innocent. Because of Fonny’s innocence, Baldwin explains the character’s imprisonment through...