The New Jim Crow Lesson Plan

What is the nature of people’s denial of the realities of mass incarceration? What contributes to this denial?

Alexander writes that many people are in denial about mass incarceration. “Many people ‘know’ and ‘not-know’ the truth about human suffering at the same time” (182). This particular kind of denial is not about telling the truth or telling a lie. It is about the dual state of knowing and not knowing at the same time. This denial is bolstered by segregation in housing and schools, the media, and the way people can block out certain information and keep themselves in an ignorance bubble. Alexander says the most important factor in this denial is “a profound...