ACLU pressures NC DPS to remove "The New Jim Crow" from prison ban list

After pressure from the North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the N.C. Department of Public Safety removed Michelle Alexander’s "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" from its Jan. 23 Disapproved Publications Report.

In an ACLU press release, Chris Brook, legal director for the ACLU of N.C., said the book's message was important to the inmates, and the prison system couldn’t rightly restrict it given North Carolina’s history.

“For North Carolina — a state with such stark racial disparities in its criminal justice system — to keep a book about racial injustice away from those incarcerated is not just shameful and wrong. It’s also unconstitutional,” he said in the press release. “Michelle Alexander’s book shines a light on the pervasive racial injustice behind America’s epidemic of mass incarceration. North Carolina officials must lift the state’s ban immediately.”

Brook said in an interview that DPS complied with the ACLU's request the day after a letter was sent to the department Jan. 22.

“On the one hand, we are appreciative of the Department of Public Safety’s prompt response to our letter," he said. "On the other hand, the fact that the Department of Public Safety responded so quickly is some evidence that this book should never have been on the banned book list in the first place.”

Jerry Higgins, a communication officer for NC DPS, said the book was disapproved last year and was to remain on the list through February. He said the decision was based on Code H, meaning the book is likely to provoke racial conflict.

In compliance with the ACLU’s additional request to audit the full Disapproved Publications Report, Higgins said the director will be reviewing the entire list to determine whether any other books will be removed from the report.

During the spring 2018 semester, "The New Jim Crow" is either recommended or required reading for four classes according to the UNC Student Store's website: History 582, Law 484, Sociology 122 and Social Work 761, all classes with some relation to ethics analyzed in Alexander’s book.

In past semesters, Hollie Mann, a UNC political science professor, has assigned "The New Jim Crow" for her class, Political Science 472 — "Major Issues in Political Thought" — which she sometimes teaches as a critiques of democracy course, titled “Democracy: For or Against?”

Mann said in an email she assigns this book for various reasons, including the rich account of systemic racial bias in the criminal justice system, the detrimental effects of mass incarceration and the ways it restricts the ability of black Americans to fully participate in democracy.

She said the book is important for students to read so they can fully understand the ways democracy falls in achieving justice and the deep racial biases in the justice system. It’s important for prisoners so they can improve themselves, she said.

“The bar for withholding access to any book to an adult population would have to be very high to be in any way morally defensible," Mann said. "And I cannot think of any reason to ban any books from incarcerated folks."

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