Grand Rapids, MI (September 19, 2011) — Professor Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, is where she argues that a once abolished Jim Crow Law still exists by way of its being redesigned and implemented by the Justice System.

A situation at hand in Grand Rapids, Michigan, coincides with Professor Alexander’s argument. “I’ve been wronged by the Justice System as it is unjust,” says Angela Angel, an African American woman residing in Grand Rapids.

The Community Relations Commission (CRC) in Grand Rapids conducted hearings where the community expressed their views; African Americans raised numerous allegations of misconduct as well as complaints of disproportionate arrests for hindering and opposing laws (H/O) against the Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD).

“The H/O ordinance is strange by its having a privilege and a punishment attached to it; on one hand, a person is issued an appearance ticket and walks free while on the other, a person is arrested, jailed, and charged on their record for H/O,” says Angel.

Her petition and case story can be viewed at www.change.org/petitions/the-scandal and www.blackplanet.com/indigo_children