This book is based on the podcast “How Black Leaders Unwittingly Contributed to the Era of Mass Incarceration,” an interview with James Forman Jr., who speaks about unequal law enforcement and how black leaders in the criminal justice system have contributed to the mass incarceration of blacks. 

My aim with the book is to highlight that incarceration is not a long-term solution, but rather a reaction to the effects of the systems in place. The solutions rooted in systematic, holistic, and communicative approaches are more prone to success.

My design choices reinforce this concept of duality between the way things are and the way things could be. Hand line drawings and texture give the imagery more texture and to illustrate how these actions are reactionary. The book is small and printed on newsprint, which is meant to be inexpensive and easily reproducible. The message is important and weighty, but the book should not be intimidating.