In these days of tension between people of color and police officers, we went in search of books and publications with voices coming from various angles on the divide. We compiled a list of books that show, for instance, how the idea of “police” came about early in this country as a means to protect the economy of the well-to-do. Here are books by authors Black and white offering viewpoints about how to mend this divide, a few written by people who are Black and are, or were, police officers. With this reading list we’re striving to offer information that helps with understanding this police/people-of-color relationship that has its roots deep in our nation’s past
“The Black and The Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America’s Law The Enforcement” by Matthew Horace and Ron Harris (Hachette Books) — The author, who is Black, rose through the ranks from a police officer to a federal agent working criminal cases to a highly decorated federal law enforcement executive. He combines reportage, research and personal accounts from interviews with police and government officials to present an insider’s examination of archaic police tactics that have hurt the people they serve.
“Blue vs. Black: Let’s End the Conflict Between Cops and Minorities” by John L. Burris (St. Martin’s Press) — Nationally renowned civil rights attorney who defends minority victims of police misconduct tells stories from his clients who opened up to him hoping to repair the damaged relationships between Black people and law-enforcement officers.
“Crime & Public Policy” edited by James Q. Wilson and Joan Petersilla (Oxford University Press) — Update to one of the most authoritative and widely used texts on crime and public policy.
“The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America” by Richard Rothstein (Liveright) — National Book Award finalist argues that segregation in America, which causes so much strife, is the byproduct of explicit housing policies at the local, state and federal levels.
“Don’t Blame Police Racism for America’s Violence Epidemic” by Zaid Jilani — Arguing that the state (meaning police) should never take any life if there is an alternative, the author cites studies suggesting that “police are using violence largely because they find themselves in dangerous situations, not because they are acting on racial animus.” Published in Quillette online magazine July 27, 2019. (quillette.com)
“The History of Policing in the United States” by Dr. Gary Potter (EKU online) — “From the beginning American policing has been intimately tied not to the problem of crime, but to exigencies and demands of the American political-economy,” the author writes in this history that begins in 1636 when Boston created a night watch.
“Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America” by James Forman Jr. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) — Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this book by one of this country’s foremost civil rights activists seeks to understand why the war on crime that began in the 1970s was supported by many African-American leaders in the nation’s urban centers.
“Minorities and the Police: Confrontation in America” by Harold Mendelsohn and David H. Bayley (The Free Press) — The authors explore complex relationship between police and urban ethnic groups, based on attitudes, experiences, and emotions.
“Race, Ethnicity, and Policing: New & Essential Readings” edited by Stephen K. Rice and Michael D. White Roberts (New York University Press) — Twenty-two essays exploring topics such as A Sketch of the Policeman’s Working Personality, Methods for Assessing Racially Biased Policing, Revisiting the Role of Latinos and Immigrants in Police Research, and Democratic Policing.
“Slavery and the Origins of the American Police State” by Ben Fountain — Essay by the author of “Beautiful Country Burn Again.” Available on websites including Pacenewsonline.com and gen.medium.com.
“Stop Kidding Yourself: The Police Were Created to Control Working Class and Poor People” by Sam Mitrani — Associate professor of history at the College of DuPage in Illinois argues that the liberal way of looking at white officers killing unarmed black men rests on a misunderstanding of the origins of the police and what they were created to do. “The police were not created to stop crime, at least not as most people understand it,” he writes in this essay. “And they were certainly not created to promote justice. They were created to protect the new form of wage-labor capitalism that emerged in the mid to late nineteenth century from the threat posed by that system’s offspring, the working class.” Published by The Labor and Working-Class History Association.(lawcha.org/2014/12/29/stop-kidding-police-created-control-working-class-poor-people/
“Policing a Class Society” by Sidney L. Harring (Haymarket Books) — In-depth critical analysis of how ruling elites use the police institution to control communities.
“To Protect and to Serve: A History of Police in America” by Robert C. Wadman and William Thomas Allison (Doubleday) — Readable textbook provides a comprehensive and detailed survey of the development of police organization, theory, and practice and its role in American history. It examines how police have tried to maintain law and order in a democratic society, noting successes, failures, and continuing problems since the colonial period.
“Who do You Serve, Who do You Protect?: Police Violence and Resistance in the United States, edited by Joe Macare, Maya Schenwar, and Alana Yu-lan Price (Haymarket Books) — Collection of reports and essays exploring police violence against black, brown, indigenous and other marginalized communities, miscarriages of justice, and failures of token accountability and reform measures.
PUBLICATIONS WITH A TWIN CITIES FOCUS
“Black White Blue: The Assassination of Patrolman Sackett” by William Swanson (Borealis Books) — Exploration of the grief and anger among St. Paul police after Officer James Sackett was killed by a sniper in 1970 and the eventual trial of two men in an era of racially charged events.
“Diesel Heart: An Autobiography” by Melvin Carter Jr. (Minnesota Historical Society Press) — The father of St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter III is a son of Rondo who watched his neighborhood destroyed to make way for the I-94 freeway. As an affirmative action hire in the St. Paul police department, he faced prejudice but always stood for right in the face of adversity.
Publications of St. Paul Police Historical Society — (spphs.com/history/index.php)
St. Paul Police Women Oral History Project –Documents the challenges and successes of female officers who served in the St. Paul Police Department between the 1960s and the 2000s. (www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/oh127.xml)
“A Demand for Justice and Law Enforcement: A History of Police and the near North Side” by Kirsten Delegard. — Written by the founder of the Historyaoplis Project at Augsburg University, which is dedicated to people in a wide range of disciplines working together to make history that matters in Minneapolis. (historyapolis.com/blog/2015/11/20/a-demand-for-justice-and-law-enforcement-a-history-of-police-and-the-near-north-side)
“Blacks in the St. Paul Police and Fire Departments, 1885-1976” by James S. Griffin (E &J Inc.) — Facts about the role Black people have played in the St. Paul Police and Fire Departments and the problems they faced, including bias and discrimination from management, fellow workers and the public. Includes a brief summary of the economic and social status of the Black community as background material.
James S. Griffin papers, 1920-1998 — Newspaper clippings, articles, general correspondence, and subject files documenting the career of a member of the St. Paul police force, the city’s first Black deputy police chief, and St. Paul school board member. (Minnesota Historical Society manuscripts collection: (www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/P1679.xml)
“Race and Policing in the Twin Cities” by Ianna Oatis, Renee Boney-Jett, Acoma Gaither — Includes a chronology of police relations with people of color from 1892 to 2017. Published by MNopedia, a resource for information about significant people, places, events, and things in Minnesota history. (mnopedia.org/race-and-policing-twin-cities)
Debbie Gilbreath Montgomery interview by Kate Cavette — Thoughts and memories from the first female police officer hired by the St. Paul Police Department, where she worked until 2003. Published by St. Paul Police Department and Hand in Hand Productions. (spphs.com).
One Book One State reminder
Don’t forget “A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota,” second title chosen for Friends of the St. Paul Public Library’s One Book One State community read. Made up of essays by 16 of Minnesota’s best writers providing a range of perspectives on what it is like to live as a person of color in Minnesota. (Minnesota Historical Society Press, edited by Sun Yung Shin)
