12 Angry Men

October 18, 2010
Although there is some thematic repetition, these essays on racial profiling are extraordinarily compelling. Contributors include journalists, federal prosecutors, and hip-hop artists; diverse in background, age, and education, they share one identity—being black—and one rite of passage—"the silent reality most black men have to live with," the frequency with which the police demand they produce identity papers; search their bodies, their cars, and their homes; and even maim or murder them for any perceived threat, imaginary and real. Fortunately, these 12 live to tell twice-told tales that still seem new. The congressman, with means, time, and "faith in the judicial system," fights back in court; the sports commentator brings a successful lawsuit. One says, perhaps for all, "In tolerating these transgressions day in and day out, I sometimes feel like my humanity is being chipped away." Legal scholar Guinier's introduction provides a helpful statistical and political context as well as a vigorous argument against the entrenched police practices that undergird the brief potent individual vignettes. Bantamweight in size, this book packs a heavyweight wallop.

October 15, 2010

Victims of racial profiling recount the particulars of their harassment.

Polls suggest that an overwhelming majority of African-Americans believe racial profiling is ubiquitous in American society. This collection puts faces to the problem, demonstrating that racial profiling occurs in both big cities and small towns. It can happen outside Manhattan's Latin Quarter, in a city park, airport, tony neighborhood or high-crime section of town; its victims include a 19-year-old high-school graduate, a young hip-hop artist, a Harvard Law School graduate, a New York Times journalist, an ACLU attorney, a Hall of Fame baseball player and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In this collaboration, law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals Parks (Critical Race Realism, 2008, etc.) and Hughey (Sociology/Mississippi State Univ.) collect a dozen stories designed to drive home the outrage engendered and the humiliation endured by those stopped and frisked, detained or arrested, for walking, driving, flying, even simply reading while black. Readers shouldn't expect fine writing—only the account by Times reporter Solomon Moore could be described as eloquent—or balanced discussion of the frequently disputed facts and the always difficult tension that exists at the intersection of individual liberty and civil order. This is raw testimony intended to vividly capture the invasions of privacy and the assaults on dignity that always accompany unreasonable government intrusion. Harvard law professor Lani Guinier's introduction takes a stab at a larger perspective, but her conclusions are overdrawn and her proposed solutions—we must all learn to "read race"—take the form of airy academic locutions.

Of interest to social scientists and criminal-justice students, but not likely to appeal to a wider audience.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 1, 2010

These men make clear that we do not live in a "post-racial" America. Each tells of his experience of racism, reinforcing that what happened to Henry Lewis Gates Jr. on his own porch is not unique. Baseball hall of famer Joe Morgan is here, but most are not household names.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2011
The now famous encounter between Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and a policeman investigating a call of a break-in at Gates home resonated with many black men, many equally as accomplished as Gates. Legal scholars Parks and Hughey offer a collection of essays by black men who have had their own Skip Gates moment with the police, subjected to racial profiling. Among the 12 stories of vulnerability to police mistreatment: a U.S. congressman from Illinois pulled over for a dubious traffic violation, an aspiring rap artist interrogated by police while in a park with his daughter, a New York Times reporter detained while on assignment in North Carolina. The cross section of victims of racial profilingyoung and old, high- and low-income, employed and unemployedillustrates the widespread practice by police and risk to black men, particularly inner-city youth. In the introduction, Harvard law professor Lani Guinier provides significant insight into the phenomenon of racial profiling and the continuing challenge in our post-racial society.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

October 15, 2010

Victims of racial profiling recount the particulars of their harassment.

Polls suggest that an overwhelming majority of African-Americans believe racial profiling is ubiquitous in American society. This collection puts faces to the problem, demonstrating that racial profiling occurs in both big cities and small towns. It can happen outside Manhattan's Latin Quarter, in a city park, airport, tony neighborhood or high-crime section of town; its victims include a 19-year-old high-school graduate, a young hip-hop artist, a Harvard Law School graduate, a New York Times journalist, an ACLU attorney, a Hall of Fame baseball player and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In this collaboration, law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals Parks (Critical Race Realism, 2008, etc.) and Hughey (Sociology/Mississippi State Univ.) collect a dozen stories designed to drive home the outrage engendered and the humiliation endured by those stopped and frisked, detained or arrested, for walking, driving, flying, even simply reading while black. Readers shouldn't expect fine writing--only the account by Times reporter Solomon Moore could be described as eloquent--or balanced discussion of the frequently disputed facts and the always difficult tension that exists at the intersection of individual liberty and civil order. This is raw testimony intended to vividly capture the invasions of privacy and the assaults on dignity that always accompany unreasonable government intrusion. Harvard law professor Lani Guinier's introduction takes a stab at a larger perspective, but her conclusions are overdrawn and her proposed solutions--we must all learn to "read race"--take the form of airy academic locutions.

Of interest to social scientists and criminal-justice students, but not likely to appeal to a wider audience.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)