The Black and The Blue by Matthew Horace and Ron Harris
(Format used for this read: print–hardback)
This is not a long book but it took me awhile to read it…..so much information and heaviness to process in the pages.
I am definitely going to have to go back over this again to make sure I absorb everything.
Here is the summary:
“Matthew Horace was an officer at the federal, state, and local level for 28 years working in every state in the country. Yet it was after seven years of service when Horace found himself face-down on the ground with a gun pointed at his head by a white fellow officer, that he fully understood the racism seething within America’s police departments.
Using gut-wrenching reportage, on-the-ground research, and personal accounts garnered by interviews with police and government officials around the country, Horace presents an insider’s examination of police tactics, which he concludes is an “archaic system” built on “toxic brotherhood.” Horace dissects some of the nation’s most highly publicized police shootings and communities highlighted in the Black Lives Matter movement and beyond to explain how these systems and tactics have had detrimental outcomes to the people they serve.
Horace provides fresh analysis on communities experiencing the high killing and imprisonment rates due to racist policing such as Ferguson, New Orleans, Baltimore, and Chicago from a law enforcement point of view and uncovers what has sown the seeds of violence.
Timely and provocative, The Black and The Blue sheds light on what truly goes on behind the blue line.”
This book was not what I originally thought it was.
I thought it would mostly be the author’s personal story about being black and being a police officer…. but it is so much more.
While he did tell of his personal experience (and also spotlights other officer’s personal stories as well), this book also encompasses an in depth look at history, psychology, sociology, and even healthcare and housing.
It provided an education for me on so much.
The author has a deep love for both his African American community and his police community…because of this he wrote this book to reveal why changes need to happen for ALL communities to benefit.
Not just one or the other.
I recommend this to everyone living in this country, ESPECIALLY if you are a white person…his insight and wisdom is knowledgeable, courageous, honest and VITAL.