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Fight the Power: African Americans and the Long History of Police Brutality in New York City
A story of resistance, power and politics as revealed through New York City’s complex history of police brutality
The 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri was the catalyst for a national conversation about race, policing, and injustice. The subsequent killings of other black (often unarmed) citizens led to a surge of media coverage which in turn led to protests and clashes between the police and local residents that were reminiscent of the unrest of the 1960s.
Fight the Power examines the explosive history of police brutality in New York City and the black community’s long struggle to resist it. Taylor brings this story to life by exploring the institutions and the people that waged campaigns to end the mistreatment of people of color at the hands of the police, including the black church, the black press, black communists and civil rights activists. Ranging from the 1940s to the mayoralty of Bill de Blasio, Taylor describes the significant strides made in curbing police power in New York City, describing the grassroots street campaigns as well as the accomplishments achieved in the political arena and in the city’s courtrooms.
Taylor challenges the belief that police reform is born out of improved relations between communities and the authorities arguing that the only real solution is radically reducing the police domination of New York’s black citizens.
The 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri was the catalyst for a national conversation about race, policing, and injustice. The subsequent killings of other black (often unarmed) citizens led to a surge of media coverage which in turn led to protests and clashes between the police and local residents that were reminiscent of the unrest of the 1960s.
Fight the Power examines the explosive history of police brutality in New York City and the black community’s long struggle to resist it. Taylor brings this story to life by exploring the institutions and the people that waged campaigns to end the mistreatment of people of color at the hands of the police, including the black church, the black press, black communists and civil rights activists. Ranging from the 1940s to the mayoralty of Bill de Blasio, Taylor describes the significant strides made in curbing police power in New York City, describing the grassroots street campaigns as well as the accomplishments achieved in the political arena and in the city’s courtrooms.
Taylor challenges the belief that police reform is born out of improved relations between communities and the authorities arguing that the only real solution is radically reducing the police domination of New York’s black citizens.
336 pages, Hardcover
Published December 20, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 15, 2018
Thanks to NetGalley and NYU Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book covers the history of police brutality against black people in New York City. The introduction discusses how a lot of works about this topic don’t go far enough back, missing the integral ‘40s and onward.
An extremely relevant work to our times, Taylor’s book is a super informative and impactful book to remind us that it’s not just “bad apples” but a system long misused by police officers. It’s well-researched and thorough explanation of how we got here, and the ways many organizations of black people have tried to fix and dismantle the system we still have.
It does occasionally feel a bit dry in tone, but as an academic work, that’s to be expected. There were some sections where I felt the sentence structure was a bit too repetitive. Several long sentences in a row made the information harder to digest, but eventually it found its rhythm.
On the whole, I’m very glad to have read this book as it went beyond our modern cases of police brutality to explain what’s happened before now. 4 stars.
This book covers the history of police brutality against black people in New York City. The introduction discusses how a lot of works about this topic don’t go far enough back, missing the integral ‘40s and onward.
An extremely relevant work to our times, Taylor’s book is a super informative and impactful book to remind us that it’s not just “bad apples” but a system long misused by police officers. It’s well-researched and thorough explanation of how we got here, and the ways many organizations of black people have tried to fix and dismantle the system we still have.
It does occasionally feel a bit dry in tone, but as an academic work, that’s to be expected. There were some sections where I felt the sentence structure was a bit too repetitive. Several long sentences in a row made the information harder to digest, but eventually it found its rhythm.
On the whole, I’m very glad to have read this book as it went beyond our modern cases of police brutality to explain what’s happened before now. 4 stars.
August 26, 2021
It is one thing to become aware of police brutality via various news outlets and social media, but to read a book that focuses on this topic in NYC, was a great idea. The author did his homework and presented it to us, the reader in a clear and concise manner. The research the author did is very obvious in his writing. This is a must read for all. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.
April 11, 2019
Tight and cogent, and neatly organized in a way that would make it useful as a textbook. It is very much a fast-moving synthesis, though, and I found myself wanting more detail sometimes. It also moves fairly chronologically but then jumps abruptly from John Lindsay to Giuliani and I would really have appreciated coverage of the intervening mayors.
February 21, 2022
Writing: 4.03
Content: 3.93
Overall: 3.98
Fairly dense and packed with information, yet the writing was approachable and easy to read. My only real gripe is that while the broader themes and messages were linear, I wish the specifics were presented in a more linear fashion in regards to the occurrence of the events. Things became a lot more linear after about 40-50% of the book.
Content: 3.93
Overall: 3.98
Fairly dense and packed with information, yet the writing was approachable and easy to read. My only real gripe is that while the broader themes and messages were linear, I wish the specifics were presented in a more linear fashion in regards to the occurrence of the events. Things became a lot more linear after about 40-50% of the book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews