The Color of Crime: Racial Hoaxes, White Fear, Black Protectionism, Police Harassment, and Other Macroaggressions

by Katheryn Russell-Brown

When The Color of Crime was first published ten years ago, it was heralded as a path-breaking book on race and crime. Now, in its tenth anniversary year, Katheryn Russell-Brown’s book is more relevant than ever. The Jena Six, Duke Lacrosse Team, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, James Byrd, and all of those victimized in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are just a few of the racially fueled cases that have made headlines in the past decade.
Russell-Brown continues to ask, why do Black and White Americans perceive police actions so differently? Is White fear of Black crime justified? Do African Americans really protect their own? Should they? And why are we still talking about O.J.? Russell-Brown surveys the landscape of American crime and identifies some of the country’s most significant racial pathologies. In this new edition, each chapter is updated and revised, and two new chapters have been added. Enriched with twenty-five new cases, the explosive and troublesome chapter on “Racial Hoaxes” demonstrates that “playing the race card” is still a popular ploy.
The Color of Crime is a lucid and forceful volume that calls for continued vigilance on the part of journalists, scholars, and policymakers alike. Through her innovative analysis of cases, ideological and media trends, issues, and practices that resonate below the public radar even in the new century, Russell-Brown explores the tacit and subtle ways that deviance is systematically linked to people of color. Her findings are impossible to ignore.

Genres: Nonfiction, Race, Politics, Law, Sociology, History, Feminism

223 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1997

Reviews

[Briar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise and informative. The author does an excellent job at explaining the basics. If unsure where to start or how to explain these topics, this book will help.

[Shane Schirmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this would be an interesting read, but instead I was treated to a lot of the same old, same old. Quantum leaps, jumping to conclusions, and disappointing backup of points written as fact. Russell-Brown certainly seems like an interesting, intelligent person, but the information seemed a bit thin. For instance, she claims that lynchings were advertised in local papers in the early 1900s. She goes on to quote a piece by W.E.B. DuBois, stating that this was the case, regarding a 1917 lynching. Unfortunately, neither the author, nor DuBois, references what publication this lynching was advertised in. This is just one of countless examples in this book of the documentation for accused events runs a bit thin.
I’m happy I read the book, as I found her point of view interesting, but it should be read with the knowledge that nothing groundbreaking is going to be exposed.

[Kendall Lauber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a really important and well done book, and especially impressive that it was first published over 25 years ago. Reads a lot like a textbook, which does make sense! Some chapters felt a little disconnected from each other but still definitely a worthwhile read

[fayth]

read for a class and really enjoyed it