Black and Blue Inside the Divide Between the Police

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· 63 ratings · 15 reviews

Start your review of Black and Blue: Inside the Divide between the Police and Black America

Find this review at Forever Lost in Literature!

Black and Blue centers on the tough, complex issue of the conflicts between the black community and police in America, and I commend Jeff Pegues for the in-depth and extremely careful work he has done with this book. Frankly, I was a bit worried before diving into this book: would this be objective? would it be fair? is it legitimate? From what I've read, the answer to all of these questions is 'yes,' along with the fact that this is an extremely we

Find this review at Forever Lost in Literature!

Pegues is a CBS News Justice and Homeland Security Correspondent with many years of experience as a reporter, skills which he has used to construct an informative, staggering account of a major problem in the United States. Pegues really did an exemplary job providing fact and statistics regarding those in law enforcement, the black community, and issues of violence and conflict that occur. His many observations and facts regarding conversations he has with those involved in these issues were plentiful and thorough, which I feel provided much invaluable information and insight into why and how this issue has only seemed to have gotten worse over the years.

I greatly appreciated that Pegues presents arguments from both sides, which leads to a broad understanding of the struggles that exist on both of those sides and even how there are not even enough resources available to help tackle some of these issues. He describes how many law enforcement areas do not receive adequate funds to properly train police officers, which leads to many issues. Officers then do not have the ability -- or do not realize the need -- to get to know the community they police in. In addition, he expands on the fact that there is also an extreme lack of discipline among many law enforcement agencies, and much too much leniency regarding the bad cops.

One of the most important points that Pegues notes, however, is the fact that black communities are often neglected and left to fend for themselves, creating a bad cycle of poverty and inability to reach the opportunities and lifestyles of other communities.

This is a hard, frankly depressing read. What I really liked about Pegues' presentation was that although he did provide necessary commentary to bring ideas together, he also largely presented his conversations with people and observations in a manner that really lets the reader draw their own conclusions and understandings (which should be fairly obvious). Pegues was incredibly thorough, touching on every detail that he could think of. The only downside to this was that certain things felt a bit repetitive at times, but hey, I'd rather have repetition than a lack of information. There is no real conclusion that I can deduce from this as far as how to overcome these issues, however.

This book is definitely an eye-opener; even if you, like me, think that you know quite about this situation, there is a lot more to learn and be aware of. Overall, I've given Black and Blue four stars!

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I was excited to read this and eagerly awaited its arrival in the mail. I was tired the first night I picked it up and only read the preface, which made me even more eager to read the rest of the book. I was looking forward to reading this because this issue (of militarization and systematic racism of police agencies) is so frightening, prevalent, heinous, unjust, divisive and destructive. I wanted to read what someone in the know had to say about it. Jeff Pegues is a justice and homeland securi I was excited to read this and eagerly awaited its arrival in the mail. I was tired the first night I picked it up and only read the preface, which made me even more eager to read the rest of the book. I was looking forward to reading this because this issue (of militarization and systematic racism of police agencies) is so frightening, prevalent, heinous, unjust, divisive and destructive. I wanted to read what someone in the know had to say about it. Jeff Pegues is a justice and homeland security correspondent for CBS news and an African-American, so I really respect his professional experience as well as his personal experiences.

Sadly, I found the editing and writing in the Advanced Reader Copy so distracting I gave up on the book. The material was not well organized or communicated. There are interviews that don't seem to add very much in the way of enlightenment. I think I would have preferred to read what Pegues thoughts on this issue are without the "research", I think that have been more thoughtful and concise.

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Oct 29, 2017 Aspasia rated it really liked it

**This review has been adapted from a book review I wrote for my Anthropology and Pop Culture class**

The beating of Rodney King was one of the most infamous police brutality cases of the twentieth century. Police brutality cases involving African American men appear to be on the rise in recent years- between 2014 and 2017, Laquan McDonald, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Alton Sterling, Keith Lamont Scott, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Walter Scott, Philando Castile, and Terrence Crutcher died during police interactions or while in police custody. Jeff Pegues, in Black and Blue: Inside the Divide Between the Police and Black America, brings to light why police brutality is once again making headlines throughout America: the roots of racism in police brutality, the lack of accountability in policing, and the need for reconciliation between the police and the African American community.
The first theme that Pegues tackles in his book is accountability. Members of the police and African American communities were interviewed by Pegues about their thoughts on police accountability. Both sides agreed that police need to be held accountable and punished when they overstep their bounds but each side measured that accountability in different ways. Achieving accountability was on the minds of many Chicagoans after the police shooting death of Laquan McDonald in 2014. After the shooting, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) originally released a statement that the shooting was justified after McDonald had acted in an aggressive manner; when the video was released to the public thirteen months later, the video revealed that "Van Dyke fired the first sixteen shots, and Laquan McDonald was leaning away from the officer. The CPD's so-called code of silence had been exposed along with other systemic problems going back decades" (Pegues 2017:63).
What is the "code of silence'? It depends on whom Pegues interviewed. Mayor Rahm Emanuel described the code of silence as "the tendency to ignore. It is the tendency to deny. It is the tendency [to] in some cases cover up the bad action of a colleague or colleagues" (Pegues 2017:46). Dean Angelo, a CPD veteran and president of the Fraternal Order of Police claims the thin blue line "keeps the beast from the door" and is "the line of separation between the good and the bad" (Pegues 2017:54). To Angelo the code of silence is not covering a colleague's bad behavior but "listening, not talking. Learn by observing, learn by hearing" (Pegues 2017: 190). The police view the thin blue line and the code of silence as the noble concepts of protection and duty while the African American community views it as an "oppressive force" (Pegues 2017:50) of corruption.
In response to the Laqaun McDonald shooting the CPD established the Police Accountability Task Force to "actively seek out, listen, and respond to voices all over this city" (Pegues 2017:63). The Police Accountability Task Force would also be responsible for the thousands of abuse complaints that are lodged against the CPD every year: "From 2011 to 2015, 40 percent of complaints against police officers were not investigated" (Pegues 2017:114). The Task Force also recommended the creation of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability- this agency would have "greater power to investigate alleged police abuse and the use of deadly force…offer recommended changes to both police policy and procedure" (Pegues 2017:222); Unfortunately, the civilian task force was a voter-based ordinance which was struck down by voters, especially voters in white neighborhoods that contained police residents.
The rejection of the civilian-led accountability agency by white Chicagoans sheds light on a dirty secret within the police community (and the second theme of this book): the infiltration of white supremacists in the law enforcement community. Some of this infiltration manifests itself in obvious ways and sometimes racial bias within in police ranks is more insidious. In our class lecture, we learned that some Los Angeles police officers hailed originally from Mississippi and they brought their racial biases with them to California. These LAPD officers were known to cruise African American neighborhoods for the sole purpose of stirring up trouble by yelling racial epithets and acronyms from their police cruisers (Trunzo class lecture, September 5, 2017). Liberal San Francisco was no better in their viewpoints towards African Americans- one police precinct in an African American neighborhood was known to have a picture of a KKK grand wizard displayed on a public bulletin board (Trunzo class lecture, September 5, 2017).
An example of insidious racial bias within law enforcement is the controversial "stop and frisk" policies initiated by the New York Police Department that were later adopted throughout the country. The original purpose of stop and frisk was crime prevention: "officers were encouraged to stop and question pedestrians and then frisk them for weapons" (Pegues 2017:26) but complaints and statistics show that this policy was abused by cops with racial motives and usually only enforced in minority communities. For example, in Baltimore stop and frisk was "concentrated in predominantly African American neighborhoods and often lacked reasonable suspicion" (Pegues 2017:22) and
BPD searched African Americans more frequently during pedestrian and vehicle stops, even though searches of African Americans were less likely to discover contraband. Indeed, BPD officers found contraband twice as often when searching white individuals compared to African Americans during vehicle stops and 50 percent more often during pedestrian stops (Pegues 2017:23).

On paper, this aggressive form of law enforcement appeared to lower crime but there were other repercussions: the breakup of families, job loss, increased prison populations, and the temptation by police departments to turn stop and frisk into a source of revenue.
The final theme in Black and Blue is reconciliation which is repeatedly mentioned in the book by Pegues and by many of his interview subjects. Pegues recognizes that reconciliation will be a long process and hard work for both sides of the thin blue line. Pegues recommends a multi-step reconciliation process: acknowledgement, expungement of bad cops, sessions of open dialogue, and the establishment of positive interactions between civilians and the police.
"This divide in the United States between law enforcement and black Americans shows that our country is still grappling with a troubled past when it comes to race" (Pegues 2017:99). The "troubled past" this quote refers to are the slave patrols in the colonial and antebellum periods of U.S. history and the Jim Crow laws "which set different rules for blacks and whites…based on the theory of white supremacy" (Pegues 2017:100). Because of hundreds of years of oppressive regulations, laws, and policing techniques, the African American community not only distrusts most police departments but has also had to resort self-protection because they knew help would not be available outside their community. Chuck Wexler of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) points out that acknowledgment of racial bias must also include racism within the police ranks, not just racism between police officers and the community (208).
The cliché "one bad apple spoils the bunch" is also symbolic about bad cops who ruin the reputation of their own police department and the entire law enforcement community. The Chicago Police Data Project found that police officers "with 10 or more complaints- make up about 10% of the force but receive 30% of all complaints" (Pegues 2017:229). Another way to root out bad cops is the prevention of bad hires in the first place. Various entities quoted within this book mentioned that hiring standards for police officers needed to be increased: stricter psychological testing, increased salaries for police officers, and continuous training which includes: "bias awareness, crisis intervention, mental health issues, interpersonal and communication skills" (Pegues 2017:135) just to name a few, and police departments need to acknowledge that not every police academy candidate is mentally capable be a police officer. Local government officials also need to view police as "critical infrastructure… If we don't invest in our infrastructure, what happens? It breaks down" (Pegues 2017:133). Finally, Pegues believes there must be civil, open dialogue between the police and the local African American community to build trust with one another. This tenuous trust must be sustained through continuous positive interactions between African Americans and law enforcement.

You can read more of my reviews at: https://thesouthernbookworm.blogspot....

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Jul 16, 2017 Donald Grant rated it really liked it

A well written text on a complex subject....

The issue of confrontation between the police and the black community is a major problem in this country. Understanding both sides is a necessary step to resolving a problem that has deep roots. Taking a side and blaming the other is easy and requires very little thought.

In this book Pegues presents both sides, both perspectives, and the frustration felt by all. Having interviewed several police chiefs, black leaders, and politicians, he lays out in gr

A well written text on a complex subject....

In this book Pegues presents both sides, both perspectives, and the frustration felt by all. Having interviewed several police chiefs, black leaders, and politicians, he lays out in great detail the problems facing communities. Through their eyes, Pegues gives a rational approach to solving the problem.

As a white male, I found this quite an eye opener. Especially regarding the lack of funds that police departments face in being able to hire and train good police officers. The fact that community policing would be a great step toward solving many of the problems and is hindered by funding is sad. Community policing being defined as having sufficient coverage by police to keep officers in one area where they get to know the community, Almost as astonishing was the lack of reprimands or discipline of police officers who over stepped their authority. A department that cannot remove the bad apples only perpetuates the problems.

The issue of poverty and crime in black neighborhoods is too large for this book to address, but Pegues gives a glimpse into understanding the black community's frustration over being neglected. Add to this the abuse by law enforcement and Pegues gives us a sense of what life in these neighborhoods is like..

This is a good book to help us understand the issues, it is also a book that will make you want to know more about what can be done to bridge this blue/black gap. Here is my only criticism of the book, it lacks a clear suggestion for what the average citizen can do to help.

This one gets four stars.

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May 31, 2020 Valerie rated it it was amazing

I read this a couple years ago and for some reason I didn't write a review. I found what I posted on FB about it-

I know I posted about how I was reading this book. I have now finished it and still recommend it to anyone who wants to be more knowledgeable on this topic. Here are some of my take aways.
1. Proper policing takes a partnership between the community and the police. This was reiterated several times throughout the book.
2. This is a complicated issue with several factors. Poverty, racism, training, emotional response, unemployment are just some.
3. There are good people trying to fix this system. Find and follow those people.
4. It will take time, time, and more time to fix this.

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Good overview of a gigantic problem

Jeff Pegues does a good job of looking at a nation wide problem from the 30,000 foot level. Much of the book focuses on Chicago. I thought his approach was balanced and effective. Every major city in the nation is feeling the impact of this topic. Recruiting new officers is tremendously difficult. Do you want your son or daughter to be a police officer in this country today? Most answer no. Who should do the job? The book does not try to answer the questions bu

Good overview of a gigantic problem

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He shoots, he misses

This in the latter part of 2020 could have been an important book, but it isn't. The author really never deals with or analyzes law enforcement rather he gathers interviews. Very little mention is made of the role of the power police unions hold let alone " qualified immunity ". Very disappointed.

Jul 12, 2017 Krishaun rated it really liked it

I think this was a great book! Jeff provided plenty of facts, statistics, and candid conversations between himself and people in LE or the black community. The only thing that I didn't like was the fluidity of the chapters, as it was either a bit repetitive or too quick. But that's hurt me nitpicking. I recommend! I think this was a great book! Jeff provided plenty of facts, statistics, and candid conversations between himself and people in LE or the black community. The only thing that I didn't like was the fluidity of the chapters, as it was either a bit repetitive or too quick. But that's hurt me nitpicking. I recommend! ...more

Dec 30, 2019 Shari rated it it was amazing

Excellent book that promotes understanding by giving ample voice to both sides of the contentious relationships between black American citizens and their local police departments. The relationships are complicated for sure. Ultimately there is some hope for the future, providing that police departments lead the way.

Jun 24, 2020 Bryce rated it liked it

A collection of cop interviews wherein they defend and explain away the problem. However, I liked it overall and might recommend it. I liked and disliked the commitment to balance. The author didn't synthesize the research he did into a written opinion, and it's claim to balance ironically left out the voices of victims and their family members.

This book was excellent. It addresses the issue in a very even-handed way. If you are looking to learn from multiple perspectives on the issue, this is a good resource.

I was really looking forward to reading Black and Blue. I guess my expectations were too high because I had to struggle to get through the book because the material therein didn't hold my attention.