Book Review: Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice System
by Robbin Shipp and Nick Chiles
Publication Date: Oct 01, 2014
List Price: $14.00
Format: Paperback, 160 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781932841909
Imprint: Agate Bolden
Publisher: Agate Publishing, Inc
Parent Company: Agate Publishing, Inc
Read a Description of Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice System
Book Reviewed by Kam Williams
“The August 9th fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri has focused global attention on the precarious safety of young African-American men… Brown is only the most recent addition to the tragic list of shootings of young, African-American men that have ignited media attention in recent years.
But the fact is that our young black men have always lived under threat from the armed guardians of the white social order. Black males and police forces have been at odds since the nation’s founding, when wealthy planters hired slave patrols to keep the white community safe from ‘dangerous’ escaped slaves.
The tactics have been modernized, and the impact—as we’ve seen at Ferguson—remains devastating… The criminal justice system is not so much a necessary service to society as it is a business that seeks to profit from the arrest and imprisonment of U.S. citizens.
Justice While Black is a handbook for African-American families that is full of practical, brass-tacks advice… on how to avoid being ensnared in the criminal justice system.”
—Excerpted from a Note from the Publisher, Doug Seibold
Unless you’ve been living under a rock in recent months, you know that
the incredibly antagonistic and too often deadly relationship between the
police and black males is finally garnering the national attention it has so
long deserved. Something’s gotta give, when it’s degenerated to the point
where you have cops shooting to death a 12 year-old playing with a toy gun
in a park and an unarmed 28 year-old merely escorting his girlfriend down
the dark stairwell of his apartment building.
Yes, President Obama has weighed-in in the wake of the grand juries’
failures to indict the officers responsible for the deaths of Michael Brown
and Eric Garner. He’s ostensibly attempting to quell racial unrest by
hinting that Attorney General Holder might still file Federal civil rights
charges against the cops.
But meanwhile, the question remains: how should the parent of a black boy
prepare him for a possible encounter with police, since they’re prone to
misread the most innocent of behaviors as somehow menacing? After all, it’s
been said that if a cop sees a black man sitting, he’s shiftless; if he’s
standing, he’s loitering; if he’s walking, he’s prowling; and if he’s
running, he’s escaping.
I’m not sure whether there’s been a more timely tome than
Justice While
Black, a how-to book written by a concerned sister who is both a lawyer and
a mother. With 20+ years experience as a criminal defense attorney under her
belt, Robbin Shipp (with the help of Pulitzer Prize-winner
Nick Chiles)
shares a wealth of advice for young brothers about not only dealing with
police on the street, but with navigating one’s way through the court and
correctional systems, should you unfortunately be arrested and/or convicted.
Not one to mince words, the author from Chapter One, “Officer Friendly Isn’t
Your Friend,” makes it clear that any black man’s encounter with a police
officer could easily lead to a close brush with death. Therefore, she
relates step-by-step instructions about what to do in situations ranging
from being stopped while driving (“If the officer asks for your license and
registration, get his permission to reach for them.”) to being placed under
arrest (“Resist the urge to explain to them everything that happened.”), and
so forth.
A mandatory, must-read that just might save the life or liberty of someone
you love.
Book Review: Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice System
by Robbin Shipp and Nick Chiles
Publication Date: Oct 01, 2014
List Price: $14.00
Format: Paperback, 160 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9781932841909
Imprint: Agate Bolden
Publisher: Agate Publishing, Inc
Parent Company: Agate Publishing, Inc
Read a Description of Justice While Black: Helping African-American Families Navigate and Survive the Criminal Justice System
Book Reviewed by Kam Williams
“The August 9th fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri has focused global attention on the precarious safety of young African-American men… Brown is only the most recent addition to the tragic list of shootings of young, African-American men that have ignited media attention in recent years.
But the fact is that our young black men have always lived under threat from the armed guardians of the white social order. Black males and police forces have been at odds since the nation’s founding, when wealthy planters hired slave patrols to keep the white community safe from ‘dangerous’ escaped slaves.
The tactics have been modernized, and the impact—as we’ve seen at Ferguson—remains devastating… The criminal justice system is not so much a necessary service to society as it is a business that seeks to profit from the arrest and imprisonment of U.S. citizens.
Justice While Black is a handbook for African-American families that is full of practical, brass-tacks advice… on how to avoid being ensnared in the criminal justice system.”
—Excerpted from a Note from the Publisher, Doug Seibold
Unless you’ve been living under a rock in recent months, you know that
the incredibly antagonistic and too often deadly relationship between the
police and black males is finally garnering the national attention it has so
long deserved. Something’s gotta give, when it’s degenerated to the point
where you have cops shooting to death a 12 year-old playing with a toy gun
in a park and an unarmed 28 year-old merely escorting his girlfriend down
the dark stairwell of his apartment building.
Yes, President Obama has weighed-in in the wake of the grand juries’
failures to indict the officers responsible for the deaths of Michael Brown
and Eric Garner. He’s ostensibly attempting to quell racial unrest by
hinting that Attorney General Holder might still file Federal civil rights
charges against the cops.
But meanwhile, the question remains: how should the parent of a black boy
prepare him for a possible encounter with police, since they’re prone to
misread the most innocent of behaviors as somehow menacing? After all, it’s
been said that if a cop sees a black man sitting, he’s shiftless; if he’s
standing, he’s loitering; if he’s walking, he’s prowling; and if he’s
running, he’s escaping.
I’m not sure whether there’s been a more timely tome than
Justice While
Black, a how-to book written by a concerned sister who is both a lawyer and
a mother. With 20+ years experience as a criminal defense attorney under her
belt, Robbin Shipp (with the help of Pulitzer Prize-winner
Nick Chiles)
shares a wealth of advice for young brothers about not only dealing with
police on the street, but with navigating one’s way through the court and
correctional systems, should you unfortunately be arrested and/or convicted.
Not one to mince words, the author from Chapter One, “Officer Friendly Isn’t
Your Friend,” makes it clear that any black man’s encounter with a police
officer could easily lead to a close brush with death. Therefore, she
relates step-by-step instructions about what to do in situations ranging
from being stopped while driving (“If the officer asks for your license and
registration, get his permission to reach for them.”) to being placed under
arrest (“Resist the urge to explain to them everything that happened.”), and
so forth.
A mandatory, must-read that just might save the life or liberty of someone
you love.