Jennifer E. Cobbina

In her book, Hands Up Don't Shoot, author Jennifer E. Cobbina, gives a well-researched look at the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Freddie Gray in Baltimore at the hands of the police and how they led to widespread protests and the formation of the Black Lives Matter movement. She looks at the historical conditions that led to the distrust that many African Americans have towards the police including slavery, Reconstruction, and the Black Codes which unfairly targeted Blacks for much lesser crimes than for Whites for generations, that led to convict leasing and eventually to today and the very profitable incarceration of so many young Black men. She looks at these two cities and these two deaths because they are emblematic of the wider issue of the power imbalance between Blacks and Whites: they are both majority Black cities; they have a high incidence of poverty and racial imbalance; and these two murders became very high profile cases.

She uses statistics to prove her case as well as, and perhaps most importantly, interviews with some of the young people involved in the protests who explain why they got involved, and what they hope they can accomplish. This includes eye witnesses to both the deaths whose stories contradicted both the police and mainstream media accounts.

Hands Up, Don't Shoot is well-researched, well-written, cogent, and easily accessible. It shows how the imbalance of power between Blacks and Whites since slavery especially in the judicial system has led to the distrust of the police in Black communities and it is very eye-opening. She makes it clear that the country has still a long way to go to reach equality but these protests have helped to move it closer. An important book and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Thanks to Netgalley and NYU Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review… (altro)