Black in Blue: African-American Police Officers and Racism

Unlike popular T.V. shows depicting black police officers in stations filled with officers of color, most U.S. police forces are glaringly white. In most cities African Americans have only recently gained entrance-but by no means full acceptance-to this exclusive club.Black in Blue is the first in-depth book to expose the day-to-day racism that black officers face on the job. Authors Kenneth H. Bolton, Jr. and Joe R. Feagin interviewed veteran African-American police officers in the South to present a shocking portrait of passed-over promotions, racially hostile coworkers, and an unreceptive white public. Black senior officers as well as officers on the beat express frustration at racial battles in the station and on the street-from a lack of trust by many whites to a sense of betrayal by some other African Americans.Tracing the roots of this historically all-white institution, the authors show how racism permeated the fabric of the first police agencies. For centuries, white Americans have used their monopoly of police power to control African Americans. Today, communities of color are still the focus of disproportionate policing efforts in the U.S., and most police forces still reflect the biases of the white public.Timely and controversial, Black in Blue effectively and eloquently argues that the future of the country depends on the full desegregation of its policing organizations, which have too long buttressed U.S. racial oppression.