Police and the Black Community: A Survey of Their Historical Relationships and Alternative Models for Contemporary Improvement

On May 25, 2020 George Floyd, a 46-year old black man was murdered in an almost matter-of-factly manner by a Minneapolis police officer while the ghastly event was live-streamed by a crowd of on-lookers. It shocked America, which, due to a concurrent pandemic lockdown, had little to distract it from the event. For some, this event was a stark reckoning that there was something very wrong with the dynamic between the police and the Black community. For those in the Black community, however, this was just one more incident in a seemingly endless cycle of police brutality. Why has the dynamic between the police and the Black community felt more akin to that of a military occupation against an indigenous people? These are the questions this book seeks to answer. Police and the Black Community presents a wealth of material and analysis in a way that does not compel the reader but allows them to draw their own conclusions. Ideally this book will serve as a model for other studies seeking to determine the root cause of a very complex topic.