Justice and Life (Press Release)
NOT GUILTY Twelve Black Men Speak Out on Law, Justice and Life
Edited by Jabari Asim Amistad Press; An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers On sale: October 22, 2001 ISBN: 0-06-018538-4 $25.00
In the aftermath of the fatal 1999 shooting of un-armed African immigrant, Amadou Diallo, by New York City police officers, Washington Post Book World Senior Editor Jabari Asim, quickly went to work. He gathered a collection of essays by black men, from all walks of life, that chronicled the daily tensions and uncertainty they face as black men in America, particularly with law enforcement. These twelve candid and insightful essays comprise NOT GUILTY: Twelve Black Men Speak Out on Law, Justice and Life (Amistad Press; October 22, 2001; $25.00).
Why are many black men fearful and mistrustful of the police? Why do black families feel a responsibility to educate their children (particularly boys) about how to diplomatically extricate themselves from situations where they come in contact with police? Why do African-Americans often cheer when a black man they don't even know is acquitted in a criminal trial? These are just some of the issues considered in NOT GUILTY.
Far from an angry diatribe that focuses solely on the worst cases of injustice and police brutality, NOT GUILTY considers the compromising situations, often times ridiculous, which black men face everyday, due to racial profiling and nagging stereotypes that seemingly never go away. With an attorney, two professors, several creative writers and journalists, and member of the National Black Police Association among them, the contributors to NOT GUILTY represent a diverse segment of the black male population who' ve shared chillingly similar experiences.
The experiences of Black men in America are not identical, and yet they are not without similarity. The essays in NOT GUILTY provide a much needed forum for Black men to speak about their unique experiences as private citizens, as well as to the collective justice they seek as individuals who wish to be judged on their own merit, as law abiding and fruitful contributors to the progress of American society.
Contributors include E. Lynn Harris ("Quitting the Club"), Ricardo Cortez Cruz ("My Flesh and Blood: Black Marks and Stigmata"), Rohan Preston ("Police State of Mind"), Mark Anthony Neal ("Just Another "Nigga": Reflections on Black Masculinity and Middle-Class Identity"), Brian Gilmore ("Twisted Street Logic"), David Dante Trout ("The Race Industry, Brutality, and the Law of Mothers"), Fred McKissack, Jr. ("The Black Belt: How Justice Begins at Home"), RM Johnson ("Fear of a Blue Uniform"), Andre Jackson ("From Within, From Without"), Christopher Cooper ("Mediation in Black and White: Unequal Distribution of Empowerment by Police"), and Mat Johnson ("What I Learned in School")
About the author:
Jabari Asim is a poet, critic, and playwright who works as a Senior Editor of Washington Post Book World. His work appeared most recently in Step into a World: A Global Anthology of the New Black Literature and Brown Sugar: An Anthology of Black Erotic Fiction. He lives in Silver Springs, Maryland.