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The Rage of Innocence

How America Criminalizes Black Youth

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The Rage of Innocence

By: Kristin Henning
Narrated by: Karen Chilton
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 A brilliant analysis of the foundations of racist policing in America: the day-to-day brutalities, largely hidden from public view, endured by Black youth growing up under constant police surveillance and the persistent threat of physical and psychological abuse

"Storytelling that can make people understand the racial inequities of the legal system, and...restore the humanity this system has cruelly stripped from its victims.” —New York Times Book Review

Drawing upon twenty-five years of experience rep­resenting Black youth in Washington, D.C.’s juve­nile courts, Kristin Henning confronts America’s irrational, manufactured fears of these young peo­ple and makes a powerfully compelling case that the crisis in racist American policing begins with its relationship to Black children.

Henning explains how discriminatory and aggressive policing has socialized a generation of Black teenagers to fear, resent, and resist the police, and she details the long-term consequences of rac­ism that they experience at the hands of the police and their vigilante surrogates. She makes clear that unlike White youth, who are afforded the freedom to test boundaries, experiment with sex and drugs, and figure out who they are and who they want to be, Black youth are seen as a threat to White Amer­ica and are denied healthy adolescent development. She examines the criminalization of Black adoles­cent play and sexuality, and of Black fashion, hair, and music. She limns the effects of police presence in schools and the depth of police-induced trauma in Black adolescents.

Especially in the wake of the recent unprece­dented, worldwide outrage at racial injustice and inequality, The Rage of Innocence is an essential book for our moment. African American Studies Americas Politics & Government Social Policy Social Sciences Specific Demographics United States Social justice Rage Crime Criminal Law
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It is great to have this inside look at how broken a system it is that is being dealt with in the US and in many parts of the world (I am Australian). We need to be railing against this carefully constructed system that robs Black youth of their childhood and innocence and steals the joy of them and their families. This is everyone’s problem and Kristin so eloquent covers so much through her own experience on the front lines. A must read!

A book that must be read!

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