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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
A fantastic, unapologetic satire that is unfortunately so SPOT ON. Anyone who has any desire to change and reconcile race relations should read this book.
fast-paced
Sad that this book is even necessary. He did a great job of making his points and gave me plenty to think about.
Pretty good, but uneven. Reads like a Chris Rock stand-up rant about race. When it’s good, it’s good, but often it feels forced.
Still, read it for the insight into racist problems, and maybe you too can manage not to get shot by cops. Especially if you’re white.
Still, read it for the insight into racist problems, and maybe you too can manage not to get shot by cops. Especially if you’re white.
White people think that bad things only happen to bad people. They were good people and the nice policeman let them off with a warning. See: it pays to be nice! If you got shot by the police, you must have done something bad to deserve it. (61)
How Not to Get Shot offers white advice to black people on how to avoid being killed by white people. These tips include: Don't talk back, Don't match the description, How to do your hair, How to not come from a single-parent household, Stop taking handouts, and How to not be a reverse racist.
Police are basically doing now what they've always done, which is to keep niggers in their place. [...]So unarmed black people getting killed isn't new, it's retro. (4)
In the midst of this satire, D.L. Hughley also offers historical context for police forces, statistical data for white-on-white crime, and details on the recent killings of Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, and Michael Brown. This is a book with real humor, but also deadly seriousness. There were pages where Hughley's helpless rage, incredulity, and heartbreak were so palpable.
[W]hite people want to make sure you don't rush to judgement. After all, not all cops are bad! [...]But to black people, if an armed man has shot an unarmed man, there has already been a rush to judgement. So what authorities are actually saying is that they don't want there to be a rush to judgement on their rush to judgement. (82)
I thought this book was a little too long for what it is, but the chapters are short so it's still a fairly quick read. There are real nuggets of truth among the humorous observations.
Even though white people directly benefit from white privilege and controlling the power of the government, the banks, colleges, and so on, for all of American history, they still think that black people get special favors when policies are put in place to address racism. In their minds, dealing with race is racist! (220)
dark
funny
fast-paced
If you can’t tell from the parenthetical in the title, this book is a sarcastic riff on all the bad advice white people give every time a Black person gets shot by the cops. Comply with orders. Comply with what the cop meant, not what the cop said. Comply quickly, but not too quickly. Comply slowly, but not too slowly. That sort of thing.
The “other advice” sections go on about choosing a name and how to dress and all the other things people who look like me like to tut tut about.
Highly recommend. It’s a very quick read.
The “other advice” sections go on about choosing a name and how to dress and all the other things people who look like me like to tut tut about.
Highly recommend. It’s a very quick read.
This one is darkly funny, and a pretty quick read. Doesn’t necessarily break new ground in talking about police violence against people of color (particularly Black men), but points out the absurdity of racism and victim blaming in the United States. Hughley also spelled out some useful facts and arguments for situations where you have to, for one reason or another, convince someone that a police shooting was wrong/unjustified/worthy of investigation and justice. Both entertained me and made me angry about police violence and the people who make excuses for it.