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katiecentabar 's review for:

Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy
3.5
challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced
The phrase "black on black crime" almost immediately turned me away from this book. I saw the reviews and decided to give it a chance. I appreciate the body of reporting of this book, I think it's incredibly important and pertinent. There are some shortcomings worth noting. The author, in her writing of the police, is not critical in any meaningful way; moments where officers expose themselves as racists and callous to the communities they are alleged to protect and served are quickly mitigated by a "don't worry there are these incredible detectives" slight of hand. I understand this to be a byproduct of her role as a crime reporter whose work with the police either obfuscates the obvious fact of police brutality or is not benefited by naming it. Similarly, there is some exploration of the historical context e.g. slavery and slave catchers (the origin of the American police), Jim Crow laws, and segregation but nothing in a deep way that calls our structural and systemic racism. This may be attributed to form, the book reads like a procedural, or the above mentioned relationship with police but something I found definitely lacking. I don't regret reading this book, but I may recommend only to a specific kind of person.
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