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catherine_the_greatest 's review for:
Darktown
by Thomas Mullen
DID NOT FINISH
I'm choosing to abandon what is probably a four star book, but I just can't stomach reading this right now.
Thomas Mullen is a great writer. I really enjoyed [book:The Last Town on Earth|76336] and [book:The Revisionists|10789142]. In this one he tackles a little known part of Atlanta's history -- the 1948 instatement of eight black police officers, who were supposed to police black neighborhoods, but weren't allowed to arrest white people, to use a squad car (and so had to use the nearest call box to contact the precinct), to even set foot in the police headquarters (meeting in the basement of a YMCA instead), or to wear their uniform when they were off duty. Mullen didn't make any of this up and I'm sure the endemic racism and terrible treatment from other officers and judges is also historically accurate.
In the 88 pages that I was able to read, the n-word and other racial slurs were used hundreds of times. There's a crooked white officer who "owns" the black neighborhoods and routinely beats residents without provocation. His rookie partner has a conscience, but is afraid of tanking his career if he acts upon it. In one of the final scenes I read, two black officers have handcuffed black men who have been fighting. One has been stabbed by the other, but then threw a bottle at the head of one of the officers who tried to help him. The white officers show up, and instead of calling an ambulance, the crooked older cop kicks the handcuffed man in his stab wound. He refuses to let the black officers or his own partner call an ambulance from the squad car, even driving away without his partner (who does walk to a call box and call for an ambulance, while the two black officers -- one injured -- stay with the suspects). I felt physically ill reading this and other equally horrifying scenes.
That was 1948. How far have we really come? Not far enough. And I think this is a Really Important Book and that people need to see this glimpse of the not-distant-enough past, but I just can't right now. I need books that allow me to momentarily escape our current political clusterfuck.
Thomas Mullen is a great writer. I really enjoyed [book:The Last Town on Earth|76336] and [book:The Revisionists|10789142]. In this one he tackles a little known part of Atlanta's history -- the 1948 instatement of eight black police officers, who were supposed to police black neighborhoods, but weren't allowed to arrest white people, to use a squad car (and so had to use the nearest call box to contact the precinct), to even set foot in the police headquarters (meeting in the basement of a YMCA instead), or to wear their uniform when they were off duty. Mullen didn't make any of this up and I'm sure the endemic racism and terrible treatment from other officers and judges is also historically accurate.
In the 88 pages that I was able to read, the n-word and other racial slurs were used hundreds of times. There's a crooked white officer who "owns" the black neighborhoods and routinely beats residents without provocation. His rookie partner has a conscience, but is afraid of tanking his career if he acts upon it. In one of the final scenes I read, two black officers have handcuffed black men who have been fighting. One has been stabbed by the other, but then threw a bottle at the head of one of the officers who tried to help him. The white officers show up, and instead of calling an ambulance, the crooked older cop kicks the handcuffed man in his stab wound. He refuses to let the black officers or his own partner call an ambulance from the squad car, even driving away without his partner (who does walk to a call box and call for an ambulance, while the two black officers -- one injured -- stay with the suspects). I felt physically ill reading this and other equally horrifying scenes.
That was 1948. How far have we really come? Not far enough. And I think this is a Really Important Book and that people need to see this glimpse of the not-distant-enough past, but I just can't right now. I need books that allow me to momentarily escape our current political clusterfuck.