When four New York City police officers killed Amadou Diallo in 1999; the forty-one shots they fired echoed loudly across the nation. In death; Diallo joined a long list of young men of color killed by police fire in cities and towns all across America. Through innuendos of criminality; many of these victims could be discredited and; by implication; held responsible for their own deaths. But Diallo was an innocent; a young West African immigrant doing nothing more suspicious than returning home to his Bronx apartment after working hard all day in the city. Protesters took to the streets; successfully demanding that the four white officers be brought to trial. When the officers were acquitted; however; horrified onlookers of all races and ethnicities despaired of justice. In 41 Shots . . . and Counting; Beth Roy offers an oral history of Diallo's death. Through interviews with members of the community; with police officers and lawyers; with government officials and mothers of young men in jeopardy; the book traces the political and racial dynamics that placed the officers outside Diallo's house that night; their fingers on symbolic as well as actual triggers. With lucid analysis; Roy explores events in the courtroom; in city hall; in the streets; and in the police precinct; revealing the interlacing conflict dynamics. 41 Shots . . . and Counting allows the reader to consider the implications of the Diallo case for our national discourses on politics; race; class; crime; and social justice.
#1694343 in Books NYU Press 2008-05-24 2008-05-24Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .58 x 6.00l; .69 #File Name: 081477587X232 pages
Review
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Voices of EmancipationBy Hayseed9This is a very good book if you are interested in finding out about how the slaves were treated and what was going on politically in the world at that time. I was amazed to read about President Lincoln's emancipation of the slaves and the politics that were involved with it. Also; it's so interesting to find that the slaves in question were actually mixed blood. Two actual diaries of slaves were preserved and are published in the end of this book. It's a very good book.
