Citizen Brown : race, democracy, and inequality in the St. Louis suburbs / Colin Gordon.

Author/creator Gordon, Colin, 1962- author.
Format Book
PublicationChicago : University of Chicago Press, 2019.
Copyright Date©2019
Descriptionix, 200 pages : maps ; 24 cm
Subjects

Contents Introduction -- Fragmenting citizenship: municipal incorporation and annexation -- Segregating citizenship: schools, safety, and sewers -- Bulldozing citizenship: renewal, redevelopment, and relocation -- Arresting citizenship: segregation, austerity, and predatory policing -- Conclusion.
Abstract "The 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, ignited nationwide protests and brought widespread attention police brutality and institutional racism. But Ferguson was no aberration. As Colin Gordon shows in this urgent and timely book, the events in Ferguson exposed not only the deep racism of the local police department but also the ways in which decades of public policy effectively segregated people and curtailed citizenship not just in Ferguson but across the St. Louis suburbs. Citizen Brown uncovers half a century of private practices and public policies that resulted in bitter inequality and sustained segregation in Ferguson and beyond. Gordon shows how municipal and school district boundaries were pointedly drawn to contain or exclude African Americans and how local policies and services—especially policing, education, and urban renewal—were weaponized to maintain civic separation. He also makes it clear that the outcry that arose in Ferguson was no impulsive outburst but rather an explosion of pent-up rage against long-standing systems of segregation and inequality—of which a police force that viewed citizens not as subjects to serve and protect but as sources of revenue was only the most immediate example. Worse, Citizen Brown illustrates the fact that though the greater St. Louis area provides some extraordinarily clear examples of fraught racial dynamics, in this it is hardly alone among American cities and regions." -- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages [155]-194) and index.
Binding noteUniversity of Chicago Library's UCPress copy has original dust jacket.
LCCN 2019005345
ISBN9780226647487 hardcover ; alkaline paper
ISBN022664748X hardcover ; alkaline paper
ISBNelectronic book

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks E185.93 .M7 G67 2019 ✔ Available Place Hold