Hands Up, Don’t Shoot: Why the Protests in Ferguson and Baltimore Matter, and How They Changed America

by Jennifer E. Cobbina

Understanding the explosive protests over police killings and the legacy of racism

Following the high-profile deaths of eighteen-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and twenty-five-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, both cities erupted in protest over the unjustified homicides of unarmed black males at the hands of police officers. These local tragedies―and the protests surrounding them―assumed national significance, igniting fierce debate about the fairness and efficacy of the American criminal justice system. Yet, outside the gaze of mainstream attention, how do local residents and protestors in Ferguson and Baltimore understand their own experiences with race, place, and policing?

In Hands Up, Don’t Shoot , Jennifer Cobbina draws on in-depth interviews with nearly two hundred residents of Ferguson and Baltimore, conducted within two months of the deaths of Brown and Gray. She examines how protestors in both cities understood their experiences with the police, how those experiences influenced their perceptions of policing, what galvanized Black Lives Matter as a social movement, and how policing tactics during demonstrations influenced subsequent mobilization decisions among protesters. Ultimately, she humanizes people’s deep and abiding anger, underscoring how a movement emerged to denounce both racial biases by police and the broader economic and social system that has stacked the deck against young black civilians.

Hands Up, Don’t Shoot is a remarkably current, on-the-ground assessment of the powerful, protestor-driven movement around race, justice, and policing in America.

Genres: Nonfiction, Race, Politics, Sociology, Social Justice

288 pages, Hardcover

Published July 30, 2019

About the author

Jennifer E. Cobbina, PhD, is an associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University.

Reviews

[Maxine · Rating 5 out of 5]

In her book, Hands Up Don't Shoot, author Jennifer E. Cobbina, gives a well-researched look at the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Freddie Gray in Baltimore at the hands of the police and how they led to widespread protests and the formation of the Black Lives Matter movement. She looks at the historical conditions that led to the distrust that many African Americans have towards the police including slavery, Reconstruction, and the Black Codes which unfairly targeted Blacks for much lesser crimes than for Whites for generations, that led to convict leasing and eventually to today and the very profitable incarceration of so many young Black men. She looks at these two cities and these two deaths because they are emblematic of the wider issue of the power imbalance between Blacks and Whites: they are both majority Black cities; they have a high incidence of poverty and racial imbalance; and these two murders became very high profile cases.

She uses statistics to prove her case as well as, and perhaps most importantly, interviews with some of the young people involved in the protests who explain why they got involved, and what they hope they can accomplish. This includes eye witnesses to both the deaths whose stories contradicted both the police and mainstream media accounts.

Hands Up, Don't Shoot is well-researched, well-written, cogent, and easily accessible. It shows how the imbalance of power between Blacks and Whites since slavery especially in the judicial system has led to the distrust of the police in Black communities and it is very eye-opening. She makes it clear that the country has still a long way to go to reach equality but these protests have helped to move it closer. An important book and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Thanks to Netgalley and NYU Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

[Casey the Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Books Forward PR for the free copy of this book.

HANDS UP DON'T SHOOT is an academic look at the social forces behind the Black Lives Matter movement. It includes extensive quotes and interviews with protestors on the ground in these cities, as well as other residents, police, and more. It breaks down very neatly both the reasoning people make for protesting, and also the calculations police officers are making in these moments and the social pressure both groups of people are reacting to. 📚
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If you've been paying attention to or involved in BLM protests over the past few years, there isn't a lot of new information here, but it is still validating to see hard data about what's happening, and to know it's not all in your head. 📚
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Content warnings: blood, child death, death, gun violence, hate crime, police brutality, racial slurs, racism, slavery, and violence.

[Mariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Police brutality against communities of color is a pattern that we have become far too familiar with as a society. It shouldn't be commonplace for entire communities to have to deal with even a fraction of what communities across america deal with every day. This book should be depressing. We can do better. Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an ARC.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interviews and statistics beyond the headlines.

[Ryan Munger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a thought provoking read. However, the book does not accomplish what the title says it will. There is minimal discussion about how the protest in Ferguson and Baltimore changed America. Additionally it is noted that not much has even changed in Baltimore. As this was presented as an academic work I would of liked to see how the researchers controlled for biases in the data set. I also think the conclusions drawn from the data are states with too much confidence based on the size of the data set. The book is at its strongest when it is sticking to academic rigor, it falls off toward the end where it tails into the authors own personal beliefs.

[Karen Armenta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cobbina does an amazing job as she deep dives into the intense protests that erupted after the deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray. Cobbina puts on her journalist hat and interviews nearly two hundred residents of both Ferguson and Baltimore, capturing their raw and unfiltered emotions about race, place, and policing. She vividly brings to life the anger, frustration, and despair that drove people to the streets, protesting and demanding justice.
The book goes beyond just the events of the protests, digging into the systemic issues that have long disadvantaged young black people in America. Cobbina paints a picture of a society where economic and social inequalities have created a powder keg of resentment and injustice. She explores how the Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum and how policing tactics during the protests influenced the decisions of future mobilization efforts.
One of the main themes of the book is the need for systemic change. Cobbina argues that the protests were not just about individual incidents of police brutality, but about the broader economic and social systems that have long oppressed black communities. She highlights the importance of addressing these root causes if we are to achieve true justice and equality.
In addition to its insightful analysis, the book is also praised for humanizing the protestors. Cobbina allows their voices to shine through, giving readers a sense of the real people behind the headlines. It's a powerful and thought-provoking read that challenges readers to think critically about race, justice, and policing in America.

[Erin W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hands Up, Don't Shoot is an academic discussion on police brutality, particularly about the tragic events in Ferguson and Baltimore. I really appreciated that this book included quotes and direct input from people in those communities. It does a great job analyzing these conversations and putting them into an academic and data driven perspective. However, what took the star off for me were the typos and misspellings. There were at least 5 obvious typos, mostly towards the front half of the book and one of the references was misspelled in the text but correctly spelled on the reference list. Overall, I would still recommend this to anyone interested in policing and race studies.

[Never Without a Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure what I really expected from this novel. As a Black woman and hearing of police killings of black males has become all to common for me. Which is scary that I would even feel this way. This book is a great reference, but nothing here wow’d or shocked me. Great observations, and interviews with those first-person encounters. I highly recommend this novel to those that are oblivious of this issue.

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated that the author described the origins of policing during slavery, noted the traumatic effects of footage/knowledge of police murders of Black folks on other Black people and the similarities between this and how lynchings were made into spectacles for white folks, and the usage of both quantitative and qualitative information (i.e. statistics on police activities as well as interviews with protesters).

[Eileen Chen · Rating 3 out of 5]

maybe it was my past knowledge and experience in reading super in depth sociological/criminological books/studies but this one didn’t stand out to me. it reiterated what every other study or article on police brutality says and didn’t seem to offer any new solutions or conclusions or special analyses. appreciate the perspective but felt like too simply told

[Cristie Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author's painstaking research and attention to detail is obvious in the writing of this book. There were many facts that I only discovered after reading this!

[Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers a wealth of information about the shootings
we have seen on the News over the years. It's so painful to
know this still goes down due to racism. The writer is well informed
with the facts and it's all here in this book! It made it hard to read at times
but I felt like I owed it to these families to read the truth.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to
read an early copy!