Our Enemies in Blue

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Next Tuesday, April 19th 7:30 pm!

Kristian Williams, author of the new Soft Skull Press release Our Enemies in Blue, is speaking at Free Mind Media on Tuesday, April 19th at 7:30pm. Free Mind Media, a newly opened community center and infospace, is located at 546 Pacific Ave, just off of Mendocino Ave.

Williams, whose book tackles the controversial subject of American police violence, will be presenting the findings of his research and discussing contemporary issues of police accountability on both the national and local level.

The author is available for print and radio interviews on the days leading up to his appearance. Copies of the book are available upon request.

For more information about Kristian Williams, his book Our Enemies in Blue, or to schedule an interview, please contact Shira Zucker at (415) 359-7489. For more information about the event or Free Mind Media, please contact (707) 579-1605.

Our Enemies in Blue examines the history of police violence from a radical but pragmatic perspective. Written for both the lay reader and for scholars, the book shows that police misconduct isnt just a matter of bad apples but is a function of the very nature of policing in the United States. Kristian Williams explains how modern police forces evolved from slave patrols and protection rackets, critiques community policing, explores racism in law enforcement, and suggests strategies for combating police violence. Williams includes a chapter on prison economics, with an emphasis on how police have cooperated with politicians to increase the number of prisons, and offers anecdotes from those who have encountered police brutality while working for social justice.

Our Enemies in Blue provides an overview of police brutality in America, but it digs deeper than most texts on the subject. It not only examines the populations most often subjected to police abuse and the forms that abuse takes, but also delves into the role of police brutality targeting certain segments of society and preserving existing structures of inequality.

Uniting theory and practice, Our Enemies In Blue provides a resource useful to activists, scholars, and citizens concerned about the encroaching police state. It provides a clear view of the police and their activities, a view rooted both in history and in current practice. It also offers practical guidance in terms of activism, public policy, and areas for further study.

"Kristian Williams has given us a very fine book, a well-researched, historically grounded and mordant critique of American policing past and present. With criminal justice playing an ever greater role in the lives of more and more people, reading this book is necessary and useful." - Christian Parenti, author of Lockdown America

"Seldom does one come across a book so right on target as this one. Clearly framed, drawing upon a wealth of data, straightforwardly presented and reaching uncomfortable but nonetheless unassailable conclusions on every point, Our Enemies in Blue is imperative reading for anyone in the least concerned by the implications attending the rampant growth of police power and violence in the United States." - Ward Churchill, author of Perversions of Justice