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Chris Hooker (419 KP) rated Shots on the Bridge: Police Violence and Cover-Up in the Wake of Katrina in Books

Jan 12, 2018  
SO
Shots on the Bridge: Police Violence and Cover-Up in the Wake of Katrina
Ronnie Greene | 2015
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Shots On The Bridge] by [Ronnie Greene] is a good piece of investigative journalism about one of the most notorious events in post-Katrina New Orleans.

As most people I was glued to my TV all throughout Katrina and I remember the news reports of a shoot out on a bridge involving police. As I recall the news reported that it was gangsters and looter shooting at the police. There were many reports of this nature in the confusion following one of the worst disasters in U.S. history. We now know that most of these reports were embellished at best or just down right lies.

[Ronnie Greene] did an excellent job relating the events as they occurred and giving a voice to the victims. The fact that these families were just trying to cross a bridge and came under fire by an overly armed unit of police is disconcerting enough but the fact that the police conspired to cover it up makes it even worse. Although it was wrong I could understand the officers reaction to the call of shots fired given the trauma that they had also been through. It is the cover up and lies that compound the wrongfulness of their actions.

I though [Greene] did a good job but he seems to jump around a bit too much. There is a lack of fluid transitions. Also, I feel his view was very one sided. I know that the police did something horrible but they were victims of Katrina as well and probably should not have been on duty at that point. If the correct relief and support had been provided this whole situation may have been avoided.
  
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Sam (74 KP) rated The Hate u Give in Books

Mar 27, 2019  
The Hate u Give
The Hate u Give
Angie Thomas | 2017 | Children
2
8.4 (54 Ratings)
Book Rating
It’s got five-star reviews everywhere, has won so many awards, and literally, everyone is talking about it. So, of course, it’s worth a try.

Only I didn’t enjoy it to the point where I got halfway through and couldn’t finish it. I wasn’t even sure whether to post the review because I know that lots of people will disagree with me over this.

I was so excited for a book to be out that’s about police brutality in America towards black teenagers, and was surprised, to begin with, that something as serious as this was in a YA book, but also happy that it was being told to teenagers. It sounded like my ideal book.

But I just couldn’t get along with it at all. The whole idea with the book is to show what casual racism is doing to America, but at the same time on every few pages, there’s another part talking about how horrible and funny and evil white people are. If a book wants to make a stand against racism, make a stand against it from both sides, not just one. You cannot end racism by calling the other race.

I just found it really one-sided in its battle against racism. I am definitely not saying that the police shooting was right, let me just say that, and Starr has every right to hate the police for shooting her best friend. However, this does not mean that every few pages there needs to be a comment about how awful white people are.

A much healthier focus for the book would have been equality, not switching the racism to the other side in a ‘how-do-you-like-it-now’ move.