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"Paul Butler considers NWA's 1988 song, "Fuck tha Police," as an invitation to think about putting the police on trial for crimes against African Americans. It examines the resonance of "Fuck tha Police" over time, up to and including the George Floyd inspired protests. It will also use the song to analyze how civilians should feel about cops in a democracy. Are they a positive good, as many white people might suggest, a necessary evil, as some people of color might suggest, or an unnecessary evil, as suggested by the "defund the police" movement? Butler also will explore the meaning of the trial metaphor in the song - what would it mean for African Americans to put the police on trial? What would be the crime and the appropriate punishment?"--
List of contents
Introduction; Part I. Policing: 1. From 'Fuck tha Police' to defund the police: a polemic, with elements of pragmatism and accommodation, hopefully not fatal, as black people hope about encounters with the police Paul Butler; 2. Hip hop and traffic stops Henry L. Chambers, Jr.; 3. 'Black Cop': it's a blue thing (or is it?) Kami Chavis; 4. 'Illegal Search': race, personhood, and policing Roger A. Fairfax, Jr.; 5. 'Cops Shot the Kid': police brutality, mass incarceration, and the reasonableness doctrine in criminal law Kristin Henning; Part II. Imprisonment: 6. Trauma andré douglas pond cummings; 7. Black steel in the hour of chaos Gregory S. Parks; Part III. Genders: 8. Roxanne Shanté's 'Independent Woman': making space for women in hip hop Lolita Buckner Innis; 9. From the 1930s to the 2020s: what ice cube's song 'Endangered Species' meant for four generations of black males Robert Pervine, Kevin Brown, Charles Westerhaus, and Kynton Grays; 10. The master's tools will not dismantle the master's house: hip hop, young M.A., and gender norms Zoe Smith-Holladay and Catherine Smith; Part IV. Protests: 11. 'Black Rage' and the architecture of racial oppression Deborah Archer; 12. Abolition as reparations: 'This is America' and the anatomy of a modern protest anthem Brie McLemore and Margaret Eby; 13. The message: resisting cultures of poverty in urban America Etienne C. Toussaint; 14. 'Just To Get By': poverty, racism, and smoking through the lens of Talib Kweli and Nina Simone's music Ruqaiijah Yearby.
About the author
Gregory Parks, a trained psychologist and lawyer, is Associate Dean and Professor of Law at Wake Forest University School of Law. He has authored or edited eleven books including A Pledge with Purpose: Black Sororities and Fraternities and the Fight for Equality (New York University Press, 2020).Frank Rudy Cooper is William S. Boyd Professor and Director, Program on Race, Gender & Policing, UNLV Boyd School of Law. He is an expert in the intersectionality of identities and policing. His extensive publications include Masculinities and the Law: A Multidimensional Approach (New York University Press 2012).
Summary
As Public Enemy's lead vocalist, Chuck D, once noted, 'Rap is the CNN of young black America'. Accordingly, Fight the Power brings together leading legal scholars to make sense of some of our nation's most pressing law and policy issues through the lens of popular and important rap songs.
Foreword
Fight the Power considers timely social justice issues for Black people in America through the lens hip-hop lyrics.
Additional text
'The legal issues raised by this book are crucial for law students to understand. From police racism to mass incarceration to gender norms to the Black Lives Matter movement, these are topics lawyers need to understand. The fact that the analyses emerge from popular hip-hop songs makes them all the more enjoyable to read.' Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Dean, Boston University School of Law
