“Never be content to sit back and watch as others rights are trampled upon. Your rights could be next.” -DaShanne Stokes

Matt Taibbi, a notable journalist for Rolling Stone Magazine and NYT bestselling author, specializes in reportage of economic, political and social injustice. “ I Can’t Breathe: A Killing On Bay Street” recounts the life and death of Eric Garner (1970-2014) who died on Staten Island, NYC after he was placed in a police choke-hold, and left unconscious on the public sidewalk without aid (CPR) until the arrival of emergency services. This event was captured on video; fueling public outrage, protests and demonstrations by thousands of people and demands for justice.

Eric Garner was a devoted family man-- husband, father and grandfather. Garner was proud of his oldest son, Eric Jr. who had been chosen to receive a college athletic scholarship. He provided for his family’s support selling packs and single “loosie” cigarettes, the high rates of NYC taxation made business sustainable. However, the risk had increased significantly: under constant police surveillance, Garner had been harassed and arrested endlessly, illegally violated and stripped searched on the street by police officers, he had also been robbed several times. The options for legitimate job placement for an ex-con were strictly limited, and his despair was understandable. Still, he did what he could to maintain respectability and social order, and made the ultimate sacrifice after breaking-up a fight in a public park.
The vast government bureaucracy of the 120th Precinct Staten Island Tomkinsville Park Anti-Crime Unit would prove nearly impossible to hold accountable for the murder of Eric Garner: “The city of New York went to extraordinary lengths to disappear (or flush) Eric Garners death down the institutional memory manhole, into the vast sewer of blood and unpunished murder that raged under its sidewalks.”
A half of century has passed since The Civil Rights Act (1964). Sociologist George Kelling PhD supported idealistic anti-crime measures as ““Broken Windows” and “Stop and Frisk” associated with racial profiling-- particularly in selected neighborhoods with increased elements of (perceived) criminal activity. “Zero Tolerance” policies also gave the police more authority and control to be tough on crime based on their own observations: The “willful disruption of government process” is the “wild card” that allows police to detain and question anyone whether or not they have done anything suspicious or wrong.

Though 72% of NYC illicit drug users were white, 80%-90% of all inmates incarcerated for drug offences were black or Hispanic. Garner, was a very large man, with a prison record related to prior drug convictions, may have been too visible in a (white) area of high-end condominium complexes. Taibbi did not want to define Eric Garner as a political figure, his humanity and family life were portrayed exceptionally well. The trial involving Garner's death launched the career of the prosecuting attorney that failed to win justice or a conviction of the policeman that killed him. The election of Donald J. Trump and his appointment of Jeff Sessions as attorney general—Sessions promptly proposed restrictions and limitations of investigations by federal government authorities of corrupt police departments-- dismantling decades of hard work previously accomplished for civil rights.
**With thanks and appreciation to Random House Books via NetGalley for the DDC for the purpose of review.

I was expecting a straightforward investigative piece on the Eric Garner case. In a way, that is what this book was, but it was also so much more. Taibbi delves deep into Garner himself and the policing practices that lead to his tragic death. He does this while indicting specific cops and officials, without taking a crack at all cops. Instead he pushes the idea that the system causes cops to behave in such a way that hurts certain (usually minority) communities. This is an important distinction to make. If this book doesn't make you frustrated at the way things work, you clearly weren't reading it right.

In today's world, reading stories like these make my heart ache. I remember seeing a lot of these in the news, and I wish that we could do something more for these people. The stories were thought-provoking and heartbreaking all at the same time.

The detailed nature of this book about the life and death of Eric Garner allows us to see, in horrible living color, exactly where we’re at. Eric Garner died July 17, 2014 in Staten Island, victimized on this day by police who put him in a chokehold and ignored his pleas that he could not breathe. What Taibbi does exceptionally well in this difficult book is allow us to see Eric Garner for the man he was—a well-liked and respected member of his community.

The entire story told here is a long and winding one, going back to pick up relevant cases along the way, including that of Carnell Russ of Alabama, whose death in 1971 by pistol shot at close range in a police station was challenged in court a number of times until finally we learn a monetary award was never paid to Carnell’s widow. Forty-five years later the original prosecutor in the Eric Garner trial, Dan Donovan, was elected to Congress, proud of his role in protecting the white people, in his eyes, unjustly under attack for upholding the law.

So carefully has Taibbi prepared his case in the writing of this book that when we read the words “disrespect for the law, contempt for society, a refusal to abide by the responsibilities of a civilized people,” we briefly imagine the words were chosen to describe the men and women of the NYC police force who refused to give credence to citizen complaints about uncalled for police harassment and reckless endangerment. But no, this language was used by Joseph Concannon, retired NYPD captain and staunch defender of whatever the police did in the course of their duties, illegal or not.

City politicians elected before, during, and after the prosecution of the Eric Garner case come off looking weak and ineffectual at best, deliberately obfuscating at worst. The case of the killing of Eric Garner came amidst a rash of police killings around the country that were well publicized, mostly due to actual video of the crimes. It is absolutely horrifying to imagine for a moment how these cases would have been treated in the absence of a video record. Even in these cases, obstruction into the behaviors of repeat offender police is rampant, common, and from the point of view of the citizenry, indefensible.

The black lives examined in this work are extremely stressful. Putting ourselves in their place, we might even say these lives and conditions of life are hopeless. But Eric Garner did not see things that way, and certainly on the day he died, he was the happiest he’d been in a very long time, his son having just been awarded a sports scholarship for advanced education. Taibbi is able to make us feel the heat that day in July, and the satisfaction the big man would have felt. We’re plenty pleased, too.

I have wondered, in thinking of Taibbi’s past work, what it would be like to to be on the other side of one of his scathing investigations. Now we know, because he co-authored a book during his expat days in Moscow, in which he targeted everyone in the outsized-profits-fueled economy, from foreigners gaming the system to Russian oligarchs and their deadly, beautiful hookers. Adolescent, ridiculous, and forgettable, excerpts I read from that earlier work should have meant a far longer, more circuitous path to legitimate journalism. The argument in the link above charges Taibbi with sexism and misogyny, a shadow of which, it could be argued, appeared in his description here of Assistant DA Anne Grady.

It is my contention that Taibbi’s work uncovering the hows and whys of the life surrounding Eric Garner is a far weightier thing on the scales of right and wrong-doing than that earlier work. It is important we all scour our own past for sexism—doling it out or letting it pass—before nailing the coffin shut on the talent and real heart shown here. With this book, Taibbi blows past any criticisms that could be leveled for those earlier errors in judgment and gives us something terribly important: a honest, raw look at where we stand in our race relations right now. Perhaps only bad boys could understand, empathize with, and give us the nuance of all the imperfect characters Taibbi details for us here, and get to the depth in this story that explains Eric Garner’s life and untimely death.

Several of the Irish-sounding names in this history are exactly those of loved ones within my own family, though I don’t believe I am related to any of them. My grandfather was a Boston cop. What I take from this is that whatever place these white policemen go to in their heads when it comes to fairness and justice, it is not inevitable, and it doesn’t come from the color of their skin. I recall the recently-discovered 19th-C diary of African American boy convict Austin Reed,
“Yes, me brave Irish boys, me loves you till the day that I am laid cold under the sod, and I would let the last drop of this dark blood run and drain from these black veins of mine to rescue you from the hands of a full blooded Yankee…Reader, if you are on the right side of an Irishman, you have the best friend in the world.”
A lot has happened from then to now, but nothing that can’t be undone.

Eric Garner. I Can't Breathe.

This is a compelling read that shows us the life of this complicated man. A man who broke the law. A man who would do anything for his family. A man who died at the hands of a policeman. The number of complaints against this policeman that were never acted up.

It's also a history of Stop and Frisk and the evolution of the Broken Window Policy and how it was wrongly used by police departments. And how racist both of these became. Politicians that we think of being progressive who used these tactics in primarily black sections of cities.

Eye Opening and Heart Breaking.

This is a NON-fiction accounting of the death of Eric Garner in 2014, at the hands of Officer Daniel Pantaleo of the NYPD, Staten Island. It is an important story to get out to the public, to shed light on Police brutality that, in one fashion or another, lead to this man's death.

The book contains very strong character development, background history, very detailed history of the way police went about doing their job. The book describes the different theories, tactics, beliefs and policies that law enforcement used through the many decades, from the 1960's to present. The intent of the men who created these theories was to help create order out of chaos, to deter crime. How those theories have been applied and abused is another disturbing story. The author does a great job in his research of this topic.

But, overall, this book is only about the “bad” people... the criminals and the “bad” cops.
[It wasn't the point of the book to tell any POSITIVE aspect, to tell any POSITIVE results or about the many “good” cops].
The author wrote this book the way HE wanted it told, the easy way, the Liberal way, while ignoring the Conservative view that career criminals should not resist arrest. The conservative belief that police should strive to create order out of chaos.

I honestly had not heard of this man's story prior to reading the book. Honestly. After reading the book, I did my own research.
{Because I felt the book portrayed a somewhat biased, liberal view, and I wanted MY OWN research to tell me what the author didn't}
I watched MANY videos, including the phone video by Ramsey Orta. I read many online articles concerning Eric Garner. {I also read disturbing articles about this author while doing my research}

Eric Garner died in Staten Island, July 2014 after Officer Daniel Panteleo put him in a “choke hold” for 19-20 seconds while attempting to arrest him. Eric Garner WAS a career criminal from an early age, a drug dealer, drug addict, and at the time of his death, selling untaxed cigarettes – which is illegal. Eric Garner had 30 arrests (assault, resisting arrest, grand larceny, drug sale) on his record and had served jail/prison time several times [ according to the book]. Eric Garner WAS resisting arrest. [the part the mainstream media doesn't want to tell].
A lot of things obviously went wrong, were DONE wrong, and this man died as a result. Could things have been done different and prevented his death? Sure. The police were obviously harassing a known criminal, looking for what they thought would be an easy arrest. BUT... just as important > Eric Garner could have NOT resisted arrest.

The case DID go to trial. The family WAS awarded $5.9 Million. The police officer was NOT indicted.
Although the Coroner ruled Garner's death a Homicide and that the Officer's ACTION (placing him in a choke hold) along with Garner's medical history of cardiac problems, asthma, and obesity were contributing factors in his death.... it further explains that a Coroner's legal definition of ACTION does NOT equal INTENT. {the officer's ACTION was to physically restrain a known criminal, with a history of resisting, in order to arrest him. His INTENT was NOT to kill Garner}. The Coroner found NO damage to Garner's windpipe or neck bones.
Justice was not served. While I 100% believe the Officer SHOULD have been indicted, on a lesser charge of Involuntary Manslaughter, he should have served time in prison AND lost his police license forever due to his many previous charges of excessive force.
I strongly doubt that the family of Eric Garner would have accepted ONLY THIS result with NO $5.9 Million. Justice does NOT equal money, and unfortunately now days, all people want is money.

My rating is for the book – despite my newly discovered, quite disturbing information concerning the author.
During my own research of Eric Garner, I also stumbled across very disturbing articles about this author. Ill let you form your own opinion of the author whom many have called a Misogynist and a Serial Rapist,

It's about the terrible murder of Eric Garner, but also so much more. Diving back in time to other police brutality cases, Taibbi shows that time is a flat circle when it comes to law enforcement and society at large's reprehensible treatment of black men. Garner is neither put on a pedestal or demonized; he was just a (flawed) man trying to support himself and his family, while also being targeted by the police and an unjust system,

I Can't Breathe proved to be a very difficult read. Garner's death is certainly not the only important one, but it did help create talk and start a movement. It's deeply disturbing to hear how some of these situations went down and the aftermath. Selling loose cigarettes/packs for a cheaper amount (while considered 'illegal') doesn't seem to warrant the outrageous bail amounts or jail time. I feel a lot of despair for our country and our legal system after reading this book. I'm embarrassed to be part of the (white) human race sometimes. I fear for this presidency, and the hate it has brought already and the fear. This book was very real written and researched. I found myself noting many lines in my kindle and sharing them. This book gave a lot of insight and it will continue to affect me. Of course my feelings do not even compare to those of the ones affected and living this nightmare...we can do better than this America. We need to do better than this.

A humanizing, gripping, and distressing exploration into the life and circumstances of Eric Garner, the NYPD, and the system which saw his death and did nothing about it.

This is not the foul-mouthed Taibbi making political snark as seen in <i>Rolling Stone</i>; he has done voluminous research and thorough interviews with the Garner family, those who knew him on the streets of Staten Island, and others involved in various legal matters surrounding the case.

The book begins as a biography of Garner, portrayed sympathetically yet realistically: a guy with a good heart, devoted to his family, but in difficult circumstances and who made his living on the wrong side of the law. The author will go on to explain why Staten Island is divided as it is, the history of Broken Windows policing, and other matters of racial dynamics as the narrative arrives at the point of that fateful 2014 encounter in the park. The author then traces the aftereffects: the grand jury hearings, the cases to unseal the grand jury hearings, the politics of the case, and especially how the NYPD system closed in to defend its own, wait out any cases against it, disenfranchises those who would accuse it of impropriety, protect and not discipline any of its officers, and just pay out money to make it all go away.

Ultimately, however, Taibbi blames the officers less than the citizenry who wish to maintain the segregated status quo and expect those officers to stay "tough on crime" in predominantly minority communities, and how (if understood in the best case scenario) a naive philosophy like Broken Windows ends up becoming the new justification to profile certain minority groups in ways most of the rest of us would never tolerate.

A powerful book, one which will most likely not be read by the ones who really need to consider what it has to say.

In "I Can't Breathe", Matt Taibbi provides in-depth insight into the life and death of Eric Garner, as well as the politics, policies and social environment that precipitated his tragic end; an event for which his family is still seeking justice. It's easy for Garner's story to get lost in the shuffle of, seemingly, daily tragedies and the 24/7 news cycle. This book takes the reader back and fleshes out a bigger story, one that gives human dignity to Garner's life and his place in history, even while acknowledging his flaws.

Matt Taibbi has always struck me as someone I would probably not be able to stand in person. He always came across arrogant and self-absorbed, a real “dudebro” type. His writing has always been hit or miss for me, usually a miss when he injects much himself into the story he’s writing. I requested an advanced copy of this book because of the subject matter without paying attention to who wrote it at the time. The Eric Garner killing and the subsequent “investigation” (I use the word loosely) into it are important to the current state of our country and are indicative of the ongoing racial problems and police brutality we deal with on a daily basis. That said, I thought I could work around Taibbi’s presence and dig into the book. Over the last couple of days, news has surface about Tiabbi’s personal behavior and his own confessions and admissions of misogyny, sexual harassment, and his dismissal, acceptance, and encourage of rape. He and his co-author admit to such in their book, The Exile, about their time in Russia. <a href=https://www.reddit.com/r/Feminism/comments/4s1tdh/matt_taibbi_and_mark_ames_are_serial_rapists/>Details can be found here.</a> Please be warned that the language at the link can be extremely triggering.

So I’m left torn here. I read this book long before I was aware of the attitudes and behavior of Taibbi. The book was well-written and informative. It covers important information on the case, the entire culture surrounding the NYPD, and much more. I can’t, however, write a review praising a book and encouraging anyone to support an author that not only encourages the behavior he has, but brags about his own involvement in sexual harassment and assault. I’m sure there are or will be many other books written about Garner and the hundreds of others killed by police throughout the country. Buy literally anyone else’s. I’m removing the original star rating on this book and will leave it unrated here on Goodreads. I would hope that his publisher, agent, and employer would reconsider their relationship with someone who so gleefully exhibits the horrific behavior he's admitted to partaking in.

I Can't Breathe is an engaging read that explores the life and death of Eric Garner, the broken windows theory of policing and all the breakdowns in reforms that has lead to the current criminal justice problems. In his usual way, Taibbi has managed to dissect this tale from every possible angle and from all possible perspectives. It's easy to look at Garner as a law breaker or someone who "had it coming' but Taibbi does a great job of showing the man in all his flaws. If, after ready this, you still believe he had it coming then you are part of the problem.
I Can't Breathe perfectly illustrates our need to look at criminals as people and not just say that a man selling loose cigarettes deserved a death sentence.

It's obvious a great deal of research went into this book and I wish I could say I enjoyed reading it; but it's so one-sided against law enforcement that it's just hard to appreciate it.

Taibbi paints the stories of these men in such a way as to feel connected to them in a very personal way. We hear their names on TV and endless discussions on the news but this book humanizes and opens the discussion of police actions and those people and families that they affect. I liked this book very much.

Taibbi's book I Can't Breathe explains the evolution of discrimination justified by being 'tough on crime' and how it led to the death of Eric Garner, which fueled the Black Lives Matter movement.

Random House sent me an email offering pre-approval to read I Can't Breathe by Matt Taibbi. I downloaded the book to check it out, and realized it was the perfect book to build upon other recent reads about justice and race, including Just Mercy by Bryon Stevenson, Detroit: 1967, Reading with Patrick by Michelle Kuo, and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

I had acquired a basic understanding that the justice system was inherently racist. Taibbi's thorough consideration of the death of Eric Garner explained the political and social pressures that changed police culture after overt institutional racism was pushed underground.

Taibbi presents a balanced portrait of a beloved family man who was deeply flawed, as we all are, but whom Taibbi came to truly like. Readers will connect to Eric, a bigger than life, eccentric character. Unemployable because of a prior conviction, Eric supports his family by creating a business selling 'loosies', black market cigarettes smuggled in from states with lower cigarette taxes and sold individually. Eric is jailed and fined over and over.

When Americans became worried about crime during the tumultuous 1970s politicians began offering promises to be 'tough on crime.' White Americans were afraid of urban African Americans.

In the 1990s, New York City led the way by pushing for increased arrests. Cops were to stop and frisk first to see if they could turn up anything to justify an arrest! People were targeted by color, attire, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, reaching for their pocket--but the real motivation was racism. Blacks and Hispanics in high-crime neighborhoods were targeted.

Cops publicly humiliated their victims by public cavity searches and the use of unnecessary brute force was common. The system protected the cops.

Garner stood out. He was big, he wore clothes that were literally falling apart, and he stood in the same place day after day. He had asthma. He had been looking poorly and was tired. He was robbed and beaten up, financially always struggling to support his family.

Garner was an easy catch for a cop who needed to meet his quota. He was stopped and searched hundreds of times and when cops discovered a few packs of cigarettes he would be arrested and his money confiscated.

Garner's son had just earned a scholarship to college, and Garner was the father of a new baby when he broke up a street fight. Cops who had been watching the fight arrested Garner even though he had not sold a cigarette all morning. Ramsey Orta saw the arrest and filmed it with his cellphone. When Garner countered that he had not done anything wrong and was not going to be arrested that day, four officers went after Garner and pushed him to the ground.

"I can't breathe," he said over and over. And then he stopped breathing and the cops did nothing.

Taibbi put Garner's death in perspective of how policing changed: instituting 'reasonable' suspicion as a validating a stop and frisk; the adoption of "Broken Windows" and the emphasis on policing as keeping 'order', creating a 'goal setting' culture; zero-tolerance policing and 'predictive policing'.

Groups rose up to challenge the discriminatory methods but had little success. Eric's daughter Erica Garner worked for justice for her father. Bureaucracy protected the cops and left the families of victims without justice. Orta's cell phone video made him a police target. Politicians got involved for personal attention. Protest groups arose demanding justice, including Black Lives Matter.

I am disgusted by how often I hear people counter Black Lives Matter with "all lives matter." That is true, but not all 'lives' are targeted because of color or where they live.

A few years back I visited a college friend living in Detroit. Driving home I was lost and tense. When I got to an overpass with no cars I sped up a bit and was pulled over by a cop.

The cop said, "don't say anything," and took my driver's license. He came back and said, "I will write this up so you don't have it on your record, but you will pay a fine." I wondered then what it was that caused him to do this? My clean driving record? And today I wonder, if I were a person of color, would he have searched my car and person looking for evidence to arrest me?

I have never felt so protected and cushioned by the accident of my color as I have after reading I Can't Breathe.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

This powerful journalistic work of the progression of policing in neighborhoods with a vulnerable population was eye opening. It covers the life and death of Eric Garner, a man that made mistakes out of his desperation to provide for his family, and ultimately became a target of an overly agressive police policy.
Hopefully, even with all the current distractions this will help reignite everyone for a more fair society in the age of mass incarceration.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an arc available through netgalley and thank you to Matt Taibbi for making this more than just an article.

This book dives deep into the life and death of Eric Garner. It also discusses police brutality, systematic racism and the post death legal issues Eric Garner's family had to endure to attempt to get justice. This book is devastating and enraging. There is so much wrong with our "justice" system and we need honest people instead of people who refuse to admit that "their side" never does anything wrong. The only thing I didn't like about this book is the language Taibbi would use sometimes to describe people or events. It was a little biased or inflammatory. But I think everyone should read this book.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. I love Matt Taibbi, so admit to a preconceived bias toward this book. And I thought I was familiar with the sad story of Freddie Gray, the African-American man shot as he was selling "loosies" (single cigarettes) in New York. But I realize I knew SO LITTLE of the real story. For starters, Freddie was not a large, shambling doofus as he was often portrayed. He was incredibly intelligent, and a hard worker.

And I have read some books about the serious issues in law enforcement in the U.S., particularly as pertains to African-Amercians. But I had not read anything that was so well written in terms that are easily understandable. It's just a huge accomplishment the way Mr Taibbi has told Freddie's story along with informing the reader about the realities of the justice system -- which, for too many Americans, particularly those of color, is better referred to as the "justice" system. Shocking, sad, needs to be widely read. Five gigantic stars.

I received a free ARC from Net Galley in exchange for an impartial review.

So I finished I Can't Breathe a few days ago but found that I just couldn't write a review. I needed time to ponder, to examine my own tightly-held views, and to grieve. In my lily white world there are no Eric Garners, no police/legal extremism, no gut-wrenching fear of authorities. As the daughter and granddaughter of policemen, I defaulted to the idea that the men and women dressed in police uniforms were the quiet heroes of our society, ready to give their lives but more often serving as a calming presence in the face of unexpected chaos.

Matt Taibbi investigates the death of Eric Garner at the hands of NYC police officers by examining the rationale for big city policies like "Stop and Frisk" and "Broken Windows." For most of America, these policies seem logical. Who could possibly deride the idea of police stopping people who are acting inappropriately or the concept that appearances (broken windows) encourage further disintegration of physical assets? And that living surrounded by decayed physical assets can lead to the withdrawal of social personal responsibility? Tom Selleck's Blue Bloods Police Commissioner presents these policies as valid law enforcement techniques. Taibbi, however, clearly proves the inequities of the enforcement of these policies and how enforcement statistics can easily become more important than the realities of people's daily lives. Taibbi's analysis shows that, under police guidelines, being a person of color is enough of a reason for police to stop and not only frisk but also publicly strip search an individual. Inevitably, some individuals resist and the legal system is then overrun by cases where individuals, mostly black, are charged with resisting arrest or assault of a police officer. Fines and jail time ensue but the original cause for police action is more racial harassment than legal investigation.

The video of Eric Garner's death made the national news for weeks - an obese black man restrained by white police officers and his last gasping words, "I Can't Breathe." His death-on-video competed with other news stories and videos of unarmed black men killed by police officers and neighborhood watchmen. Garner certainly had a long history of arrests and he did make a living selling illegal non-taxed cigarettes, but one must question the validity of many arrests based on the "Stop and Frisk" policy. Taibbi never shies away from Garner's illegal behaviors but he does manage to present Garner as a flawed, family man with limited skills and options but a kind heart and gentle nature. Yes, Garner's health had been compromised by a lifetime of poor habits but many of those habits were founded in self-sacrifice related to his desire to provide for his children. The real power of Taibbi's work, however, is how he manages to honestly highlight Garner's flaws while never sliding into the easy (and rather popular) premise that somehow Garner was responsible for his own death. He forces readers (okay, I mean me) to examine their own innate prejudices that have been honed through a lifetime of privilege. Furthermore, Taibbi places the death of Eric Garner on the American cultural timeline - from the 60s civil rights movement through the election of Donald Trump. Positive long-overdue societal actions are unconsciously viewed as threatening cultural shifts; fear results in protectionism. At the core, however, are the racist attitudes of privilege hidden behind polite smiles and the simplistic belief held by many that skin color no longer limits anyone who really wants to succeed.

Law enforcement with its policies and cover-up of misdeeds; the tangled legal system that treats people like cogs in a machine; and the omnipresent political wannabes do not represent the best of America But, knowledge of systemic inequity is just the first step. Accepting our shared responsibility and demanding action of others and more importantly of ourselves must be our new normal.

At the beginning of this review I wrote that I needed time to ponder and to grieve. I would like to think that the death of Eric Garner was an aberration; I know it was not.

I think I was about the only person on earth who had never heard about Eric Garner and his death at the hands of Staten Island police, so this book was more than eye-opening. When author Taibbi opened with a swipe at Rudy Giuliani, I thought, "Oh no, here we go--this might be just political venting," but it absolutely wasn't.

Taibbi builds a solid case for how the "Broken Windows" philosophy (most famously described by Malcolm Gladwell) of cracking down on the little things to prevent bigger crimes has led to major and continual violations by police of people's constitutional rights. Not that anyone needed a policy to hide behind, judging by the many cases Taibbi recounts of ordinary (non-white) people suffering ridiculous persecution, handling, and trumped-up charges over decades, all over the country.

Yes, corrupt policemen and politicians come out looking awful in this book, and it's not like their victims are innocent do-gooders (in most cases), but Taibbi makes us look hard at the race ideas we ordinary citizens perpetuate. And our laws have to be made to protect the unpowerful and unpopular or there isn't much point to them. Rich, educated, privileged people don't take as many knocks to begin with, and when they do get themselves in trouble with the law, they never get treated as badly.

Of course there are good policemen--this book is not a knock against them. But there are bad policies, which encourage some bad behavior, especially in those who might already lean that direction.

My review makes it sound like the book comes at the Eric Garner case from the 10,000-foot level, but that isn't so at all. One of the strengths of the book is the personal testimony and different perspectives it takes from those involved who would talk to Taibbi. He manages to make Eric Garner a person, not just another sorry case or statistic.

Very worth the read.