Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color

I am very pleased to have this book in my possession. This is an important work and an important movement. It was in perfect condition and delivered promptly.

It’s about time a book written with the voice of a strong, female of color was written on this topic. Anyone, of any race, who has lived in the inner city and/or has friends of color knows this is not a new topic. It’s just a problem that has grown so large that the closet it’s been hidden in can’t hold the secret any longer. All woman, around the world, need to fight a constant battle to be heard and taken seriously but, for women of color it’s an even larger hurdle that can mean the difference between freedom and inprisonment or life and death. Add to being a female of color, being gay or trans and it multiplies the risk of danger every time you walk out that door so much more it’s insane.Every woman of every race, or every sexual orientation, of every nationality who cares about her sisters of color needs to reat this book. Every man who cares about the dignity and rights of women of color needs to read this book.This is a well written and thourghly researched book. You don’t need to be a woman, be of color, be part of the LGBTQ community, or anything else to read this book. You just need to be a human who cares about the rights of other humans regardless of their sex or lifestyle or color and want to know what is happening to fellow citizens in the United States of America; a Nation that supposedly has freedom and equality for all.

This was a comprehensive read and really informative. It is a must read.

Loved it, very interesting and important read for all Americans and whomever is interested in humanity

Andrea Ritchie widens the spotlight on a serious problem that has escaped its share of attention. She sites dozens of incidents when law enforcement unnecessarily resorts to violence when there is no justification for it. She exposes how law enforcement is used as a one-size-fits-all approach to address too many of our social illnesses. She describes how ill equipped police are trained to respond to many problems that do not require a police response and would be better handled by unarmed trained professionals. It is an enormous problem that our attention has been diverted from, It is concealed in the shadows of the light that focuses too narrowly on the racialized and prejudicial perceptions that familiarly plague Black and Latino men. If you agree that is a problem, read what Ms. Ritchie says happens to women of color!

Short version:”Wow. Read this book.” (stolen from Victoria Law)Longer version:Andrea Ritchie has been involved in litigating police misconduct cases on behalf of Black, Latinix, Indigenous, and LGBTQ women for decades, and has been a leading voice in several grass roots campaigns to elevate the violence by police against these women. Now she has written a book examining this issue from a broader historical perspective, placing it firmly within th Black Lives matter and BYP100 framework of police oppression, and provided statistics and case studies to support her analysis.Her basic point is that women are subject to violence a the hands of the state more often than are men (albeit, on average with less deadly results), but have been largely ignored and marginalized by the broader national movement against police violence. without understanding and recognizing their stories, you miss a huge aspect of the problem, Ritchie argues.I found this book absolutely fascinating–despite being aware of several of the examples she uses from my own work in Chicago, the case studies and statistics she discusses were eye opening–but at the same time absolutely terrifying. That this degree, and breadth of violence, has been ignored for so long says much about the patriarchal nature not just of society, but of the movements to force society to improve.My only criticism is that, like much of the police misconduct movement, Ritchie focuses almost exclusively on the part of the criminal legal system which impacts people prior to the point of conviction. While it was beyond the scope of this book, we need a similar book examining the different ways women behind bars are subjected to state violence.Finally, a note from me (NOT a point Ritchie makes): Fellow men (and white cis men in particular), this is not a fight we can sit out. We caused this problem, we need to be part of solving it. we have work to do. Ritchie has provided us with a road map. We need to follow it.

The stories of Black women and women of color in their encounters with police are too rarely told. This book starts to correct that oversight.

This helps to explain so much about what other people have to deal with daily in this society.