Hands Up, Dont Shoot, Jennifer E. Cobbina
Hands Up, Dont Shoot, Jennifer E. Cobbina
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Hands Up, Don't Shoot
Why the Protests in Ferguson and Baltimore Matter, and How They Changed America

Author: Jennifer E. Cobbina

Narrator: Joniece Abbott-Pratt

Unabridged: 8 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/10/2020


Synopsis

Understanding the explosive protests over police killings and the legacy of racism

Following the high-profile deaths of eighteen-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and twenty-five-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, both cities erupted in protest over the unjustified homicides of unarmed black males at the hands of police officers. These local tragedies—and the protests surrounding them—assumed national significance, igniting fierce debate about the fairness and efficacy of the American criminal justice system.

In Hands Up, Don't Shoot, Jennifer Cobbina draws on in-depth interviews with nearly two hundred residents of Ferguson and Baltimore, conducted within two months of the deaths of Brown and Gray. She examines how protestors in both cities understood their experiences with the police, how those experiences influenced their perceptions of policing, what galvanized Black Lives Matter as a social movement, and how policing tactics during demonstrations influenced subsequent mobilization decisions among protesters. Ultimately, she humanizes people's deep and abiding anger, underscoring how a movement emerged to denounce both racial biases by police and the broader economic and social system that has stacked the deck against young black civilians.

About Jennifer E. Cobbina

Jennifer E. Cobbina is associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Maxine on November 01, 2019

In her book, Hands Up Don't Shoot, author Jennifer E. Cobbina, gives a well-researched look at the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Freddie Gray in Baltimore at the hands of the police and how they led to widespread protests and the formation of the Black Lives Matter movement. She looks at t......more

Goodreads review by Mariah on October 07, 2019

Police brutality against communities of color is a pattern that we have become far too familiar with as a society. It shouldn't be commonplace for entire communities to have to deal with even a fraction of what communities across america deal with every day. This book should be depressing. We can do......more

Goodreads review by Debra on March 01, 2020

Interviews and statistics beyond the headlines.......more

Goodreads review by Ryan on August 24, 2020

Overall a thought provoking read. However, the book does not accomplish what the title says it will. There is minimal discussion about how the protest in Ferguson and Baltimore changed America. Additionally it is noted that not much has even changed in Baltimore. As this was presented as an academic......more

Goodreads review by Karen on February 19, 2025

Cobbina does an amazing job as she deep dives into the intense protests that erupted after the deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray. Cobbina puts on her journalist hat and interviews nearly two hundred residents of both Ferguson and Baltimore, capturing their raw and unfiltered emotions about ra......more