Telling real stories about justice and fairness is essential to creating a better and more just society for everyone. In "A City Divided," David Harris tells the story of an incident of police/citizen violence that shows us how things go wrong on the street, and how racial bias and fear poison our investigations and legal process. This book demands the attention of police, of government officials, and of every citizen who believes that justice is something our country can't do without.
Lynn Novick, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker, director of “College Behind Bars, co-director of “The Vietnam War” (with Ken Burns)
A City Divided helps us understand how race and fear have hurt the vital relationship between police and the communities they serve. This story of a violent clash between an African American high school student and three police officers makes a compelling case for policing that respects all people while reducing crime. David Harris lays out not just what’s wrong, but how to fix it.
Matthew Horace, CNN and WSJ contributor, 28-year law enforcement veteran, and author of “The Black and the Blue A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism and Injustice in America’s Law Enforcement”
A City Divided shows us what happens when police and those they serve lose sight of each other, and fear takes over. The compelling story at the center of the book helps us understand why fairness and justice must be the first considerations for those in law enforcement charged with serving our community. David Harris's book makes a valuable contribution to a timely debate on one of the most important issues facing policing and integral to promoting public trust and safety.
Miriam Aroni Krinsky, former prosecutor and Executive Director, Fair and Just Prosecution
In A City Divided, David Harris brings his hard-won expertise and wisdom to bear on the historically painful issue of the racial disparities in police use of force. The story of Jordan Miles’s arrest in Pittsburgh is a microcosm of our ongoing national dilemma of race and policing, and Harris tells it to great effect, especially the raw fear that civilians and police alike experience in their mutual encounters. Harris brilliantly weaves the specific and moving details of this case with the relevant law, psychology, and sociology that we see play out time and again. Most important, he identifies causes of the problem and potential solutions. If you want to understand the American dilemma of race and police use of force, read this book.
Jack Glaser, PhD, Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, author of Suspect Race: Causes and Consequences of Racial Profiling
David Harris’ A City Divided is an extraordinary triumph, and the kind of scholarly storytelling the nation needs if we are to comes to grips with the reality of race and public safety in the U.S. Weaving together the multiple perspectives of community, police, legal doctrine, and common sense decency, Harris paints a stunningly legible picture of how we get policing wrong, and how we might move towards getting it right.
Phillip Atiba Goff, Ph.D., Franklin A. Thomas Professor in Policing Equity, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, President, Center for Policing Equity
“David Harris tells the story of an incident of police/citizen violence that shows us how things go wrong on the street, and how racial bias and fear poison our investigations and legal process. This book demands the attention of police, of government officials, and of every citizen who believes that justice is something our country can’t do without.”
“This story of a violent clash between an African American high school student and three police officers makes a compelling case for policing that respects all people while reducing crime. David Harris lays out not just what’s wrong, but how to fix it.”
“Harris brilliantly weaves the specific and moving details of this case with the relevant law, psychology, and sociology that we see play out time and again.”