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Reviews "...When I teach in the special program for the NYPD officers, where the major theme is supervisory leadership in the multicultural city, this text appears to be custom written for our program...the experiences of an African American cop policing the mean streets of Flint, Michigan..."
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Dr. Maria (Maki) Haberfeld, This non-fiction heart wrenching, poignantly portrayed social statement and true story is of and by a real black cop and the people he serves during a short period in time in the ghetto of Flint, Michigan. When he cries, we cry. When he anguishes, we anguish. "An important book to be read by those promoting social justice..." says one critic. An imperative read for all those embarking on social work of any kind, for the entire white population of this country, and especially those who believe racism barely exists. A scream from the bottom, Brian Willingham ’s Soul of a Black Cop is a compelling and often unnerving documentary portrait of an urban war zone in which people endure lives of quiet despair and hopelessness, trying to survive in a mire of failing schools, bad housing, inadequate health care, joblessness, drugs, and discrimination. The perspective, that of a black cop working in his own community, is unique, poignant for its humanity and sensitivity, and honest in its depictions and reflections (“making sense of the senseless”).Few books have captured as candidly the sights, the sounds, and the rhythms, the smoldering tensions and tempers of the inner city, the day to day experiences of America ’s interior exiles.
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Leon F. Litwack, Author Brian Willingham ’s extraordinary day-by-day account of his life as a cop reminds us that behind at least one of those forbidding police badges is someone with compassion and a profound understanding of the human condition. Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to sit beside a policeman in his cruiser and follow him through the day? As we read Willingham ’s carefully crafted memoir, we are brought close to the scenes he describes: the beaten women, the desperate shoplifters, the crack victims, the raped children, the mentally disturbed. But there are moments which save him and us from despair: the smile of a child reminds him that "children are born happy. The world makes them sad." Willingham sees beyond the cruelties of everyday life to the deeper sickness of a society that doesn't realize its own addiction to war is reproduced in the violence on its city streets. He writes gracefully, with a generous spirit.
Howard
Zinn, Author I found [Soul of a Black Cop ],written by Mr. Brian Willingham, profoundly moving in its description, compassion, and deep-felt emotion. Mr. Willingham is a patrol officer in an urban police department ravaged by budget cuts in a city faced with economic decay and the social problems that come with it. The book is a series of vignettes that describe his encounters with his fellow citizens while on patrol. The vignettes presented come alive from the direct and stark descriptions offered by Mr. Willingham. They become meaningful when he connects the job tasks to his own experiences as an African-American police officer trying to find his place in American society as a veteran, black man, father, and in the end, a compassionate human being. Mr. Willingham could easily have included lurid details that would pique the interests of many. Rather, he gives the reader the human side of every encounter and a little bit of himself in the process. He gives humanity to people and situations when most of us would blame the victim or assure ourselves that this is not our world. Yet, as Mr. Willingham so aptly demonstrates, this is our world and we cannot sweep it under the rug. He correctly, but subtly, connects the human tragedies he sees every day to larger social issues like institutional racism and social class. At first glance the vignettes seem like a catalogue of experiences, but considered a little more deeply they paint a self-portrait of a man struggling with his place in the two worlds in which he lives. On the one hand he is one of the many people he encounters everyday, but on the other hand, he is the front line for people on the other side who count on him to keep these worlds apart. This [book] is profound in its depth of experience and vivid in its emotional undercurrent.
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Marc Zimmerman, Professor This book echoes and amplifies the messages found in Alex Kotlowitz ’s There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America ,and Geoffrey Canada ’s Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America. Through the authors ’ eyes, the reader leaves with two impressions. First, despite these hellish and painful life consequences brought on in part by personal decisions and structural inequities, African- American children, youth, adults, families and seniors dare hope and dream. Second, when increasing numbers of African-Americans cease to dream, or defer the dream, death and despair become certain and familiar companions. An important book, to be read by those promoting social justice, and by those who believe that all poor people deserve their plight. I will not soon forget the powerful words and stories.
I. M. Gant Soul of a Black Cop is a diary by an empathic, sympathetic and thoughtful police officer working in the poorest areas of Flint Michigan, one of America’s poorest cities, and made famous by Michael Moore. The author ’s portraits of the troubled people he tries to help, has to arrest, or must take to the morgue are unfailingly informative and moving.
Herbert J. Gans,
Author
Brian Willingham ’s Soul of a Black Cop poignantly
brings the spirit of the inner-city to his readers, who are taken to places where most are afraid to go and
feel things that many are afraid to feel. It is educational to both scholars and
the general public, who will forever see inner-city life and policing in a new light.
Kenneth J. Litwin Soul of a Black Cop is a stimulating piece of literature that captures the essence of life in an urban community. While reading [it], I found myself visualizing the stories told by Brian Willingham, and sympathizing with the realities in which many urban children live. I was frustrated by the fact that, although filmmakers fictionalize these circumstances for entertainment, many individuals live in these predicaments with their children who are expected to succeed while being reared in in these environments. I believe anyone who has an interest in urban children should read Soul of a Black Cop. I believe anyone who has an interest in impacting the social conditions in urban communities should read [it]. I believe university and college professors should require those with a major in education, social work, sociology, psychology, criminal justice, or other social services concentrations to read [it]. The riveting stories told in this book will certainly help them understand the realities their clients face. Brian Willingham should be highly commended for authoring this book.
Sylvester Jones Jr.
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