America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s

In the second half of America on Fire, Hinton focuses on making The Connections Between Past and Present, illustrating how the unaddressed problems of the “crucible period” continued on into later decades. She also makes a point of showing how these problems do not only affect Black Americans, but white Americans as well. By starting off with the gruesome assault on three innocent white people at the hands of Black rebels motivated by anti-white outrage, she shows how white people also become the indirect victims of systemic racism. While Hinton does not downplay or excuse the violence of those who murdered Jeffrey Kulp, she also places the blame for his death on the same system that led to the equally horrific murders of Randy Heath, Arthur McDuffie, Rodney King, and so many other Black Americans.

However, the violence that took Jeffrey Kulp’s life was presented to the public as illegitimate and senseless, whereas the violence of police officers who routinely murdered and traumatized innocent Black people was framed as legitimate and justified. As Hinton puts it, “one killing [McDuffie] was sanctioned by the state, the other [Kulp] was committed by an oppressed community; both were products, in different ways, of a criminal justice system fundamentally opposed to fairness and justice for Black Americans” (228). The underlying causes of the Miami uprising of 1980—mass incarceration, underemployment, a racist immigration system, and a two-tiered justice system that persecuted relatively minor Black crimes while letting murderous police officers go free—were not well-known to the general public, making it seem as though the violence “appeared out of nowhere” (203).

The murder of Rodney King, which was caught on video and became the first of many “viral” videos of police brutality, came as a shock to people who had previously been unaware of the violence Black Americans faced from law enforcement. The subsequent acquittal of King’s murderers revealed to many Americans just how deep the racist double standard ran in the justice system, something that Black Americans had known for decades. Those who participated in the violence in Miami saw themselves as acting in self-defense against a system that made all of them “vulnerable if not in danger” (210).

This system was, as always, defended and reinforced by the police. In Miami and many other places around the country, law enforcement began to withdraw from Black neighborhoods, a seemingly positive change that did somewhat help to cool down The Cycle of Repression and Violence, at least for a time. However, Hinton points out that this withdrawal also had a negative side effect, as it further alienated police officers from the people they were meant to protect, making “state-sanctioned violence more likely,” since “it’s always easier to shoot people you don’t know” (216).

In police encounters, the responsibility was placed on Black people not to do anything to cause the police to attack them. The advice to “refrain from making ‘sudden moves,’” “please avoid arguments,” and “answer precisely and only what you are asked” (227) will sound familiar to many Black people, especially men, to this day. In the 1980s as now, Black people are expected to prevent themselves from being attacked and blamed when they are killed, rather than expecting the police to control their own violent behavior. It became generally accepted that “It was up to Black residents themselves to ensure their safety and livelihood through compliance” (238).

The Role of Police in Enforcing Systemic Racism takes on an even more overt form in the case of the Black gangs in Los Angeles. The racist culture of the LAPD at the time of Rodney King’s murder was pervasive. A 1982 Los Angeles Times article quoted police chief Darryl Gates as saying that choke holds have a different effect on Black people than they do on “normal people” (239). Officers brazenly dehumanized Black people by labeling “Black on Black” homicide cases as “‘NHI,’ for ‘no human involved’” (239). Hinton paints the LAPD’s behavior as that of just another violent gang, albeit one sanctioned by the state, with officers committing violent raids and even “tagg[ing] the community with their own graffiti. ‘LAPD Rules,’ they wrote, threatening: ‘Rollin’ 30s Die’” (239).

In the incidents previously discussed in this book, the police stepped in to quell Black rebellion against an unjust system. However, in the case of LAPD, the police actively fought against efforts by Black gang members to achieve peace and support their communities. In the minds of many officers, it was better when Black people were fighting amongst each other, because it meant their anger and violence were turned toward other Black people and not toward the police. “Gang expert” Sergeant Wes McBride admitted that he distrusted the motives of the gang members who were trying to make peace: “Is it so they can better fight with us, so they can better deal dope or so they can better […] their neighborhoods? That would be the last item I would choose because gang members have a thug mentality” (249).

McBride’s comment reveals again the dehumanizing racist attitude of the LAPD toward Black people, viewing them not as complex people capable of change, but as irredeemable “thugs” with unknowable motivations. While the gang members drafted peace treaties and presented a well-thought-out proposal for improving their communities, the police became the “thugs,” entering into Black neighborhoods and deliberately trying to stir up conflict between the gangs. In their desperation to preserve the racist status quo, the police ironically decided they would have to “create [crime]” (251) and disrupt the peace—the exact opposite of what police officers are ostensibly supposed to do.