Angela J. Davis is a law professor at American
University who has written, edited and contributed to numerous books and
articles focused on the legal system, prosecutorial power and racial
disparities. Her latest effort, Policing
the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment, is a collection of
essays in which she attempts to point out among many things the perception of
undue focus on black men when it comes to policing, prosecution and
imprisonment in the United States.
Professor Davis brings to the topics an inherent bias
where she takes her pre-established beliefs and doesn’t attempt to prove those
beliefs by backing them up with facts, but rather merely spells out what she
believes to be the case. That loses her big points, because in some instances
where actual disparities may exist, emphasis on MAY exist, she can’t overcome
her own built in bias to make a proper case.
Much of what she writes about here comes off as simply
checking the box to remain inside the pre-existing parameters of racial
identity politics. Professor Davis is certainly welcome to have and state her own
set of perceptions or feelings; the first amendment of the Constitution
guarantees her that right, but she can’t have her own set of facts.
Often, the hard and fast facts simply don’t support
some of the assertions Davis makes in the book. These aren’t mysterious or
locked away numbers that counter her take on things; they an easy Google search
away and come from places like the Washington Post and New York Times, so any
bias complaints about sources go out the window.
