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How policing has fundamentally shaped the Latinx experience.
The history of Latinx groups in the United States has been marked, from the beginning, by experiences of criminalization and violence at the hands of law enforcement. Marisol LeBrón argues that policing has left an indelible mark on Latinx communities across the country and has come to shape our understanding of what it means to be Latinx.
Spanning the nineteenth century to the present, Policed examines how policing became a key component in the formation of Latinx identity and political consciousness, and still lies at the heart of many pressing issues confronting Latinx communities today, including immigration, employment, health, and housing. More than simply telling a story of police brutality and harassment, LeBrón powerfully shows that Latinx people have continually resisted state violence and worked to build a more liberated future.
Marisol LeBrón is Associate Professor of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is author of Policing Life and Death: Race, Violence, and Resistance in Puerto Rico and Against Muerto Rico: Lessons from the Verano Boricua, as well as coeditor of Aftershocks of Disaster: Puerto Rico Before and After the Storm.
“This book is sorely needed, and Marisol LeBrón is the person to write it. For too long, the public has believed that the police and ICE are separate entities, each with its own goals, enforcement tactics, and equipment. As Policed shows, the work of these organizations frequently overlaps, resulting in the oppression of Black and Latino communities alike.”—William Lopez, author of Raiding the Heartland: An American Story of Deportation and Resistance
“A powerful, sweeping examination of how the 'continuum of policing'—the ways policing is embedded in Latinx life—has come to shape our understanding of Latinx people's place in U.S. society. Clearly argued, well evidenced, and maddeningly timely, Policed is excellent in virtually every way.”—Simon Balto, award-winning author of Occupied Territory: Policing Black Chicago from Red Summer to Black Power
“LeBrón provides a masterful account of Latinx entanglements with police in this compact but far-reaching book about borders, gangs, and the power of solidarity against state violence.”—Dan Berger, author of Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power Through One Family’s Journey
“In this timely and urgent book, LeBrón uses generations of scholarship to provide a comprehensive take on the impact of racialized policing on Latinx persons, communities, and social justice organizations. In so doing, she issues a deeply rooted call for multiracial solidarity in the pursuit of abolition.”—Kelly Lytle Hernández, author of Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands