No Justice, No Peace? : The Police, People of Color, and the Paradox of Protecting Human Rights

A new civil rights movement sweeping the United States has rallied around protecting the rights of people of color in the face of police violence. What is seldom recognized is how activists’ strategies can undermine each other. Activists who pressure the state for police accountability risk diminishing their efforts to build relationships with officers. Dialogues that cultivate relationships can sideline police accountability. Observations of forums between the police and communities as well as interviews with both groups reveal why efforts to improve police treatment of people of color are politically and ethically fraught and how activists might mitigate these paradoxes.