Gringo Injustice: Insider Perspectives on Police, Gangs, and Law - Paperback

by Alfredo Mirandé (Editor)

The recent mass shooting of 22 innocent people in El Paso by a lone White gunman looking to "Kill Mexicans" is not new. It is part of a long, bloody history of anti-Latina/o violence in the United States. Gringo Injustice brings this history to life, shedding critical light on the complex relationship between Latinas/os and the United States' legal and judicial system.

Contributors with first-hand knowledge and experience, including former law enforcement officers, ex-gang members, attorneys, and community activists, share insider perspectives on the issues facing Latinas/os and initiate a critical dialogue on this neglected topic. Essays examine the unauthorized use of deadly force by police and patterned incidents of lynching, hate crimes, gang violence, and racial profiling. The book also highlights the hyper-criminalization of barrio youth and considers wide-ranging implications from the disproportionate imprisonment of Latinas/os. Gringo Injustice provides a comprehensive and powerful look into the Latina/o community's fraught history with law enforcement and the American judicial system. It is an essential reference for students and scholars interested in intersections between crime and communities of Color, and for use in Sociology, Latino Studies, Ethnic Studies, Chicano Studies, Criminology, and Criminal Justice.

Author Biography

Alfredo Mirandé, a native of Mexico City and the father of three children, is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He is a practicing attorney who previously taught at the Texas Tech University School of Law. Mirandé received a BS in social science from Illinois State University, MA and PhD degrees in sociology from the University of Nebraska, and a JD from Stanford University. Mirandé's teaching and research interests are in Chicano sociology; masculinity; constitutional law; civil rights; and the relationship among law, race, class, and gender. He has also published numerous journal articles on sociology, law, and ethnic studies and is the author of The Age of Crisis; La Chicana: The Mexican American Woman (coauthored with Evangelina Enríquez); The Chicano Experience: An Alternative Perspective; Gringo Justice; Hombres y Machos: Masculinity and Latino Culture; The Stanford Law Chronicles: 'Doin' Time on the Farm; Jalos USA: Transnational Community and Identity; and Behind the Mask: Gender Hybridity in a Zapotec Community.