John L. Burris, a nationally renowned civil rights attorney, has spent the past twenty years defending the rights of minorities who have been the victims of police misconduct and excessive use of force. In Blue vs. Black he tells the true, heartbreaking stories of many of them -- a young community center director who is savagely beaten by cops before the eyes of the children in his care; a woman who is handcuffed to a chainlink fence by a female officer and humiliated in front of her neighbors, simply because of a minor traffic violation; a father who is pulled over by police officers and shocked with a stun gun while his three-year-old daughter screams in the backseat of the car. These are no criminals, but ordinary, law-abiding citizens. Burris introduces us to several remarkable men and women who, by letting their stories be told in this book, demonstrate their courage in trying to repair the damaged relationships between blacks and law-enforcement officials.

Burris presents with compassion and insight a measured analysis of tensions between police and the people they are meant to protect. In this important and moving work, he offers solutions for ending the cycle of police and civilian distrust.