Name: A Colony in a Nation
ISBN: 9780393355420

Chris Hayes

New York Times Bestseller New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice "An essential and groundbreaking text in the effort to understand how American criminal justice went so badly awry." --Ta-Nehisi Coates, author ofBetween the World and Me

A Colony in a Nation

America likes to tell itself that it inhabits a post-racial world, but nearly every empirical measure wealth, unemployment, incarceration, school segregation reveals that racial inequality hasn t improved since 1968. With the clarity and originality that distinguished his prescient bestseller Twilight of the Elites ( a stunning polemic, said Ta-Nehisi Coates), award-winning journalist Chris Hayes offers a powerful new framework in which to understand our current crisis. Hayes contends our country has fractured in two: the Colony and the Nation. In the Nation, we venerate the law. In the Colony, we obsess over order; fear trumps civil rights; and aggressive policing resembles occupation. How and why did Americans build a system where conditions in Ferguson and West Baltimore mirror those that sparked the American Revolution? Blending wide-ranging historical research with political, social, and economic analysis, A Colony in a Nation explains how a Nation founded on justice constructed the Colony and how it threatens our democracy."

Taylor

This should be required reading for white people.

Sahi K

This was a very interesting take on specifically how the criminal justice system works differently for the white majority and the Black people, and Chris manages to draw a line between policing in historical times (right from the days of slavery) to contemporaneous practices, and how this historical context plays into who gets branded a criminal and who gets multiple chances for redemption. The author also gives a critique of how much politicians use the rhetoric of law and order to drive up bigotry and divisions in society, just for the sake of electoral gains without any consideration for the actual impact on the health of the country. 

The audiobook narration by Chris also enhances the listening experience, because he is clearly able to bring his frustrations and righteous indignation about the subject matter to life. I would definitely recommend the book as well the audio, if you wanna know more about this issue. It’s a little old and short as well, but can definitely act as a beginner read.

erin s

i feel like this book would’ve made a stronger impact on me if i hadn’t already been aware of a lot of the issues/history/content in it. it’s a good overview, though. i’m more radical than chris, but i still think it was a solid read

A Colony in a Nation

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