Brown and blue Mexican Americans, law enforcement, and civil rights in the Southwest, 1935-2025 Brian D. Behnken

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Behnken, Brian D., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mexican Americans--Southwestern States.

Mexican Americans.

Law enforcement--Southwestern States--History.

Law enforcement.

Mexican Americans--Civil rights--Southwestern States.

Chicano movement--Southwestern States.

Chicano movement.

Civil rights--United States--History--20th century.

Civil rights.

Civil rights--United States--History--21st century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press [2025]

Summary:

"This sweeping history tells a story of fits and starts of Mexican Americans' interactions with law enforcement and the criminal justice system in the US Southwest. Looking at primarily Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas, it tells a complex story: that violent, often racist acts committed by police against Mexican American people sparked protests demanding reform, and criminal justice authorities frequently responded positively to these protests with reforms such as recruiting Mexican Americans into local police forces or altering training procedures at police academies. Brian D. Behnken demonstrates the central role that the struggle for police reform played in the twentieth-century Chicano movement, whose relevance continues today. By linking social activism and law enforcement, Behnken illuminates how the policing issues of today developed and what reform remains to be done"-- JSTOR

Contents:

Pachucos and police : Mexican Americans and law enforcement at midcentury

Like killing a dog : The struggle to end police violence against Chicano movement participants

Blood on their hands : The Chicano response to police violence against non-movement Mexican Americans

Cruel and unusual : Strange cases of abuse, activism, and reform

Custodial situations : Mexican Americans confront the carceral state

A better day coming? The Chicano movement and local-level criminal justice reform

The hidden eighties : Protest and retrenchment in a militant decade

No justice, no peace : The problem of policing from the 1990s to today

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from digital title page (cloudLibrary, viewed November 28, 2025)

Other Format:

Print version: Behnken, Brian D. Brown and blue

ISBN:

9781469683775

1469683776

9781469690735

146969073X

OCLC:

1554727404