Description:
In Arrested Mobility: Overcoming the Threat to Black Movement, Charles T. Brown, founder and CEO of Equitable Cities, examines why mobility is not afforded in the same way to everyone. He argues that the legacy of structural racism and White supremacy has led to disinvestment and over-policing in Black communities and communities of color, thwarting opportunity, as physical mobility and social mobility are intrinsically linked. This experience for Black people around the world is what Brown refers to as arrested mobility.
Brown examines this condition that society has created through what he calls "The Four Ps" Polity, Policy, Planning, and Policing and suggests solutions, some of which are already being implemented in the US. Drawing from research, his own experience, and the experience of other Black Americans, Brown shows that change is possible and inspires and guides readers to un-arrest mobility together.
Review Quotes: "Arrested Mobility reminds one of a bar from Goodie Mob's 'Cell Therapy', 'But every now and then, I wonder if the gate was put up to keep crime out -- or keep our ass in.' Brown's book deftly gives language to a condition, a cancer he calls it, that Black folks in the United States have lived with since the 1600s -- the control of Black mobility. Brown destroys all arguments that the violence, brutality and fear Black people experience while walking, running, biking, driving or riding public transit are isolated incidents, and reveals them as extensions of a gripping legacy and purposeful policy. Arrested Mobility is a must read for anyone looking to more deeply understand racial housing patterns, wealth curtailment, or the pervasiveness of segregation. In a world where the powerful are literally whitewashing history by banning any text that directly addresses the experience of others, Brown should prepare for his book to be banned, because the knowledge it contains, if heeded, could do serious damage to the cancer of arrested mobility and help change the country."---Topher Sanders, Reporter, ProPublica