Book Event: Michelle Phelps with Jelani Cobb

IN-STORE EVENT:
Thursday, May 16, 7:30pm
Michelle Phelps presents The Minneapolis Reckoning: Race, Violence, and the Politics of Policing in America
In conversation with Jelani Cobb
Michelle Phelps' new book The Minneapolis Reckoning outlines how Minneapolis arrived at the brink of police abolition. Phelps explains that the city council’s pledge to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department did not come out of a single moment of rage, but decades of organizing efforts. Yet the politics of transforming policing were more complex than they first appeared. Despite public outrage over police brutality, the council’s initiatives faced stiff opposition, including by Black community leaders who called for more police protection against crime as well as police reform. The Minneapolis Reckoning shows how the dualized meaning of the police—as both the promise of state protection and the threat of state violence—creates the complex politics of policing that thwart change. Phelps’s account of the city’s struggles over what constitutes real accountability, justice, and safety offers a vivid picture of the possibilities and limits of challenging police power today. Michelle discusses her work with writer Jelani Cobb, along with a reading and book signing.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene, 686 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, United States