Justice: A Question of Race [Paperback]

Roberto Rodriguez (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0927534681 | ISBN-13: 978-0927534680 | Publication Date: June 1, 1997

journalist's testimony of his beating by LA police

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Those who most need Rodriguez's story--Americans who desperately maintain "the Rodney King incident" was an isolated aberration, not a common occurrence when police forces and poor people of color come into conflict--won't read it. And Justice, which describes the author's 1979 beating and arrest, acquittal, and civil suit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, may not be the best vehicle for introducing readers who support or forgive police brutality to the sins committed in their name. Two narratives make up the book: "Assault with a Deadly Weapon," written in 1984, before the civil trial; and "The Wrong Side of the Law," written after the trial produced a $200,000 judgment against the L.A. Sheriff's office. Rodriguez, now a syndicated columnist, photographed a fairly classic minor "police riot" in East L.A.; he ended up in the hospital, charged with using his camera to attack police. Justice could have used tighter editing; unsympathetic readers will find it repetitive. But the too-often-suppressed reality it documents demands wider attention. Mary Carroll --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 274 pages
• Publisher: Bilingual Pr (Bilrp) (June 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0927534681
• ISBN-13: 978-0927534680
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #828,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Important Book Documenting Police Brutality in Los Angeles, May 20, 2009

By 

Sam I Am (los angeles) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Justice: A Question of Race (Paperback)

This is an important book about a police beating case in Los Angeles that happened in 1979. The difference here is that Roberto Garcia was a UCLA-educated journalist, writer and photographer without a single incident of prior contact with the criminal justice system. Many victims of police brutality are never able to prove it, simply because they aren't viewed as credible witnesses to the events. It's far more difficult to dismiss the claims of someone like Garcia, and he writes about this in the book. As a twenty-four-year-old magazine writer, he had important family, social and work contacts that ensured his case would end differently than the 538 others who were arrested with him on that same night in a brutal and bloody round-up of spectators, innocent citizens and others from a single neighborhood in East Los Angeles.


As reading, some of the text is repetitive - the first half of the book is actually taken from two earlier books that Garcia wrote about his case, and the last half of the book is an updated and complete summary, written years after the incidents. However, I think the information as it is presented is valuable in documenting Garcia's story. Future generations of researchers may not have access to the first two books, which are both out of print.

I would consider this book important as a historical document. It should be purchased by academic and university libraries, with an extra copy bought for permanent collections and non-circulating archives.