Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage by Heather Ann Thompson

 

Hello my lovely readers! This book...whew! Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS

On December 22, 1984, white New Yorker Bernhard Goetz shot four Black teenagers at point-blank in a New York City subway car. Goetz slipped into the subway tunnels undetected, fleeing the city to evade capture. From the moment Goetz turned himself in, the narrative surrounding the shooting became a matter of extraordinary debate, igniting public outcry and capturing the attention of the nation.

While Goetz's guilt was never in question, media outlets sensationalized the event, redirecting public ire toward the victims themselves. In the end, it would take two grand juries and a civil suit to achieve justice on behalf of the four Black teenagers. For some, Goetz would go on to become a national hero, inciting a disturbing new chapter in American history. This brutal act revealed a white rage and resentment much deeper, larger, and more insidious than the actions of Bernie Goetz himself. Intensified by politicians and tabloid media, it would lead a stunning number of white Americans to celebrate vigilantism as a fully legitimate means for addressing racial fear, fracturing American race relations.

MY THOUGHTS
This was a great, if not sad and infuriating book. I found myself shaking my head and angered by everyone in this book, save for the teens who were shot.

I'd never heard of this case but I already knew what the outcome was going to be, as should any Black American with a conscious. 

Nothing in this country changes and I'm usually not one to get worked up by the shenanigans of our past, present and future, but ughhhhh this book, Goetz, Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, Donald Trump and all the people who think the way they think really annoyed me.