The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America's Law Enforcement

Longlisted for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction

During his 28-year career, Matthew Horace rose through the ranks from a police officer working the beat to a federal agent working criminal cases in some of the toughest communities in America to a highly decorated federal law enforcement executive managing high-profile investigations nationwide. Yet it was not until seven years into his service — when Horace found himself face down on the ground with a gun pointed at his head by a white fellow officer — that he fully understood the racism seething within America's police departments.

Through gut-wrenching reportage, on-the-ground research, and personal accounts from interviews with police and government officials around the country, Horace presents an insider's examination of archaic police tactics. He dissects some of the nation's most highly publicized police shootings and communities to explain how these systems and tactics have hurt the people they serve, revealing the mistakes that have stoked racist policing, sky-high incarceration rates, and an epidemic of violence.

"...a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the intersection of race and police brutality in America. Telling this story demonstrates nothing but raw courage for a black police officer who wants the truth to prevail." Congressman John Lewis

"Insightful, honest, and probing...Drawing on years of experience as an officer — and even more years of experience as a black man — Matthew Horace has written a book that everyone should read." Wesley Lowery, author of the New York Times bestseller They Can't Kill Us All

"Horace's authority as an experienced officer, as well as his obvious integrity and courage, provides the book with a gravitas." The Washington Post

Matthew Horace spent three decades working in law enforcement and is a nationally recognized security expert. He has also served as a contributor to CNN and The Wall Street Journal.

Ron Harris is a former reporter and editor for the Los Angeles Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Currently, he is a professor at Howard University.