Citation
Gonzalez, Shannon Malone (2019). Making It Home: An Intersectional Analysis of the Police Talk.
Gender & Society, 33(3), 363-386.
Abstract
Black mothers often are responsible for teaching their children how to respond to police violence. Through 30 in-depth interviews with black mothers from diverse social class backgrounds, I investigate how they address the gendered racial vulnerability of their children in the “police talk,” a socialization practice designed to prepare children for police encounters. I identify mothers’ primary discourse as “the making it home” framework, which encapsulates in parent–child socialization their use of double consciousness around the police. This framework marginalizes girls’ experiences in three ways: it conceptualizes boys as the primary targets of police, while constructing girls as collateral targets of police violence; it emphasizes masculine forms of violence; and it is directed almost exclusively at boys. An intersectional analysis is applied to redress the limitations of the police talk and to highlight the need for structural reforms to recognize and combat police violence against black women and girls.
URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891243219828340Reference Type
Journal Article
Year Published
2019
Journal Title
Gender & Society
Author(s)
Gonzalez, Shannon Malone
Article Type
Regular
Continent/Country
United States of America
State
Nonspecific
Race/Ethnicity
Black