“The War at Home”: Winning the Hearts and Minds of the Black Community;Race and Policing in New York City,1970 to 1973

Abstract

This article argues that in 1971 a war between the radical Black Liberation Army and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) erupted, and within this war, the NYPD tried to influence Black politics in the city’s Black community. However, the Black community in New York City was not monolithic politically. This community was diverse in its political makeup, and there was a political ambivalence by Black people about policing in their communities. It further demonstrates that the law-and-order turn was not fully embedded in white liberals’ virtuous attempts to pacify Black radicals or that the rise of law and order was not solely a product of federal projects such as the War on Poverty. Instead, this article argues that political debates within New York City’s Black community and efforts by the NYPD to influence Black politics largely drove the city toward greater law and order policing.