Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4) QUOTES

1 " A racist cop pulls over a black driver for little reason other than the fact that the driver is black and a recent robbery was committed by a couple of young black guys in a white community. The cop quickly realizes the driver is not one of the robbery suspects. He sees a man with a wife and two small children. They are not a couple of young punks. Still,he persists. Why?
“He asks to see the driver’s license and registration. While locating the appropriate documents, the black driver respectfully volunteers that he is legally carrying a handgun. The cop panics—is it the image of a black man with a gun? He barks out conflicting orders and then shoots the man
to death, in front of his family. Why? “Is it because the cop is an insensitive racist? Maybe he wasn’t trained or taught any better? Perhaps he lived a completely different life in a completely different world than that of the black man. In this cop’s world, were all black men potential criminals, people to be watched, people to be feared? "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

2 " Can a black man get justice in a sea of white? "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

3 " Mr. Bialy said you were a good guy.”
“You don’t want a good guy representing you in situations like this one. You want a barracuda when it comes to dealing with bad cops, negligent police departments, and attorneys who represent them. They are afraid of me; they think I’m a bad guy. Please don’t give away my secret.” Sarah chuckles through her tears. He has an easy way about him. I hope he’s an ass-kicker in court.
“Your secret is safe with me, Zack. "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

4 " The bottom line is the driver was twenty to twenty-five years older than the robbery suspect. Both husband and wife were college- educated, middle-class American citizens, like you and me.”
“Except that they were black, and we are not,” Jennifer states the obvious. "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

5 " Would cops really ignore her cry for help because of the lawsuit? "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

6 " How do people stand for this? How many people have to die before we rise up and say ‘enough is enough? "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

7 " It’s up to us, all citizens, regardless of background, to step up to the
plate and address these issues. We need to share our life experiences and offer honest appraisals of the problems we face. We need to do it at kitchen tables all over the nation. In schools, we need to educate our children to celebrate diversity rather than fight or kill over it. We need to promote our core values at home and abroad. That begins with citizens and police officers respecting each other and treating each other as each of us would want to be treated. "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

8 " This smells like a case of driving while black through a
predominately white community. "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

9 " Where is outrage from the National Rifle Association? Where’s the damned NRA? The NRA claims to believe the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States grants all of our citizens the right to survive and protect their families with any gun they want. I guess that’s only true when those citizens are Caucasian! Does the Second Amendment apply if you’re a black man driving through a white neighborhood? "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

10 " We aren’t asking for any more rights than anyone else in this country. We’re not trying to take anything or anyone’s rights away. We’re not looking for a handout unless it is a handout in friendship. "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

11 " When a little black kid disappears and the media ignores it, so does the public. I know you know this. Not only that but how much media coverage a case gets has a direct relationship to how much manpower the brass assigns to solving that case. It also impacts whether or not the feds get involved. I know you know this too, dammit . . .”
“. . . Lobby her on the other case at the same time, knock yourself out, but grant her an interview on Gilbert. Is that understood?”
“Loud and clear, boss. After all, we can’t let a little thing like institutional racism get in our way, now, can we? "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

12 " People who don’t know our city or our officers might conclude these people were targeted BECAUSE they were black. "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

13 " So, regardless of the outcome, Bialy will be pissing off some segment of his voters. If a grand jury fails to indict or indicts Jones and Bialy fails to secure his conviction; civil rights protests are likely in an already divided Wayne County. If Bialy secures a conviction, he becomes anti-cop or anti-law and order. It’s a classic lose-lose situation. "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

14 " The fact is that this happens in a white community, with a black man, a gun, and a cop who claims he can’t see the black man’s hands. That combination is a recipe for disaster. It doesn’t matter who tells who what to do. "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

15 " A racist cop pulls over a black driver for little reason other than the fact that the driver is black and a recent robbery was committed by a couple of young black guys in a white community. The cop quickly realizes the driver is not one of the robbery suspects. He sees a man with a wife and two small children. They are not a couple of young punks. Still,he persists. Why?
“He asks to see the driver’s license and registration. While locating the appropriate documents, the black driver respectfully volunteers that he is legally carrying a handgun. The cop panics—is it the image of a black man with a gun? He barks out conflicting orders and then shoots the man to death, in front of his family. Why? “Is it because the cop is an insensitive racist? Maybe he wasn’t trained or taught any better? Perhaps he lived a completely different life in a completely different world than that of the black man. In this cop’s world, were all black men potential criminals, people to be watched, people to be feared? "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

16 " Can you imagine sitting in the passenger seat and back seat of a car and watching a cop shoot and kill your husband and father? "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

17 " Until cops stop treating blacks differently than whites, we’re going to have problems. "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

18 " We’re fighting a form of institutional racism that dates back four hundred years, is embodied in our constitution, and is still alive and well here in the Detroit area. "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

19 " Can a black man succeed today beyond his wildest imagination? Can he experience the so-called American dream? Sure he can! He can overcome bigotry and societal views and ideas that stand in his way. But that doesn’t mean that he, unlike his white counterpart, doesn’t have to rise above adverse societal views and bigotry. . . "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)

20 " Has racial justice improved? Have we moved on from Reconstruction and Jim Crow? Been lifted by Martin and the Civil Rights Act of 1964? It seems that whenever we take two steps forward, we take a step back . . . "

― Mark M. Bello , Betrayal In Black (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #4)