Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Black and Blue
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1974
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.cbsnews.com/team/jeff-pegues/ * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Pegues * http://www.harrywalker.com/speakers/jeff-pegues
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2016065932
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2016065932
HEADING: Pegues, Jeff, 1970-
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100 1_ |a Pegues, Jeff, |d 1970-
670 __ |a Black and blue, 2017: |b eCIP t.p. (Jeff Pegues) data view screen (b. 03/04/1970; The justice and homeland security correspondent for CBS News; previous to joining CBS News, Pegues spent ten years at WABC-TV in New York; recipient of three Emmy Awards, numerous Emmy Award nominations, and the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists)
PERSONAL
Born March 4, 1970, in Washington, DC; married.
EDUCATION:Miami University of Ohio, B.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Justice and Homeland Security correspondent, CBS, 2013–. Worked formerly as a reporter for WBAL-TV in Baltimore, MD; and as a reporter for WABC-TV in New York, NY 2003-13.
AWARDS:Emmy Award. Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism, 2013.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Jeff Pegues is a writer and correspondent for CBS’s Justice and Homeland Security branch. Pegues was born in Washington DC and grew up in Westport, Connecticut. He attended college at Miami University in Ohio on a football scholarship.
Pegues began his reporting career in Miami, where he anchored evening newscast WSVN. He then moved onto WBAL in Baltimore, where he was a reporter and anchor. In 2003 he began working at WABC-TV in New York, where he remained for ten years. Pegues received numerous Emmy Awards for his reporting work with WABC-TV, covering such topics as the presidential elections, Hurricane Sandy, the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, and the story of Elian Gonzalez.
In 2013 he joined CBS News. He reports for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms and is the designated Justice and Homeland Security correspondent. Pegues lives in Maryland with his wife.
Pegues’ first book, Black and Blue: Inside the Divide Between the Police and Black America, examines the relationship between Black America and the law enforcement agency and those other entities responsible for protecting public safety. The book explores an expansive range of social and political issues that influence the current state of the relationship between the police and Black America. A contributor to Bookwatch described the book as “key to understanding the nature of police forces, their concerns, and the issues that are central to public health and safety efforts.”
Owen Hamill in Manhattan Book Review noted that Pegues is “careful to hear from both sides of the issue.” He offers the voices of numerous camps that influence the relationship between police and Black America. These perspectives include the victims of police brutality, police chiefs, street cops, black community activists, academic researchers, and elected politicians. He focuses primarily on Chicago, using it as a microcosm for common trends throughout America.
The book opens in the moment following the police shooting of Laquan McDonald, a seventeen-year-old black teen, at the hands of a white police officer. Pegues provides the facts about the event and describes the nationwide response to the teen’s murder. Using McDonald’s death as an example of the fraught relations between Black America and the police force, Pegues then expands the scope of the book to help the reader understand the history and causes for those current tensions.
He organizes the content of the book by first providing unedited evidence, including interview transcripts, speeches, and descriptions of policing techniques, such as ‘stop-and-frisk.’ He follows the documented facts with relevant commentary and analysis. A contributor to Pumpjack Press website noted that this technique allows Pegues to “remain a trusted but still objective observer.” Pegues’ style mimics that of his journalistic corresponding. Rather than imparting his opinions, he provides an objective portrayal of the situation, allowing the reader to take the facts and analysis and come to conclusions about the situation on his or her own. It also provides the reader with a glimpse into the life of an investigating reporter, as Pegues describes the steps he takes to uncover all sides of a story.
While the book provides a history and scope of relations between Black America and the police force, Black and Blue also offers ideas for solutions to ease tensions and improve relations. Pegues also does not write about the situation as hopeless. Rather, he focuses on the fact that both sides of the issues agree on many aspects of what is problematic about current relations, and most agree that change is necessary. A contributor to the Pumpjack Press website described the book as “a balanced and thorough review of the fraught and sensitive issue of police violence against black Americans.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Bookwatch, July, 2017, review of Black and Blue: Inside the Divide Between the Police and Black America.
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2017, review of Black and Blue.
ONLINE
Manhattan Book Review, https://manhattanbookreview.com/ (May 9, 2017), Owen Hamill, review of Black and Blue.
Midwest Book Review, http://www.midwestbookreview.com/ (July 1, 2017), review of Black and Blue.
Pumpjack Press Website, https://www.pumpjackpress.com/ (July 18, 2017), review of Black and Blue.*
CBS NEWS March 26, 2015, 12:05 PM
Jeff Pegues
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Jeff Pegues
Jeff Pegues CBS NEWS
Jeff Pegues is the CBS News Justice and Homeland Security Correspondent based in Washington, D.C. He joined CBS News in July 2013 and reports for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms.
Since joining CBS News, Pegues led the Network's coverage of the New York City Metro-North derailment and reported on the Navy Yard shooting, among other stories. He has more than two decades of experience covering stories of national and international magnitude, including presidential elections, Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath, the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, Hurricane Rita and the story of Elian Gonzalez.
Pegues joined CBS News after nearly 10 years and numerous Emmy Awards at WABC-TV in New York, where he broke many high-profile stories, such as the 2008 child custody case of David Goldman, a New Jersey father who was involved in a five-year custody battle with his son's Brazilian relatives. Pegues' coverage gained the attention of the State Department and eventually helped reunite Goldman with his 9-year-old son.
Previously, Pegues was a weekday anchor and reporter at WBAL in Baltimore. He also anchored the top-rated evening newscasts at WSVN in Miami in the late 1990s. He is a proud graduate of Miami University of Ohio where he was also a scholarship football player and starting wide receiver in the early 1990s.
© 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Jeff Pegues
NEW
Award-Winning Broadcaster
Jeff Pegues is one of the rising stars in network news. During his 25 year career in broadcast journalism his storytelling skills have won Emmy awards and garnered attention. He has covered most of the big stories of the past two decades as a “street” reporter for the top local news station in the country and is now breaking new ground for CBS News. In just two years with the celebrated news organization he has been promoted to cover one of journalism’s most important beats. Currently he is the justice and homeland security correspondent for all CBS News platforms.
Jeff Pegues
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jeffrey Pegues is a CBS News correspondent and author based in Washington, D.C., where he reports for all CBS News platforms. His book, Black and Blue: Inside the Divide between the Police and Black America, explores the longstanding rift between local law enforcement and people of color.[1] Black and Blue was released on May 9, 2017 by Prometheus Books. [2]
Pegues was named a Correspondent for CBS News on May 29, 2013. [3] Four months into his tenure, he became CBS News' Transportation Correspondent. In late 2014, he was promoted to CBS News Justice and Homeland Security Correspondent, one of the most challenging and high-profile beats in network news.
Prior to joining CBS News, Pegues was a reporter for WABC-TV in New York City. He received numerous Emmy Awards during his nearly ten-year run (2003-2013) at WABC-TV. Pegues is credited with bringing the story of David Goldman and his international fight for his son into the headlines. Jeff has also been recognized for his outstanding reporting at the height of Superstorm Sandy. As the storm crashed into New York City he reported on the rising flood water and spreading fires in Queens. In 2005, he reported on Hurricane Rita from Texas.
Prior to WABC-TV, Pegues was a reporter for WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Maryland, where he earned Emmy Award nominations. At WSVN-TV, the Fox Affiliate in Miami, Florida, he worked as an evening anchor. At the time, it was the top-rated evening newscast in that market. [4] In 2004, Jeff covered both the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention.
Contents [hide]
1 Personal
2 Early life
3 Awards
4 References
5 External links
Personal[edit]
Pegues, who is married, currently resides in Maryland. He is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio, where he was a starting wide receiver as well as a back-up to Canadian Football League legend Milt Stegall. At Miami University, known as "The Cradle of Coaches", Jeff played for Randy Walker and Terry Hoeppner.
Early life[edit]
Born in 1974 in Washington D.C., Pegues spent part of his childhood in Westport, Connecticut. [5].
Awards[edit]
Pegues is the recipient of three Emmy Awards. In 2013, he received the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) for excellence in journalism. [6]
"Black and Blue" examines divide between police and black communities
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CBS News' Jeff Pegues, who has extensive experience covering police and community relations across the country, is taking an in-depth look at the "divide between the police and black America" in his new book, "Black and Blue."
black-and-blue-jeff-pegues-cover.png
"Part of my reasoning for doing this book is to get to the heart of the issue, expose it and then allow people to discuss it in an open way," Pegues, the network's justice and homeland security correspondent, said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning."
Pegues interviewed police chiefs, activists, and many others on all sides of the complex issue. "The different views of policing — whether you're talking to someone in the black community or police officers in the rank-and-file — it is stark," he said, adding that views of policing in the black community "are certainly shaped by the stops that people on the streets encounter with police."
"For example in Baltimore, it was found that 44 percent of the police stops were made where 11 percent of the population was, and that was primarily the black community," Pegues said. "So there is this emphasis on policing and tough policing in the black community on the part of police departments and that's what we were seeing across the country. And that sort of drives these different viewpoints of policing whether you're talking to someone who is white versus someone who is black."
He also spoke to rank-and-file police officers "who were blunt" about how they felt.
"They talk about feeling overworked, under-appreciated. 'We can't solve your psychosis. We can't raise your kids. We are asked to do too much.' So that is reflected in the book," Pegues said. "But also on the other side you have people in the black community who feel they're being treated like livestock, rounded up, thrown in jail. Or penalized for minor infractions which leads to a cycle, it can lead to a cycle of poverty. There's a real problem here."
While having a black police chief can make a difference, Pegues said that's not the entire story.
"It's really the approach more than the race of the police chief," he said.
Transparency is key, including the use of body cameras for cops.
"That's why you see so many police chiefs across this country moving towards body cameras, because they know transparency is important," Pegues said. "Also cracking down on the bad cops. There are a lot of good cops out there: 99.9 percent of the cops are good. And they don't want the bad cops in the ranks. But they're being painted with this broad brush. So I wanted to dispel that myth, too, in this book and present both sides from good cops, people in the community, both trying to make change."
In addition to transparency, Pegues pointed to officers who are engaging with the community they police, whether they are playing soccer with people in the neighborhood or break-dancing with the kids.
"You can't show up [only] when there's a shooting. Go there before the shooting," he said.
© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Print Marked Items
Black and Blue
The Bookwatch.
(July 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/bw/index.htm
Full Text:
Black and Blue
Jeff Pegues
Prometheus Books
59 John Glenn Drive, Amherst, NY 14228-2197
9781633882577 $24.00 www.prometheusbooks.com
Black and Blue: Inside the Divide Between the Police and Black America comes with the authority and
experience of a CBS News Justice and Homeland Security Correspondent who provides statistics and facts
from both sides of community-police interests, and who explores a wide range of social, political, and
security issues central to law enforcement and public safety. Pegues had access to some of the top officials
in the country, including FBI director James Comey and the police chiefs of top cities, and he's interviewed
community leaders and others who offer their different perspectives on problems and solutions. The result is
an exploration which is key to understanding the nature of police forces, their concerns, and the issues that
are central to public health and safety efforts. The result is also recommended for discussion and debate at
the high school to college and community levels.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Black and Blue." The Bookwatch, July 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A501397178/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2b190155.
Accessed 27 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A501397178
1/27/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Pegues, Jeff: BLACK AND BLUE
Kirkus Reviews.
(Mar. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Pegues, Jeff BLACK AND BLUE Prometheus Books (Adult Nonfiction) $24.00 5, 9 ISBN: 978-1-63388-
257-7
The justice and homeland security correspondent for CBS News debuts with an examination of the tensions
between police and blacks, presenting potential obstacles to improvement formulas for tension
reduction.Pegues grew up in a black family in a mostly white environment, and he writes that he suffered no
ill treatment by police due to his skin color. However, as a journalist for 10 years at a New York City TV
station and while roaming the nation for CBS, he has observed countless examples of police malfeasance,
including multiple shootings of unarmed black men. The author, who has won three Emmy Awards,
attempts to understand the tensions from many perspectives: victims of excessive force, police chiefs, street
cops, black community activists, academic researchers, and elected politicians from city councils to the
White House. "No matter where you live," writes Pegues, "whether we like to admit this or not, the
relationship between the police and communities of color affects all of us." The book is filled with useful
insights that will help readers with varying perspectives understand the genesis of these tensions and how
they have grown over the years. Unfortunately, the story is hampered by excessive quoting from interviews,
reports, and speeches, which limits the author's ability to develop his own narrative style. Some of the
interview transcripts are gripping and enlightening, but many are turgid and uninteresting; ditto the reports
and speeches. In one of the more successful chapters, the author recounts his return to his birthplace of
Westport, Connecticut. Pegues relates his childhood experiences and then includes a transcript of a
conversation with the police chief, an immigrant from Greece who rose through the law enforcement
hierarchy. Another successful chapter centers on a conversation with a Chicago alderman, a former street
cop elected to represent a mostly black neighborhood. An informative book that could have been presented
better.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Pegues, Jeff: BLACK AND BLUE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A485105118/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=beca74eb.
Accessed 27 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A485105118
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Book Review: Black and Blue by Jeff Pegues
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A measure of hope for the future
In a nutshell:A balanced and thorough review of the fraught and sensitive issue of police violence against black Americans; very helpful to readers seeking to rise above media debates to gain a deeper understanding of the disparate perspectives on this terrible problem within the context of historical, economic and social trends. Highly recommended.
When I finished reading Black and Blue: Inside the Divide Between Police and Black America by Jeff Pegues, a long-buried memory rattled its way out of my head.
I was in elementary school, a member of the safety patrol, overseeing a busy intersection in Washington, D.C., both before and after school. I loved being a patrol guard, and wore the cheesy plastic orange sash with pride.
Each day, a D.C. police officer pulled up in his squad car to meet me at my posting. I have no idea how he was assigned; I was too young to think to ask. He helped me get the children safely on their way across the four-lane road in what otherwise would have been a dangerous situation, but always made me believe I was in charge. I saw him every day for two years, except during the summer. His name? He said, “Call me Officer Friendly.” I did. That experience began to shape a view of police in a positive way.
But that nascent view was shattered two years later. Three blocks away from my old safely patrol crossing, another police officer pulled out his gun out and held it to my brother’s head because my brother mouthed off at him. My brother was teenager, and at that stage, prone to vocally poor decisions. When my mother heard what happened, she marched up to that street corner, waited for the cop to show up again and read him the riot act, as well as filed a formal complaint.
My mother was white, so she had no fear of showing her displeasure.
The police officer was forced to apologize to my brother. I don’t know what if anything went on his record. But my trust in police was shattered. The two long years of good work cultivating positive relationships by Officer Friendly—and likely many more officers like him across the District’s force in that era—went down the drain with the rogue trigger-happy action of one mean cop.
That’s such a small event, relative to what black America experiences routinely. But I share it to illustrate a point. If one such event could shatter my own trust, I cannot imagine how African-American people feel, when this and so, so, much worse happens again and again, over and over. How can black America ever be expected to trust police? In light of recent horrific killings by police of unarmed African-Americans, and the shameful blatancy of embedded racism, my optimism about policing in this country had reached a nadir. Officer Friendly was forever buried.
I began to read Black and Blue: Inside the Divide Between Police and Black America on the day the decision to acquit the police officer who killed Philando Castile was announced, a decision that stunned most of America. Shortly after I finished the book and as I was considering this review, Officer Miosotis Familia was fatally shot as she sat inside her squad car on a street in the Bronx.
These events were a tragic real-time framing for my reading. And I can honestly say that my reflections on these events were changed by reading this book. Moreover, Pegues in this excellent and honest book restored in me a measure of hopefulness that a path forward to a reformed policing future can be charted.
Pegues is an award-winning CBS correspondent, a familiar face covering homeland security and justice. Structurally, the book reflects this experience and gives the reader a glimpse into the process he presumably undertakes when investigating a story. We learn as he uncovers facts, asks questions, reads, frames and integrates relevant information. “I wanted to see firsthand how city residents, police and politicians were reacting,” he writes. “I was going to go where the interviews led me.”
In the book, he focuses much of his investigative attention on Chicago, as a microcosm to examine broader trends, at the moment when the city was reeling from the newly-released video of the brutal police shooting of the teenager Laquan McDonald. “His body absorbed some of the bullets as he lay dying on the street. He was shot so many times you actually see smoke rising from his body,” he writes, describing the video.
Pegues’ style is to present evidence—unedited interview transcripts, full copies of speeches, bulleted lists of commission recommendations, descriptions of policing techniques (such as “broken windows” and “stop-and-frisk”) and more—linked together with pertinent commentary and analysis. This approach was initially jarring in its back and forth pacing. But later, as I settled into the style, the power of this narrative architecture became clearer. The strategy allowed Pegues to remain a trusted but still objective observer. (The interviews with Chicago community activist Ja’Mal Green and Philadelphia Police Captain Joe Bologna were especially compelling and illuminating.)
There are many important points to consider in this book. I call out a few that resonated particularly with me below as examples of the thoroughness of his approach.
The history of interaction between police and black America cannot be overlooked when seeking solutions to the current crisis. Pegues quotes James Comey, then FBI director on this point. “Those of us in law enforcement must be honest enough to acknowledge that much of our history is not pretty. At many points in American history, law enforcement enforced the status quo, a status quo that was brutally unfair to disfavored groups.”
Pegues cites public opinion polls about how blacks and whites view the police, responses so radically different that it’s “as if whites and blacks are living in a different universe.” With additional reporting and analysis, Pegues shows how sustained and enlightened leadership, and honesty on both sides, will be required to close the trust deficit built up since the country’s slave-holding days all the way through Jim Crow to the racist present moment. We could look to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission model deployed by South Africa to shine a light on this shameful aspect of American history.
As if this was not daunting enough, the systemic defunding of many public programs over the past several decades has resulted in a situation in which “police are confronting more than just crime, there are social issues police cannot handle alone.” The combined effects of mental illness, economic displacement, homelessness, addiction and other issues have resulted in a stressful, overwhelming environment for police in many cities.
This is exacerbated, in some areas, by how we recruit and train police. Currently, many police officers are former military people, some possibly suffering from undiagnosed PTSD. And recruitment itself is a challenge. “Interest in becoming a police officer has been trending downwards since the 1990s.” Some police chiefs across the nation are working diligently to address these issues, with a renewed focus on helping police officers identify and mitigate their own unconscious biases, and becoming experts on de-escalation tactics. Celebrating this effort even as we collectively hold individual bad cops accountable is important for morale.
So, why did this book leave me feeling hopeful? Because Pegues shows that everyone on all sides of this issue largely agrees on both the problems and the solutions. For example, to some degree, there is consensus that community beat policing is core to a reformed future.
Pegues presents evidence, both scientific and anecdotal, showing that when police and the citizens residing and working in a neighborhood know each other, police become trusted and respected, rather than feared, and also know who are the local agitators. As one activist put it describing what any parent wants: “They don’t want their kids to have to walk past drug dealers, but they also don’t want their nineteen-year old son who works the night shift getting stopped by police each time he comes home from work.” What’s needed is the political will to adequately fund a community policing model.
Maybe children in the future will have the experience I did, the first one with Officer Friendly. After reading this fine book, I certainly intend to add my voice to advocate for this outcome. If we all did, we might make a difference.
July 18, 2017 2 Likes
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← Book Review: Grave Echoes by Erin Cole
Black and Blue: Inside the Divide between the Police and Black America
We rated this book:
$24.00
In Black and Blue, author Jeff Pegues is careful to hear from both sides of the issue. International Association of Chiefs of Police President Terrence Cunningham defends the actions of police officers involved in controversial shootings, while activist Ja’Mal Green demands a change in police culture and criticizes Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel for his handling of the city’s rising violent crime. Valuable as these points of view are, the effect is to merely provide a wide-ranging confirmation of the existence of a problem, even if the two sides don’t always agree on even the nature of the problem.
Ceding much of his book to lengthy political speeches on police-community relations and interview transcripts in which he shies away from contradicting or fact-checking his interview subjects, Mr. Pegues fails to assert any authority of his own. The book’s most interesting ideas — police forces as revenue generators, the relationship between race and class, etc. — are mentioned by the interview subjects, with Mr. Pegues offering no or minimal follow-up. With the two sides of the issue sometimes in emphatic disagreement, Black and Blue isn’t forceful enough to effectively mediate the dispute, resulting in a tepid exploration of an urgent issue.
Reviewed By: Owen Hamill
The Social Issues Shelf
Black and Blue
Jeff Pegues
Prometheus Books
59 John Glenn Drive, Amherst, NY 14228-2197
9781633882577 $24.00 www.prometheusbooks.com
Black and Blue: Inside the Divide Between the Police and Black America comes with the authority and experience of a CBS News Justice and Homeland Security Correspondent who provides statistics and facts from both sides of community-police interests, and who explores a wide range of social, political, and security issues central to law enforcement and public safety. Pegues had access to some of the top officials in the country, including FBI director James Comey and the police chiefs of top cities, and he's interviewed community leaders and others who offer their different perspectives on problems and solutions. The result is an exploration which is key to understanding the nature of police forces, their concerns, and the issues that are central to public health and safety efforts. The result is also recommended for discussion and debate at the high school to college and community levels.