His book is more about the miscommunications and misreading that happens between people, particularly strangers. How we say or do one thing and it’s completely misunderstood, often to the point of arrest, attack, conviction, or death. The Bland case is one of many he discusses. He really doesn’t get into race as much as culture, which can be one in the same or quite different.

It was scary to hear the statistics of how often police, lawyers, and judges are completely wrong in their interpretation of what people say or do, or how they act or look. Of course, race does play a big part but the statistics show that even strangers of the same race miscommunicate often. Much has to do with what we expect even when the reality is different. The assumption of guilt, often based on misinterpreted cues, is rampant.