Author photo: Justin Milhouse. Cover design: Louis Roe
Join us Sunday, March 23 from 3-4:30 p.m. at Book Beat for a presentation by author and professor Dr. Cheryl L. Neely. Neely will present her new book No Human Involved: The Serial Murder of Black Women and Girls and the Deadly Cost of Police Indifference, followed by a book signing.
This event is free and open to the public. Books will be available to purchase courtesy of Book Beat.
Email us at bookbeatorders@gmail.com or call 248-968-1190 for more information or accomodation requests.
An urgent examination of the invisibility of Black women and girls as victims of targeted killings, and the lack of police intervention and media coverage.
When Black women and girls are targeted and murdered their cases are often categorized by police officers as “N.H.I.” – “No Humans Involved.” Dehumanized and invisible to the public eye, they are rarely seen as victims. In the United States, Black women are killed at a higher rate than any other group of women, but their victimhood is not covered by the media and their cases do not receive an adequate level of urgency.
Utilizing intensive historical research of cases in cities such as Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angles, Cheryl Neely calls attention to serial cases of Black female murder victims and a lack of police action. Neely approaches each case and story with detailed care. Instead of focusing solely on the killings and the murderers, she highlights the lives of the women and girls and their communities that never stopped fighting for justice. With media neglect and police indifference, Neely argues that because law enforcement is less likely to conduct serious investigations into the disappearances and homicides of Black women, they are particularly vulnerable to become victims.
Diving deep into the unseen and unheard, Neely uses personal interviews, court records, media reports, and analytical data to understand how and why Black women are disproportionately more likely to die from homicide in comparison to their white counterpoints. Sounding an urgent alarm, No Human Involved contends that it is time for Black women’s lives to matter not only to their families and communities, but especially to those commissioned to protect them.
“A vital, infuriating addition to the literature on racial prejudice in US law enforcement.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“Activists involved in equitable policing, judicial reform, and victims’ rights will find value in Neely’s account.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Dr. Cheryl Neely holds a B.A., M.A., and PhD in Sociology from Wayne State University. She has been a full time instructor at the Royal Oak campus for the past 9 years and has a variety of sociology courses in her discipline at the college including Criminology, Social Problems, Race and Ethnicity, Mass Media in Society, and the Introduction to Sociology. Throughout her teaching career, students have enjoyed her passionate lectures on the state of society, and have been fond of her use of Twilight Zone episodes to illustrate sociological concepts. A true fan of the 1960’s sci-fi anthology hosted by the late Rod Serling, Dr. Neely loves to introduce the series to students through the prism of the sociological imagination. Professor Neely has also authored a book based on her dissertation titled You’re Dead, So What? Media, Police, and the Invisibility of Black Women as Victims of Homicide (MSU Press, 2015) which examines the lack of media coverage and aggressive police investigation of violent deaths of Black women compared to their White counterparts. The book was also the recipient of the 2016 Midwest Book Award and was featured in an interview with Dr. Neely on NPR and the Southfield cable channel. Her research interests include inequality, race, women’s issues, and criminology. Her next book is No Human Involved: The Serial Murder of Black Women and Girls and the Deadly Cost of Police Indifference (Beacon Press, 2025).