Fanchon Blake: Still Outspoken at 90

Fanchon Blake had no idea what she was getting herself into when she launched what would become one of the country’s landmark Title VII cases, nor how much she would be made to pay for violating the LAPD’s codes of silence and loyalty. But today, because she refused to accept their discriminatory policies, 18 percent of the LAPD’s sworn officers force, who used to be almost exclusively male and white, are women, and 70 percent are non-white.

Busting the Brass Ceiling delineates the conditions that compelled Fanchon to sue her beloved department and the seven-year legal battle that would set a precedent for police departments across the country. The memoir also offers insights into the police status quo—including the propensity to violence. Blake’s prescient words about that could have been written today and provide answers to many current questions about policing. Even more importantly, her case reminds us that while legal recourse can often seem unbearably slow, changing laws changes society.

“Women owe a good measure of their professional successes today to the battles fought by their counterparts, not that long ago. Busting the Brass Ceiling is the story of one of those heroic women—a cop who, after two decades on the force, wound up suing her department for sex discrimination when they continued to deny female officers the opportunity to promote beyond the rank of sergeant. I can’t imagine a more difficult platform to rise on or the courage it took to single-handedly push women forward despite harassment and even danger from her own people. Busting the Brass Ceiling is an inspiring story of courage and persistence, peppered with insights about policing that are just as pertinent today as they were in Fanchon’s day. A page-turner, to be sure.”

– Barbara Hinske – Attorney and bestselling author of the Rosemont series, The Christmas Club (now on the Hallmark Channel), the Who’s There? collection and Guiding Emily

“To read Fanchon Blake’s story is to understand that the courage required to seek justice is not usually the kind that can be demonstrated in one fine, blazing moment of truth; rather, it must be summoned day by day, year after year, in the thousands of painful and humiliating incidents, both petty and large, that comprise prejudice in action. It is to understand that if a woman today finds her workplace free of discrimination or harassment, a host of other women have paid a heavy price to achieve that. Fanchon Blake’s story illuminates how ugly and wrong, how corrosive and destructive, is discrimination. She shows us how difficult discrimination is to dislodge, yet she inspires us to work diligently to end it.”

– Congresswoman Pat Schroeder – From the afterword in Busting the Brass Ceiling

“Fanchon Blake … changed my life. We began working together on her case at a time of social upheaval, a time when women and racial minorities were fighting for justice and demanding equality all around the country. I was young, just starting my career, while Fanchon was being forced out of hers. What I learned from Fanchon’s dignified and determined battle for justice helped shape my values for the rest of my life. Her courage emboldened me to demand respect and equal treatment when entering a professional world dominated by men. More than anyone I have ever met, Fanchon succeeded in finding the formula for peace: Courage, honesty, conviction, generosity, humility and faith. She is truly one of my most important heroes.”

– Linda Douglass – Communications consultant; former journalist and communications director for the White House’s Health Reform Office under President Obama