Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this sweeping if uneven survey, five Black journalists explore how racism and the fight for racial justice have shaped America's past and present. NBC News reporter Bunn covers the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, the health-care disparities between racial groups magnified by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the generations of Black wealth erased in the destruction of Black communities in Wilmington, N.C., and Tulsa, Okla., in 1898 and 1921, respectively. Michael Cottman (Segregated Skies) and Patrice Gaines (Laughing in the Dark) trace the roots of policing in America to the creation of slave patrols in the 1700s and argue that post--Civil War convict leasing programs served as "a stepping-stone toward" mass incarceration. Though platitudinous profiles of Black politicians including Barack Obama and Kamala Harris disappoint, Nick Charles delivers a nuanced and revealing exploration of tensions between traditional Black churches and the Black Lives Matter movement. Throughout, the authors skillfully draw on interviews with protestors, clergy members, scholars, and community organizers, and offer brisk yet insightful accounts of the Jim Crow era, the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, and other historical episodes. The result is an accessible introduction to the latest chapter in the ongoing struggle for civil rights in America. Agent: Jennifer Herrera, David Black Literary. (Oct.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Five Black journalists--Bunn (NBC News), Nick Charles (Word in Black), Michael H. Cottman (NBC News Digital), Patrice Gaines (Laughing in the Dark), and Keith Harriston (GW Today)--reflect on the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement in this collection of essays. The book opens with a history of the movement and its founders Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors, and usefully covers the movement up to the present day, focusing on events in 2020--21, including the murder of George Floyd which sparked international protests. Essays address mass incarceration, medical malpractice, the wealth gap, police violence, and COVID-19's disproportionate impacts on Black Americans; the authors explore the history of these topics, analyze the current landscape, and suggest avenues for change. Other chapters focus on politics and celebrate political achievements by Black Americans, particularly women. The essays can be read as standalone pieces, but it's useful to have them in one volume. VERDICT A thoughtful assessment of the Black Lives Matter movement that illuminates the work still left to do. Recommended for readers newly interested in antiracist activism.--Rebekah Kati, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Veteran Black journalists cast a critical eye on American racial injustices in 12 reported essays. "Movements don't happen without a buildup," says social justice activist Ruby Sales in a standout essay in which Charles examines the complex ties between Black churches and the struggle for racial justice. Sales' comment sums up a theme of this hit-and-miss book: The Black Lives Matter movement--which might seem to have erupted spontaneously--has deep roots and historical antecedents, some dishearteningly similar to recent events. Bunn explores how racism has heightened Black Americans' vulnerability in the pandemic and how the BLM movement, though associated with men like Trayvon Martin and George Floyd, grew out of the efforts of Alicia Garza, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, and Opal Tometi, women who built on the legacy of Ida B. Wells and other female activists. Gaines links modern issues such as mass incarceration and "the disrespect U.S. law enforcement has for Black lives" to earlier forms of racism, such as convict leasing and Jim Crow--era Black Codes. Harriston notes that six years before George Floyd said, "I can't breathe," Eric Garner shouted the same words and an officer who failed to intervene was demoted but faced no federal charges. Weaker sections offer shopworn denunciations of Trump and near-hagiography of Kamala Harris and other politicians in flat passages with too much overfamiliar or unedifying material. For many readers, however, this book may be worth it for Charles' insightful observations on Black churches alone; one is that because Martin Luther King Jr. was a preacher, many people overestimate the role that those churches played in the civil rights struggle. As for current anti-racist efforts, Black churches "haven't gotten a handle" on BLM. The foreword is provided by Marc H. Morial, former mayor of New Orleans and president and CEO of the National Urban League. An uneven yet useful survey of historical and contemporary forces driving the Black Lives Matter movement. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
