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jdizzle's review against another edition
4.0
Read this for a class, and was by far my favorite book in that class. I was surprised by my classes reluctance to come to the conclusion that this book expertly comes to: revolution is necessary for Black liberation. Even further I found my professor falling short of a proper analysis of this books theme of the importance of intersectionalism among Black liberation and anti capitalist movements. My professor had a very class reductionist mindset, failing to make the leap (that I believe Taylor very clearly does), my professor understood that Black liberation comes from the end of capitalism but failed to grasp that the end of capitalism comes from Black liberation. These are two things that uphold each other (among others), but I thought Taylor did a great job of showing that, and the shortcomings of working within the system.
600bars's review against another edition
4.0
As a history book, this was awesome. There was a broad overview of Black political struggle in the US, discussing grassroots movements and the attempts to incorporate Black people into mainstream politics. I've always known Obama is a war criminal and deporter-in-chief-wall-street-bailer-outer, but holy crap there was a lot of information in here that I was unaware of. I've been really frustrated with the Obama nostalgia happening lately, because it feels like everyone has amnesia because Cheeto Man Bad. This book provided a lot of explanation and context as to why the Blacklivesmatter movement emerged under the first Black president. Information I learned in this book actually really helped me in some convos over the course of reading. So as a history overview, this was a really great book. Also really good for understanding in depth why Obama did not end racism & the failures of representational politics.
The only problem I had was the fact that the title lead me to think that this book would provide answers/insight on how to move a movement from a hashtag toward liberation, and the vast majority of this book was history. That is extremely important, obviously, and of course you have to have historical context, and I don't expect one person or one book to have all the answers or a step-by-step guide on how to solve all these complex problems. Also, it is important to remember that this was written 6 years ago which is both encouraging and disheartening when I compare Ferguson era to this iteration of the movement.
The conclusion chapter is where I had some issues with the book, which is actually because I agree with her and am on board. I am tired of the class reductionist theorycel online podcaster scene who ignore race,, and the anti-racism White Fragility selfhelp bullshit that makes people think turning inward in a inverse reagan style personal responsibility definition of antiracism is possibly even more pernicious. (obviously lots of other types of people out there I just spend too much time online). Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor dispels both of these framings and advocates for solidarity among all oppressed groups as it is in everyone's mutual interest. When she's bringing up Marx and Gramsci and Lenin all of a sudden I'm like hell yea! When she's attacking identity politics throughout the book I'm like yes!!!!!! But part of why I picked up this book is for insight on how to bridge the chasm between the # and real material improvement, and the chasm between the history chapters and the Marxist conclusion seems just as wide. There are HUGE barriers to solidarity that can't be addressed in a few sentences. In a dream world people would look at the atrocities of history and the material conditions existing today, be radicalized by that, and draw a straight line to anticapitalism, but instead we have this intense lean into identity or focusing on single issues. Idk I just think about arguing with my parents who are fully on board with the blacklivesmatter movement and are against police brutality, but then when I try to connect capitalism to this the conversation goes awry and they still believe in vote blue no matter who etc. She kinda addresses this Mark Fishery inablity to imagine other worlds/futures, but as I said this conclusion really rattles off a lot of concepts all at once.
Again, I have to reiterate that I don't expect her to have all the answers and I fundamentally agree with her, I just think the conclusion was like a huge shift in tone that tried to address a lot of really complicated concepts really fast. Each chapter in this book could be its own book, but each paragraph in the conclusion could have volumes. And those volumes exist I just should read more theory lol. I would still really strongly recommend this book to everyone.
The only problem I had was the fact that the title lead me to think that this book would provide answers/insight on how to move a movement from a hashtag toward liberation, and the vast majority of this book was history. That is extremely important, obviously, and of course you have to have historical context, and I don't expect one person or one book to have all the answers or a step-by-step guide on how to solve all these complex problems. Also, it is important to remember that this was written 6 years ago which is both encouraging and disheartening when I compare Ferguson era to this iteration of the movement.
The conclusion chapter is where I had some issues with the book, which is actually because I agree with her and am on board. I am tired of the class reductionist theorycel online podcaster scene who ignore race,, and the anti-racism White Fragility selfhelp bullshit that makes people think turning inward in a inverse reagan style personal responsibility definition of antiracism is possibly even more pernicious. (obviously lots of other types of people out there I just spend too much time online). Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor dispels both of these framings and advocates for solidarity among all oppressed groups as it is in everyone's mutual interest. When she's bringing up Marx and Gramsci and Lenin all of a sudden I'm like hell yea! When she's attacking identity politics throughout the book I'm like yes!!!!!! But part of why I picked up this book is for insight on how to bridge the chasm between the # and real material improvement, and the chasm between the history chapters and the Marxist conclusion seems just as wide. There are HUGE barriers to solidarity that can't be addressed in a few sentences. In a dream world people would look at the atrocities of history and the material conditions existing today, be radicalized by that, and draw a straight line to anticapitalism, but instead we have this intense lean into identity or focusing on single issues. Idk I just think about arguing with my parents who are fully on board with the blacklivesmatter movement and are against police brutality, but then when I try to connect capitalism to this the conversation goes awry and they still believe in vote blue no matter who etc. She kinda addresses this Mark Fishery inablity to imagine other worlds/futures, but as I said this conclusion really rattles off a lot of concepts all at once.
Again, I have to reiterate that I don't expect her to have all the answers and I fundamentally agree with her, I just think the conclusion was like a huge shift in tone that tried to address a lot of really complicated concepts really fast. Each chapter in this book could be its own book, but each paragraph in the conclusion could have volumes. And those volumes exist I just should read more theory lol. I would still really strongly recommend this book to everyone.
scrow1022's review against another edition
5.0
Grateful for this overview and analysis of Black politics & liberation history.
colin_cox's review against another edition
4.0
In the final chapter of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes, "To claim, then, as Marxists do, that racism is a product of capitalism is not to deny or diminish its centrality to or impact on American society. It is simply to explain its origins and persistence. Nor is this reducing racism to just a function of capitalism; it is locating the dynamic relationship between class exploitation and racial oppression in the functioning of American capitalism" (206). Taylor's move here is an intriguing but not terribly new idea. Indicting capitalism and the exploitation associated with it constitutes the broad argumentative point Taylor makes in From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, so any reader who takes umbrage with this notion may find Taylor's book underwhelming.
While the conclusion is something of a motley affair, Chapters 5 and 6 constitute the best From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation has to offer. In Chapter 5 Taylor writes of Barack Obama, "The Black political establishment, led by President Barack Obama, has shown over and over again that it was not capable of the most basic task: keeping Black children alive. The young people would have to do it themselves" (152). This not-so-subtle critique charges the Black political establishment with a provocative crime: assimilation and acquiescence to a quasi-corporate political machine. It also demonstrates Taylor's commitment to and solidarity with non-institutional and amorphous movements such as BlackLivesMatter.
Near the end of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, Taylor quotes Malcolm X. In a speech to the Organization of Afro-American Unity, he said, "You can't have capitalism without racism" (qtd. in Taylor 197). Again, this is a crux of Taylor's claim in From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation. Yet, Talyor explores certain implicit questions as well, and the most stunning of those questions are: What has the system consumed? And how can people of color fight this consumption?
While the conclusion is something of a motley affair, Chapters 5 and 6 constitute the best From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation has to offer. In Chapter 5 Taylor writes of Barack Obama, "The Black political establishment, led by President Barack Obama, has shown over and over again that it was not capable of the most basic task: keeping Black children alive. The young people would have to do it themselves" (152). This not-so-subtle critique charges the Black political establishment with a provocative crime: assimilation and acquiescence to a quasi-corporate political machine. It also demonstrates Taylor's commitment to and solidarity with non-institutional and amorphous movements such as BlackLivesMatter.
Near the end of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, Taylor quotes Malcolm X. In a speech to the Organization of Afro-American Unity, he said, "You can't have capitalism without racism" (qtd. in Taylor 197). Again, this is a crux of Taylor's claim in From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation. Yet, Talyor explores certain implicit questions as well, and the most stunning of those questions are: What has the system consumed? And how can people of color fight this consumption?
plumrain's review against another edition
5.0
This was great to read after Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow as Taylor further expands on the historical patterns of structural racism and how the Black Lives Matter movement fits into larger patterns of Black resistance. I especially liked the last chapter, which delves into theory about how race and class are tied together against anti-capitalist exploitation.
mothmans_mum's review against another edition
5.0
Outstanding book. Charts Black struggles through the history of the US, focussing on the conditions that led to he rise of the current #BlackLivesMatter movement. It also draws lessons from other Black and anti-racism struggles to suggest what form the struggle needs to take to achieve true Black liberation. (Spoilers: it involves creating an organised, working class movement to smash capitalism)