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A review by 600bars
From #blacklivesmatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
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.