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A review by lukenotjohn
From #blacklivesmatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
5.0
I genuinely cannot recommend this book more to anyone who's interested in building their capacity for analysis of the current struggle for Black liberation as well as their sense of the history of that fight throughout American history. Taylor reaches across time to demonstrate commonalities, some obvious and others less so, across the movements to abolish slavery, endure Jim Crow, and gain civil rights alongside the contemporary BLM movement today. She is a robust and rigorous historian who expertly weaves insightful analysis into her micro- and macro- level detailing of a broad swaths of American history. Throughout the book, she works through a number of central focuses which each build off each other, including the construction of pseudo-colorblindness, the elevation of Black leaders into the stratus of the political elite, and the evolution of American policing. Most critically, however, she doesn't simply describe each of these phenomena, but offers arguments for how and why they came to be, what systems they serve and in what ways do they function.
At the core of her argument is the notion that the reality of the Black American experience, when brought to light, exposes the fundamental untruths about this nation that uphold the myths it purports about itself. Those are namely that it is a country that's never lived up to its constitutional ideals of being a place where all are equal and opportunity is there for the taking for all who pursue it. And this, she suggests, is exactly why those who hold power have worked so doggedly to shift blame onto Black culture and individuals, projecting an alleged moral failing that obscures the generational legacies of violence, oppression, disinvestment, and injustice that are actually at fault for their enduring struggles and so fundamentally counter to the society America believes itself to be. Taylor is unflinching in her analytical commitments to the most vulnerable and marginalized of the Black community, and so at times she presents some incisive and damning critiques of not just the white elite but those Black men and women who've slowly ascended to their ranks, including the Congressional Black Caucus, Rev. Al Sharpton, and most prominently President Obama (who has a chapter devoted to him).
Taylor's most generous with her analysis of the burgeoning #BlackLivesMatter movement, which was even more recent when the book was published in 2016. That said, one gets the sense that while she appreciates their decentralized leadership (certainly in contrast to the contrasting "old guard" of activists she's not shy from declaring essentially futile), Taylor is also hopeful for a more organized manifestation of the movement. While affirming BLM's unprecedented capacity to catalyze protests which have radically shifted public consciousness around police brutality, she also suggests that a movement must go beyond protests and raising awareness. She offers encouragements to coalition with efforts around the minimum wage, Black educational justice reform, and organized labor and to promote solidarity among other non-Black people of color and white people who share a vested interest in societal transformation. The final chapter, which most vividly showcases Taylor's anti-capitalist lens, is a critical unmasking of white supremacy not as an expression of emotional hatred but a calculated tool of capitalist power that has effectively blunted America's potential for class solidarity. She concludes with a compelling call to move the movement towards enduring efforts that include those most directly afflicting Black life while simultaneously seeking liberation for all from the corrupt systems in place at the roots of American society.
At the core of her argument is the notion that the reality of the Black American experience, when brought to light, exposes the fundamental untruths about this nation that uphold the myths it purports about itself. Those are namely that it is a country that's never lived up to its constitutional ideals of being a place where all are equal and opportunity is there for the taking for all who pursue it. And this, she suggests, is exactly why those who hold power have worked so doggedly to shift blame onto Black culture and individuals, projecting an alleged moral failing that obscures the generational legacies of violence, oppression, disinvestment, and injustice that are actually at fault for their enduring struggles and so fundamentally counter to the society America believes itself to be. Taylor is unflinching in her analytical commitments to the most vulnerable and marginalized of the Black community, and so at times she presents some incisive and damning critiques of not just the white elite but those Black men and women who've slowly ascended to their ranks, including the Congressional Black Caucus, Rev. Al Sharpton, and most prominently President Obama (who has a chapter devoted to him).
Taylor's most generous with her analysis of the burgeoning #BlackLivesMatter movement, which was even more recent when the book was published in 2016. That said, one gets the sense that while she appreciates their decentralized leadership (certainly in contrast to the contrasting "old guard" of activists she's not shy from declaring essentially futile), Taylor is also hopeful for a more organized manifestation of the movement. While affirming BLM's unprecedented capacity to catalyze protests which have radically shifted public consciousness around police brutality, she also suggests that a movement must go beyond protests and raising awareness. She offers encouragements to coalition with efforts around the minimum wage, Black educational justice reform, and organized labor and to promote solidarity among other non-Black people of color and white people who share a vested interest in societal transformation. The final chapter, which most vividly showcases Taylor's anti-capitalist lens, is a critical unmasking of white supremacy not as an expression of emotional hatred but a calculated tool of capitalist power that has effectively blunted America's potential for class solidarity. She concludes with a compelling call to move the movement towards enduring efforts that include those most directly afflicting Black life while simultaneously seeking liberation for all from the corrupt systems in place at the roots of American society.