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A review by booksonabike
In Defense of Looting: A Riotous History of Uncivil Action by Vicky Osterweil
5.0
This book didn't change my opinion on riots and looting. But, I supported there use by the oppressed to get attention and retaliation. In the modern case, they are being used to draw attention to the murders of Black people, because some white people are more enraged by the destruction of a Target, than a Black life.
What this book added for me is a more historical understanding of how looting and riots have been used in the past. It chronicles a lot of violence against Blacks in America, as well as other minorities, such as the Chinese Americans in the turn of the century. This helps round out the very white washed history of our country that I learned in school. It also gave me a head full of more topics that I want to delve deeper into, such as the Combahee River Raid.
Another focus of the book, is how main media outlets, have been the white voice inciting violence, and bending the story to suit police or the white government along the way. A good example of this is the Tulsa Race Riot which was encouraged by the newspaper printing instructions the day it started to lynch Black people that night. Lynching images were published often in papers and "serve to normalize white supremacist violence."
Police have also participated in or stood idle and allowed white riots throughout American History, just as they do today, when armed proud boys are making a scene.
What this book added for me is a more historical understanding of how looting and riots have been used in the past. It chronicles a lot of violence against Blacks in America, as well as other minorities, such as the Chinese Americans in the turn of the century. This helps round out the very white washed history of our country that I learned in school. It also gave me a head full of more topics that I want to delve deeper into, such as the Combahee River Raid.
Another focus of the book, is how main media outlets, have been the white voice inciting violence, and bending the story to suit police or the white government along the way. A good example of this is the Tulsa Race Riot which was encouraged by the newspaper printing instructions the day it started to lynch Black people that night. Lynching images were published often in papers and "serve to normalize white supremacist violence."
Police have also participated in or stood idle and allowed white riots throughout American History, just as they do today, when armed proud boys are making a scene.