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dominic_t 's review for:
Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements
by Charlene Carruthers
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
This was an interesting book, and I learned a lot about the history of various Black radical traditions and recent activism in Chicago. Those sections were really interesting. I also liked her chapter about building relationships that can withstand criticism in movement spaces instead of endlessly calling each other out on social media. I think that someone who is just getting started with community organizing could benefit from the sections about the basics of community organizing.
This is a really short book, and I think that is both a strength and a weakness. It's a strength because not everyone has the time or energy to read a 400 page book densely packed with theory and history. I think this book has the potential to reach people who wouldn't read something longer. She is clear that this is meant to be a starting point, not a definitive text. I do think that some parts are lacking necessary detail. I understand using this book as a jumping off point to do your own research, but I really think she should have expanded on some of the history and theory. There were bits where she quickly referenced an event or some aspect of leftist discourse and then quickly moved on without unpacking or expanding that. I think the most egregious instance of this was her discussion of the negative points of liberalism. She quickly defines it as "a general philosophy in which liberty and equality are inherent" (p. 79), but then starts talking about how it doesn't foster community, solidarity, or accountability. I'm a leftist, and I'm very familiar with this discourse. I agree with her. But she didn't elaborate on the tenets of liberalism and never discussed why these problems are inherent in the ideology. This book seems geared towards people who are new to leftism, and those people aren't going to understand what she's talking about. She spent a page on this, and I really think that needed to be a larger section. This is a larger issue in leftist spaces: there is a tendency to use jargon or discourse in a way that assumes that your audience is intimately familiar with the topic. Sometimes this is appropriate (like in a book on advanced theory), but sometimes this is just alienating to people who might want to join us.
I do have one other critique. At one point, she said that both Christians and Jews benefit from the way that US society is set up. A lot of Jewish people in the US are white, so we have access to white privilege, but we don't have privilege on the basis of being Jewish. This way of thinking relies on an image of the Jewish community as white and class privileged, thus erasing the experiences of Jewish people of color and working class Jews. It also downplays the existence of antisemitism, which is not great in the current political climate.
This is a really short book, and I think that is both a strength and a weakness. It's a strength because not everyone has the time or energy to read a 400 page book densely packed with theory and history. I think this book has the potential to reach people who wouldn't read something longer. She is clear that this is meant to be a starting point, not a definitive text. I do think that some parts are lacking necessary detail. I understand using this book as a jumping off point to do your own research, but I really think she should have expanded on some of the history and theory. There were bits where she quickly referenced an event or some aspect of leftist discourse and then quickly moved on without unpacking or expanding that. I think the most egregious instance of this was her discussion of the negative points of liberalism. She quickly defines it as "a general philosophy in which liberty and equality are inherent" (p. 79), but then starts talking about how it doesn't foster community, solidarity, or accountability. I'm a leftist, and I'm very familiar with this discourse. I agree with her. But she didn't elaborate on the tenets of liberalism and never discussed why these problems are inherent in the ideology. This book seems geared towards people who are new to leftism, and those people aren't going to understand what she's talking about. She spent a page on this, and I really think that needed to be a larger section. This is a larger issue in leftist spaces: there is a tendency to use jargon or discourse in a way that assumes that your audience is intimately familiar with the topic. Sometimes this is appropriate (like in a book on advanced theory), but sometimes this is just alienating to people who might want to join us.
I do have one other critique. At one point, she said that both Christians and Jews benefit from the way that US society is set up. A lot of Jewish people in the US are white, so we have access to white privilege, but we don't have privilege on the basis of being Jewish. This way of thinking relies on an image of the Jewish community as white and class privileged, thus erasing the experiences of Jewish people of color and working class Jews. It also downplays the existence of antisemitism, which is not great in the current political climate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Sexual assault