Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century (American Studies Now: Critical Histories of the Present, Band 6) - Softcover

Ransby, Barbara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520292715 ISBN 13: 9780520292710

Verlag: University of California Press, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

"A powerful -- and personal -- account of the movement and its players."--The Washington Post

"This perceptive resource on radical black liberation movements in the 21st century can inform anyone wanting to better understand . . . how to make social change."--Publishers Weekly

The breadth and impact of Black Lives Matter in the United States has been extraordinary. Between 2012 and 2016, thousands of people marched, rallied, held vigils, and engaged in direct actions to protest and draw attention to state and vigilante violence against Black people. What began as outrage over the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin and the exoneration of his killer, and accelerated during the Ferguson uprising of 2014, has evolved into a resurgent Black Freedom Movement, which includes a network of more than fifty organizations working together under the rubric of the Movement for Black Lives coalition. Employing a range of creative tactics and embracing group-centered leadership models, these visionary young organizers, many of them women, and many of them queer, are not only calling for an end to police violence, but demanding racial justice, gender justice, and systemic change.

In Making All Black Lives Matter, award-winning historian and longtime activist Barbara Ransby outlines the scope and genealogy of this movement, documenting its roots in Black feminist politics and situating it squarely in a Black radical tradition, one that is anticapitalist, internationalist, and focused on some of the most marginalized members of the Black community. From the perspective of a participant-observer, Ransby maps the movement, profiles many of its lesser-known leaders, measures its impact, outlines its challenges, and looks toward its future.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Barbara Ransby is a historian, author, and longtime activist. She is the author of the acclaimed biography Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement. Ransby was one of the founders of African American Women in Defense of Ourselves in 1991 and the Black Radical Congress in 1998. She is the editor of the journal Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, and Professor and Director of the Social Justice Initiative at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Visit barbararansby.com for tour dates and speaking engagements.

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'I can imagine no more perfect example of the dedicated scholar-activist than Barbara Ransby. She now offers us an analysis of the Movement for Black Lives, and its historical continuities and ruptures, that reflects both her considerable skills as a historian and her rich experience as an activist. This book passionately urges us to adopt the radical and feminist versions of democracy that will move us forward.''Angela Y. Davis, author of Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement 

'It's rare that we get to read the work of Black feminist historians who have the ability to shape present-day history through a leftist lens. Barbara Ransby's Making All Black Lives Matter is one of the most important texts for this generation and generations to come'truth telling so clarifying it begs us to be better and bolder. Everyone, read this book, then read it again.''Patrisse Khan-Cullors, cofounder of Black Lives Matter Global Network and best-selling coauthor of When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir

'Barbara Ransby is a national treasure. When it comes to understanding pathways to liberation that simultaneously account for the deep and nuanced history of our country as well as global struggle, a frontline perspective on organizing and social change, and an intersectional lens on black people and the many aspects of our fight for freedom, there are few voices I trust more. Ransby offers us the insights of the past, through an uncompromising critical lens, as a means of illuminating the future. I'm so grateful that we get to live in her time.''Eve L. Ewing, author of Electric Arches

'Historian and activist Barbara Ransby locates the Black feminist roots of the Black Lives Matter movement, providing rich and necessary context to the critical role played by Black women in this struggle against police abuse and violence. Ransby's insistence on centering the experiences of Black women within the movement is not simply an exercise in demography, but it is fundamental to understanding the organizing principles, horizontal structure, and the leader-full strategy that defines the Movement for Black Lives. Ransby writes with urgency, passion, and a deep love for Black people. Get this book to understand where the movement is at and where it has the potential to take all of us.''Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation

'this is a call to arms that powerfully reveals the Black Lives Matter movement for what it is: anchored in black feminist and intersectional politics; principled coalition-building; revolutionary art and cultural transformation; love; and a shared commitment to defending all black life from degradation, dispossession, defamation, and premature death. An urgent book on an urgent topic.''Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination

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&;I can imagine no more perfect example of the dedicated scholar-activist than Barbara Ransby. She now offers us an analysis of the Movement for Black Lives, and its historical continuities and ruptures, that reflects both her considerable skills as a historian and her rich experience as an activist. This book passionately urges us to adopt the radical and feminist versions of democracy that will move us forward.&;&;Angela Y. Davis, author of Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement 

&;It&;s rare that we get to read the work of Black feminist historians who have the ability to shape present-day history through a leftist lens. Barbara Ransby&;s Making All Black Lives Matter is one of the most important texts for this generation and generations to come&;truth telling so clarifying it begs us to be better and bolder. Everyone, read this book, then read it again.&;&;Patrisse Khan-Cullors, cofounder of Black Lives Matter Global Network and best-selling coauthor of When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir

&;Barbara Ransby is a national treasure. When it comes to understanding pathways to liberation that simultaneously account for the deep and nuanced history of our country as well as global struggle, a frontline perspective on organizing and social change, and an intersectional lens on black people and the many aspects of our fight for freedom, there are few voices I trust more. Ransby offers us the insights of the past, through an uncompromising critical lens, as a means of illuminating the future. I'm so grateful that we get to live in her time.&;&;Eve L. Ewing, author of Electric Arches

&;Historian and activist Barbara Ransby locates the Black feminist roots of the Black Lives Matter movement, providing rich and necessary context to the critical role played by Black women in this struggle against police abuse and violence. Ransby&;s insistence on centering the experiences of Black women within the movement is not simply an exercise in demography, but it is fundamental to understanding the organizing principles, horizontal structure, and the leader-full strategy that defines the Movement for Black Lives. Ransby writes with urgency, passion, and a deep love for Black people. Get this book to understand where the movement is at and where it has the potential to take all of us.&;&;Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation

&;This is a call to arms that powerfully reveals the Black Lives Matter movement for what it is: anchored in black feminist and intersectional politics; principled coalition-building; revolutionary art and cultural transformation; love; and a shared commitment to defending all black life from degradation, dispossession, defamation, and premature death. An urgent book on an urgent topic.&;&;Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination

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Making All Black Lives Matter

Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century

By Barbara Ransby

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

Copyright © 2018 Barbara Ransby
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-520-29271-0

Contents

Overview, 
Introduction, 
1. Roots and Recalibrated Expectations: Prologue to a Movement, 
2. Justice for Trayvon: The Spark, 
3. The Ferguson Uprising and Its Reverberations, 
4. Black Rage and Blacks in Power: Baltimore and Electoral Politics, 
5. Themes, Dilemmas, and Challenges, 
6. Backlash and a Price, 
7. A View from the Local: Chicago's Fighting Spirit, 
8. Political Quilters and Maroon Spaces, 
Conclusion, 
Epilogue: A Personal Reflection, 
Acknowledgments, 
Notes, 
Glossary, 
Key Figures, 
Selected Bibliography, 

CHAPTER 1

Roots and Recalibrated Expectations

Prologue to a Movement

No movement emerges out of thin air. There is always a prologue, and a prologue to the prologue. In other words, there is always a set of conditions and circumstances that set the stage for movements to emerge. Some of that stage-setting is historical, having little to do with the activists and organizers themselves but rather with the political and economic climate and an array of social realities beyond their immediate control. But then there is human agency: what we as human beings, as oppressed people, as conscientious allies of the oppressed, do (or don't do) in response to the conditions and circumstances we encounter. Nothing is predetermined or dictated by history. However, historical conditions both create and limit possibilities for change. And all individual participants in this moment may not even be fully aware of the history on which they stand. Nevertheless, it is there. What is also there is an ever-shifting political reality that, in this case, includes the 2008 election of the nation's first Black president and its implications for Black organizing.

So what is the political genealogy of the Black Lives Matter Movement/Movement for Black Lives (BLMM/M4BL)? In the 1990s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic ravaged vulnerable populations worldwide, including Black gay men and Black intravenous drug users. In the United States, organizations emerged, often led by Black gay men and lesbians, that were intent on challenging the devastation of AIDS in Black communities but also on recognizing Black LGBTQIA folk in our communities. Organizations from Bebashi in Philadelphia to the Minority AIDS Project in Los Angeles, to the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, to the National Minority AIDS Council all rose up to respond to the suffering of Black people at the center of the epidemic and to insist upon recognizing the voices and leadership of Black gay/queer folk in the fights against HIV/AIDS and for access to treatment. People like Essex Hemphill, Pat Parker, Craig G. Harris, Cheryl Clark, Barbara Smith, Joseph Beam, Gary Paul, and filmmaker Marlon Riggs, to name just a few, through their activism and art manifested the radical Black queer politics that many members of BLMM/M4BL now embrace. Cathy Cohen, herself a leader of the Black AIDS Mobilizations (BAM), points out that the central role Black feminists and Black gay/queer activists play is essential to the Black radical tradition and is too often left out. This erasure, she insists, "must be corrected." This legacy is a part of the political roots of BLMM/M4BL.

In August 2005, Katrina, a devastating category 5 hurricane, hit the southern Gulf coast of the United States, including the historic, predominately Black city of New Orleans. Local officials were ill-prepared, and the federal government under President George W. Bush was callously slow and inept in its response. As a result, thousands were left to suffer and fend for themselves as sewage-contaminated water flooded homes and hospitals and washed away lives and livelihoods. Those suffering and dying in Katrina's wake were disproportionately Black and poor. Americans watched as the US government's blatant disregard for Black pain and death was on full display. As Milwaukee M4BL queer and gender-nonconforming organizer M. Adams put it eloquently, "Katrina and its aftermath felt particularly important to the general conscious-raising of Black folk, and the millennial generation in particular. It in some ways laid the ground to articulate the state's negligence as violent — and it helped folk question what the function of a government/state is. It was an incredible example and symbol of many forms of structural anti-Black racism."

Another critical antecedent to the emergence of BLMM/M4BL goes back to June 1998 and the launch in Chicago of the Black Radical Congress (BRC), a coalition of Black left organizers and intellectuals responding to the devastating impact of neoliberal policies on the Black community, and to the dearth of responsive Black leadership. The BRC revived coalitional Black left organizing, linked disparate radical traditions, made Black feminism central, and confronted white supremacy and racial capitalism head on. Michael Brown was only two years old in 1998. Twitter had not been invented. Facebook was in its infancy. It was another time.

I, along with Manning Marable, Leith Mullings, Bill Fletcher Jr., and Abdul Alkalimat, was one of the founders of the BRC. The concept behind the BRC was to create a Black left pole, as Fletcher described it: to make the Black radical tradition and the Black Left more visible and distinguish it from a mainstream Black political impulse that was invested in representational race politics and the integration of Black elites into existing hierarchies. For Black feminists like myself, the BRC was also adirect response to the 1995 Million Man March, which sought to re-establish the legitimacy of male dominance in Black politics while simultaneously celebrating Black capitalism and patriarchy. We rejected this outright and insisted there was another Black liberation agenda that had to be written and advanced. For many of us that agenda was grounded in Black feminist praxis, one that was multi-issued, anticapitalist, anti-imperialist, and affirming of the full breadth of our humanity and community. The BRC's expansive liberatory agenda was relevant not only to Black women and Black people but to all oppressed people.

In spite of its many mistakes, the BRC was an important landmark in the reemergence of a new Black Left. One of its most significant achievements is that it managed to bring together the three large, contentious, and sometimes overlapping streams of the Black radical tradition in the US context: Black socialist and communist forces of various stripes, radical Black feminists, and revolutionary nationalists and pan-Africanists. Personalities ranged from a creatively provocative and often irascible poet, Amiri Baraka, to Combahee River Collective cofounder and lesbian feminist leader Barbara Smith. Scholar-activist Cornel West, Communist Party leader Jarvis Tyner, and North Carolina labor activists Rukiya and Ajamu Dillahunt were all active participants. Revolutionary nationalists like Makungu Akinyela, Saladin Muhammad, and Sam Anderson were also in the mix. The unity we achieved in late twentieth-century Black politics by bringing this unlikely cast of characters together was not only unprecedented but, for the time it lasted, principled. That is, it was not simply a coalition of convenience. Under Bill Fletcher Jr.'s able and persistent guidance, the BRC navigated its way through about a half dozen national planning meetings leading up to...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: University of California Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0520292715
• ISBN 13: 9780520292710
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 238
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: GPSR Kontakt; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland