Ten Lives, Ten Demands
Life-and-Death Stories, and a Black Activist's Blueprint for Racial Justice
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
Told through the powerful stories of Black lives that were ravaged by racism, this manifesto holds 10 demands to rectify racial injustice
Told through his perspective as an activist, acclaimed commentator Solomon Jones tells the stories of real people whose lives and deaths pushed the Black Lives Matter movement forward. He explains how each act of violence was incited by specific instances of structural racism, and details concrete and actionable strategies to address crimes committed by our “justice” system.
These stories and strategies are a critical resource for social justice activists looking to further their anti-racist education. These 10 demands form an actionable plan that is necessary to repair our racist past, change the racist present, and bring justice to the future:
1. George Floyd: Pay financial reparations to Black communities that have been damaged by legalized racism.
2. Michael Brown: Use consent decrees to reform police departments that demonstrate a “pattern or practice” of racism and police brutality.
3. Hassan Bennett: Offer compensation for all those who are wrongfully imprisoned.
4. Breonna Taylor: Require functioning body cameras and ban no-knock warrants.
5. Eric Garner: All police disciplinary and dismissal records must be made public.
6. Alton Sterling: Change federal law to allow prosecution of flagrant lawbreakers within police departments.
7. Tamir Rice: Use independent prosecutors to eliminate prosecutorial conflicts of interest.
8. Trayvon Martin: Eliminate stand-your-ground laws.
9. Deborah Danner: Defund the police and move funds to trained social workers, mental health professionals, and conflict resolution specialists.
10. Sandra Bland: End racial profiling.
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Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Jones (The Dead Man's Wife) issues a brisk and impassioned call for America to "right the wrongs of a past that is littered with laws meant to subjugate African Americans." Each chapter recounts the story of a Black person victimized by the nation's "racist criminal justice system" in the 21st century and offers a specific proposal for reform. For example, the 2020 murder of George Floyd frames a discussion of racial disparities in the enforcement of drug laws and the need for reparations to repair "a centuries-long pattern of stripping profit, property, and people from Black communities." Elsewhere, Jones cites the 2014 killing of Michael Brown as evidence of why the federal government should more aggressively use consent decrees to reform police departments with a history of racist or abusive behavior, and backs up his call for the elimination of "stand-your-ground" laws with a harrowing retelling of Trayvon Martin's 2012 killing by a neighborhood watch volunteer. Throughout, Jones details his own run-ins with the law before he overcame a crack addiction, and provides blunt depictions of systemic racism in action ("Black crack addicts are cast as enemies in a War on Drugs while white heroin addicts are the victims in an opioid crisis"). This cri de coeur rings loud and true.
