State of Emergency
How We Win in the Country We Built
-
- USD 13.99
-
- USD 13.99
Publisher Description
Social justice leader Tamika D. Mallory states her case for action and reveals “the power we all have to win transformative change” (Marc Lamont Hill, New York Times bestselling author) in this searing indictment of America’s historical, deadly, and continuing assault on Black and brown lives.
Drawn from a lifetime of frontline culture-shifting advocacy, organizing, and fighting for equal justice, State of Emergency makes Mallory’s demand for change and shares the keys to effective activism both for those new to and long-committed to the defense of Black lives.
From Minneapolis to Louisville, to Portland, Kenosha, and Washington, DC, America’s reckoning with its unmet promises on race and class is at a boiling point not seen since the 1960s. While conversations around pathways to progress take place on social media and cable TV, history tells us that meaningful change only comes with radical legislation and boots-on-the-ground activism. Here, Mallory shares her unique personal experience building coalitions, speaking truth to power, and winning over hearts and minds in the struggle for shared prosperity and safety.
Forward-looking, steeped in history, and rich with stories from life on the margins of American life, State of Emergency effortlessly gives us the tools we “need to fight injustice and find a pathway towards true freedom” (Marie Claire).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Women's March cofounder Mallory debuts with an impassioned look at racial injustice in America. Though Mallory was raised by activist parents in a Harlem public housing project, it wasn't until the murder of her son's father in 2001 that she began "to connect the dots between the violence in my community and the violence of the system around that community." She explains how institutional racism and poverty can lead to involvement with drugs and guns ("tools of self-destruction are put in the hands of young Black men more often than any schoolbooks"), and sketches the history of "systemic oppression" in the U.S. from the slave era to the "war on drugs." ("It's often speculated," she writes, that the CIA funded Nicaragua's Contra rebels with proceeds from the sale of crack cocaine in Black neighborhoods.) Mallory also discusses the Central Park Five case and the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and advises readers on what to bring to a protest and how to "speak with your wallet." Shifting between outrage, hope, and resolute determination, this call to action will resonate with readers already fighting for racial justice, as well as those looking to join the movement.
