The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart (Unabridged)
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4.5 • 19 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
An essential guide to building transformative movements to address the challenges of our time, from one of the country’s leading organizers and a co-creator of Black Lives Matter
“Excellent and provocative . . . a gateway [to] urgent debates.”—Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, The New Yorker
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY Time • Marie Claire • Kirkus Reviews
In 2013, Alicia Garza wrote what she called “a love letter to Black people” on Facebook, in the aftermath of the acquittal of the man who murdered seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin. Garza wrote:
Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter.
With the speed and networking capacities of social media, #BlackLivesMatter became the hashtag heard ’round the world. But Garza knew even then that hashtags don’t start movements—people do.
Long before #BlackLivesMatter became a rallying cry for this generation, Garza had spent the better part of two decades learning and unlearning some hard lessons about organizing. The lessons she offers are different from the “rules for radicals” that animated earlier generations of activists, and diverge from the charismatic, patriarchal model of the American civil rights movement. She reflects instead on how making room amongst the woke for those who are still awakening can inspire and activate more people to fight for the world we all deserve.
This is the story of one woman’s lessons through years of bringing people together to create change. Most of all, it is a new paradigm for change for a new generation of changemakers, from the mind and heart behind one of the most important movements of our time.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
For activist Alicia Garza, Black Lives Matter has always been more than a hashtag—she helped launch the movement. Raised in a politically engaged family, Garza understood from a young age the importance of building communities and coalitions. She narrates her engrossing memoir with engaging intimacy that’s as natural as a conversation with a friend. It’s a candid account of her experience as an activist, from her early days working on affordable housing campaigns in her native San Francisco to 2013, when her anguished social-media response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer prompted her to launch the #blacklivesmatter hashtag and sparked a global push to disrupt systemic racism. Garza speaks with clear-eyed objectivity throughout this inspiring journey, and she isn’t afraid to share both the bitter disappointment and the vital lessons learned when her battles weren’t successful. The Purpose of Power will have you totally invested in Garza’s story and her mission.
