Racial Justice

How we can understand race, crime, and punishment in the age of Black Lives Matter

When The Color of Crime was first published in 1998, it was heralded as a path-breaking book on race and crime. Now, in its third edition, Katheryn Russell-Brown's book is more relevant than ever, as police killings of unarmed Black civilians--such as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Daniel Prude--continue to make headlines around the world. She continues to ask, why do Black and white Americans perceive police actions so differently? Is white fear of Black crime justified?

With three new chapters, over forty new racial hoax cases, and other timely updates, this edition offers an even more expansive view of crime and punishment in the twenty-first century. Russell-Brown gives us much-needed insight into some of the most recent racial hoaxes, such as the one perpetrated by Amy Cooper. Should perpetrators of racial hoaxes be charged with a felony? Further, Russell-Brown makes a compelling case for race and crime literacy and the need to address and name White crime. Russell-Brown powerfully concludes the book with a parable that invites readers to imagine what would happen if Blacks decided to abandon the United States.

Russell-Brown explores the tacit and subtle ways that crime is systematically linked to people of color. The Color of Crime is a lucid and forceful volume that calls for continued vigilance on the part of scholars, policymakers, journalists, and others in the age of Black Lives Matter.

The first biography of the revolutionary political prisoner who laid the foundation for contemporary abolitionist struggles and Black anarchism.

A Continuous Struggle is a political biography of one of the most important--if since forgotten--revolutionary figures of the twentieth century in the United States. Martin Sostre (1923-2015) was a Black Puerto Rican from East Harlem who became a politicized prisoner and jailhouse lawyer, winning cases in the early 1960s that helped secure the constitutional rights of incarcerated people. He opened one of the country's first radical Black bookstores and was scapegoated and framed by police and the FBI following the Buffalo rebellion of 1967. He was sentenced by an all-white jury to thirty-one to forty-one years.

Throughout his nine-year imprisonment, Sostre transformed himself and the revolutionary movements he was a part of, eventually identifying as a revolutionary anarchist and laying the foundation for contemporary Black anarchism. During that time, he engaged in principled resistance to strip frisks for which he was beaten eleven times, raising awareness about the routinized sexual assault of imprisoned people. The decade-long Free Martin Sostre movement was one of the greatest and most improbable defense campaign victories of the Black Power era, alongside those to liberate Angela Davis and Huey Newton. Although Sostre receded from public view after his release in 1976, he lived another four decades of committed struggle as a tenant organizer and youth mentor in New York and New Jersey. Throughout his long life, Martin Sostre was a jailhouse lawyer, revolutionary bookseller, yogi, mentor and teacher, anti-rape organizer, housing justice activist, and original political thinker. The variety of strategies he used and terrains on which he struggled emphasize the necessity and possibility of multi-faceted and continuous struggle against all forms of oppression in pursuit of an egalitarian society founded on the principles of "maximum human freedom, spirituality, and love."

An empowering handbook on how to have candid conversations around race and become a better advocate, written by a Black woman and a white woman who ask and answer 20 common, uncomfortable-but-critical questions about racism.

Many people struggle to have honest conversations about race, even those who consider themselves allies or identify as anti-racist. For anyone who wants to have better, more productive discussions, COURAGEOUS DISCOMFORT is an empowering handbook that teaches you how to do just that.

In these pages, authors (and best friends), Shanterra McBride, who is Black, and Rosalind Wiseman, who is white, discuss their own friendship and tap into their decades of anti-racism work to answer the 20 uncomfortable-but-critical questions about race they get asked most often, including:

- Should I see color?
- I'm a good person--how can I be racist?
- What if I say something wrong?
- What kind of apology makes a difference?

These 20 questions-as-chapters invite you into the conversation without judgment and inspire thoughtful reflection and discussion. There will be moments when you will laugh or cringe at the ridiculous or awkward things you read. But the truth is, there is no perfect solution or script for every maybe-racist, sort-of-racist, or blatantly racist situation. And that's OK: making mistakes is just an opportunity to do better next time. But doing this work will empower us to have the relationships we really want to have, including the relationship we want to have with ourselves.

TIMELY BUT PERENNIAL TOPIC: Social justice is a longstanding, perennial issue but has entered the vanguard of national discourse in recent years. For anyone hungry for resources related to being an advocate for diversity and inclusion, COURAGEOUS DISCOMFORT provides an accessible, empowering playbook to follow as you confront and reckon with race-related issues and questions, now and moving forward.

ACCESSIBLE APPROACH: This beautifully designed book stands out from the more academic books in this category like WHITE FRAGILITY and HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST. With accessible writing, an organizing principle that invites you into the conversation, and a lovely package, COURAGEOUS DISCOMFORT is user-friendly and can even be given as an inoffensive, helpful gift to friends, relatives, and recent grads.

BLACK AUTHOR + WHITE AUTHOR: Written by a Black and white author pair who have both published books before, this handbook is authentic and credible, but also approachable. The authors' tone and the organization of the book make it feel as if you are part of their candid conversation on race, with someone asking all the uncomfortable, awkward questions that you have asked yourself, or your friends are too scared to ask of you. This Q&A format applies to readers, whether they identify as white or non-white, who have found themselves in similar conversations, unsure of how to handle them.

GREAT FOR BOOK CLUBS: Inspired by a webinar, featuring chapters-as-questions, this book is primed for book clubs. The organization lends itself perfectly to discussion--clubs can pose each question/chapter title, review the thought prompts, and share personal experiences for an enlightening, educational, and productive conversation.

Perfect for:

- People who want to have better, more productive conversations around race and racial issues
- White people who want to be better allies
- Anyone who is focused on social justice, particularly millennials and members of Gen Z
- People who read books like WHITE FRAGILITY, CASTE, and HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST

"Dear white women: please do us all a favor and buy this book....Then READ IT."
--Kate Schatz, New York Times bestselling author

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?

This is a question that many seemingly well intentioned White people ask people of color. Yet, it places the responsibility to educate on their peers, friends, colleagues, and even strangers, rather than themselves. If you've ever asked or been asked "What can I do to help combat racism?" then Dear White Women: Let's Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism is the answer you're looking for.

From the creators of the award winning podcast Dear White Women, this book breaks down the psychology and barriers to meaningful race discussions for White people, contextualizing racism throughout American history in short, targeted chapters. Sara Blanchard and Misasha Suzuki Graham bring their insights to the page with:

- Personal narratives
- Historical context
- Practical tips

Dear White Women challenges readers to encounter the hard questions about race (and racism) in order to push the needle of change in a positive direction.

PRAISE FOR DEAR WHITE WOMEN:

"Dear White Women: Let's Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism is a book that needs to be read by all people."
--Shanicia Boswell, Author and Founder of Black Moms Blog

"This gentle but firm guide will appeal to readers interested in putting the concept of anti-racism into action." --Publishers Weekly

"Smart, insightful....Sara Blanchard and Misasha Suzuki Graham provide a blueprint for thinking through the hard questions, recognizing that crossing identity lines requires intentional and continuous practice."
--Ji Seon Song, Acting Professor of Law, University of California at Irvine

"The invisibility of Native Americans from U.S. society must be a part of our racial reckoning, something Sara Blanchard and Misasha Suzuki Graham have taken care to address in this thoughtful look at race in America."
--Crystal Echo Hawk (Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma), Founder and Executive Director of IllumiNative

A fiercely-argued, deeply-informed examination of why defunding the police is the only way to support a model of security and protection that increases public safety overall

"Hudson moves us past the failed rhetoric of police reform and provides a powerful analysis that reveals the harsh truth that policing produces neither safety nor justice and must be replaced by a world that meets people's basic needs." --Alex S. Vitale, author of The End of Policing

Over the last few years, in response to videos demonstrating the brutal and often deadly tactics of law enforcement officers, calls to "defund the police" have increasingly rung out across the world. But this is not a trendy new movement: Black activists have been sounding the alarm on the dangers of policing for decades. Time and again history has watched as officers respond to minor calls with escalation, wrongful arrests, and even murder. Yet policymakers continue to fund and endorse reform programs that have proven ineffective at curbing these actions. Why? Because most of what we know about policing is wrong.

In Defund, longtime activist Sandy Hudson examines the origins of commonly held ideas about police and safety to show how police-related social policies are based more on a sensationalized idea of safety than on outcomes and data. She demonstrates the destructive effects of policing on scores of people, arguing that investment in community resources and infrastructure rather than law enforcement is the key to making us safer. Clear-eyed and hopeful yet incisive and pragmatic, Defund paves a clear path forward and demonstrates that a future without police is not only entirely possible, but necessary.

The Destruction of Black Civilization took Chancellor Williams sixteen years of research and field study to compile. The book, which was to serve as a reinterpretation of the history of the African race, was intended to be ""a general rebellion against the subtle message from even the most 'liberal' white authors (and their Negro disciples): 'You belong to a race of nobodies. You have no worthwhile history to point to with pride.'"" The book was written at a time when many black students, educators, and scholars were starting to piece together the connection between the way their history was taught and the way they were perceived by others and by themselves. They began to question assumptions made about their history and took it upon themselves to create a new body of historical research. The book is premised on the question: ""If the Blacks were among the very first builders of civilization and their land the birthplace of civilization, what has happened to them that has left them since then, at the bottom of world society, precisely what happened? The Caucasian answer is simple and well-known: The Blacks have always been at the bottom."" Williams instead contends that many elements--nature, imperialism, and stolen legacies-- have aided in the destruction of the black civilization. The Destruction of Black Civilization is revelatory and revolutionary because it offers a new approach to the research, teaching, and study of African history by shifting the main focus from the history of Arabs and Europeans in Africa to the Africans themselves, offering instead ""a history of blacks that is a history of blacks. Because only from history can we learn what our strengths were and, especially, in what particular aspect we are weak and vulnerable. Our history can then become at once the foundation and guiding light for united efforts in serious[ly] planning what we should be about now."" It was part of the evolution of the black revolution that took place in the 1970s, as the focus shifted from politics to matters of the mind.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A New York Times Editor's Choice

From journalist and New York Times bestselling author Charles Blow comes a powerful manifesto and call to action, a must-read in the effort to dismantle deep-seated poisons of systemic racism and white supremacy (San Francisco Chronicle).

Race, as we have come to understand it, is a fiction; but, racism, as we have come to live it, is a fact. The point here is not to impose a new racial hierarchy, but to remove an existing one. After centuries of waiting for white majorities to overturn white supremacy, it seems to me that it has fallen to Black people to do it themselves.

Acclaimed columnist and author Charles Blow never wanted to write a "race book." But as violence against Black people--both physical and psychological--seemed only to increase in recent years, culminating in the historic pandemic and protests of the summer of 2020, he felt compelled to write a new story for Black Americans. He envisioned a succinct, counterintuitive, and impassioned corrective to the myths that have for too long governed our thinking about race and geography in America. Drawing on both political observations and personal experience as a Black son of the South, Charles set out to offer a call to action by which Black people can finally achieve equality, on their own terms.

So what will it take to make lasting change when small steps have so frequently failed? It's going to take an unprecedented shift in power. The Devil You Know is a groundbreaking manifesto, proposing nothing short of the most audacious power play by Black people in the history of this country. This book is a grand exhortation to generations of a people, offering a road map to true and lasting freedom.

A BOSTON GLOBE BEST BOOK OF 2021

Bestselling Scotiabank Giller Award-winning writer Ian Williams brings a fresh point of view and new insights to the urgent conversation on race and racism in these illuminating essays born from his own experience as a Black man in the world.

With that one eloquent word, disorientation, Ian Williams captures the impact of racial encounters on racialized people--the whiplash of race that occurs while minding one's own business. Sometimes the consequences are only irritating, but sometimes they are deadly. Spurred by the police killings and street protests of 2020, Williams offers a perspective that is distinct from that of U.S. writers addressing similar themes. Williams has lived in Trinidad (where he was never the only Black person in the room), in Canada (where he often was), and in the United States (where as a Black man from the Caribbean, he was a different kind of "only"). He brings these formative experiences fruitfully to bear on his theme in Disorientation.

Inspired by the essays of James Baldwin, in which the personal becomes the gateway to larger ideas, Williams explores such matters as the unmistakable moment when a child realizes they are Black; the ten characteristics of institutional whiteness; how friendship forms a bulwark against being a target of racism; the meaning and uses of a Black person's smile; and blame culture--or how do we make meaningful change when no one feels responsible for the systemic structures of the past.

Disorientation is a book for all readers who believe that civil conversation on even the most charged subjects is possible. Employing his vast and astonishing gift for language, Ian Williams gives readers an open, honest, and personal perspective on an undeniably important subject.

"Disorientation is so honest, vulnerable, courageous and funny that it left me dying to sit down over a long coffee with Ian Williams. Make that two lattes, and I'm buying!"--Lawrence Hill, author of The Book of Negroes