From #Blacklivesmatter to Black Liberation

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2016

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 2

Chapter 3-Chapter 5

Chapter 6-Chapter 7

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapter 6-Chapter 7Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 6 Summary: “Black Lives Matter: A Movement, Not a Moment”

Taylor opens Chapter 6 with the assertion that Mike Brown’s murder by the Ferguson police department was a breaking point not only for Ferguson, but also for Black people around the country. Although she notes that there may be various reasons why Ferguson was a tipping point, she details the role that the police played in increasing the tension. The uprising began after police officers repeatedly disrespected the makeshift memorial that Ferguson residents constructed for Brown. In addition, the police constantly agitated protestors with tear gas and rubber bullets, threatened to murder unarmed demonstrators and journalists, and intentionally hid their badge numbers. Furthermore, the temporal proximity of other police murders of unarmed Black people around the nation made Ferguson a “focal point for the growing anger in Black communities across the country” (157). Many traveled to Ferguson to protest in solidarity.

However, Ferguson illuminated the fissures between newer and older generations of civil rights activists and leaders, as well as the role that the political establishment and those in proximity to it would play in trying to re-legitimize “law and order” and the federal government’s response to local situations. For example, the CBC showed up in Ferguson to try to increase voter rolls and push for electoral politics as the proper response to police violence. The NAACP showed up, most notably in the form of Al Sharpton, to rehabilitate its image by taking control of the movement. Sharpton’s presence was defined by condescending and presumptuous admonishment of the protestors, many of whom were young Black people. It gave the young activists an increasing sense of the conflict between their goals and strategies and those of the older generation of activists who were firmly established within the political regime. Where the older generation of civil rights leaders is concerned with narrowly-focused agendas and electoral politics, the younger generation is increasingly concerned with a systemic analysis of policing that located it within a broader context of racism and inequality in the US.

However, Taylor is sure to note that the divide is not so set in stone and that there continues to be cooperation among older and younger generations. In particular, she quotes civil rights activist Ella Baker, who demonstrates respect for the newer generation of activists and notes their emphasis on group-centered leadership. Mention of Baker’s understanding introduces a key aspect of the new movement that plays a central role in its political focus and strategic development—that it was launched and led by female and queer Black activists. While the media and historical narrative obscures the impact of police violence on Black women and the centrality of Black women to earlier Black liberation movements, the Black women activists central to BLM and other organizations call for an intersectional approach to the Black liberation struggle. That is, they call attention to the overlapping oppressions of state violence, gender-based violence, homophobia, class and economic inequality, and ableism. This broader agenda, as well as decentralized leadership and organization using social media, is what largely distinguishes the new movement from older iterations of Black resistance.

However, Taylor notes that the focus on the generational divide obscured the differences among the new guard in terms of strategies for forward movement and sustenance. While some of the new activists are committed to building organizations, others are not, instead choosing to eschew formal structures and remain reliant on social media. Taylor is critical of the latter. While she sees protests and social media to draw people into the movement, she emphasizes the need for organization and coordination to make institutional changes. As Taylor discusses the shift from moment to movement, she brings up issues of funding, demands, and solidarity.

In terms of funding, she highlights the problems that the nonprofit-industrial complex creates for movement organizers, such as funders’ control of organizations’ political agendas and professionalization of movements that leads to careerism. In addition, she notes the way that external funding and the nationalization of organizations obscures the work of smaller grassroots organizers making substantive changes in their local communities. She also addresses the need for the movement to clarify specific demands and avoid overgeneralizing. Noting the distinction between reform and revolution, Taylor insists that narrowing the demands of the movement to specific foci and action steps form the building blocks that lead to larger and transformative structural changes.

A part of this process is connecting the movement against police violence to the fight for educational justice, low-wage worker campaigns, and organized labor, which sees BLM in the process of doing. In addition, she emphasizes the need for cross-racial solidarity with Indigenous, immigrant, and other people of color communities. The connection of BLM to other issues of oppression and other oppressed communities is fundamentally important for understanding “the commonalities and overlaps in oppression” (188) and building a force large enough to fight them. Taylor concludes Chapter 6 by noting the importance of protests while acknowledging that protest alone cannot end police abuse, institutional racism, or any concomitant injustices. Organization and coordination are required to effect substantive changes in the structure of the US.

Chapter 7 Summary: “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation”

Taylor opens Chapter 7 by pointing out the incongruity between the promises of Emancipation, as expressed by Lincoln at the Appomattox courthouse following the end of the Civil War, and the murder of Freddie Gray on the same date 150 years later. In short, formal equality before the law has not guaranteed Black Americans’ access to the so-called American Dream or “the right to be free from oppression, the right to make determinations about your life free from duress, coercion, or threat of harm” (193). She notes that civil rights leaders Malcolm X and Martin Luther King both pointed out that integration into mainstream American society was integration into economic inequality and poverty. However, the full extent of such inequality has been masked by racial terror. Thus, the struggle for Black liberation is intimately bound to the struggle for economic justice. In addition, “Black liberation is bound up with the project of human liberation and social transformation” (194).

The radicalization of Black people during the earlier era of civil rights struggle was a part of a global rebellion against colonialism, in which various communities of color identified socialism as a viable pathway to freedom and self-determination. This gave rise to the idea that Black Americans were colonized people within the US. Although Taylor pushes back against the idea despite the parallels between Black Americans’ struggle and colonized people’s struggle, she acknowledges the role that the idea played in bringing socialism back into the Black liberation movement following its repression in the 1930s. She points out that several Black radicals in the 1960s gravitated towards the idea of socialism as viable alternatives to capitalism, and by the end of the 1960s, there was widespread acceptance that the political economy of capitalism was responsible for Black hardship.

However, the centrality of socialism to the Black liberation struggle has often been dismissed due to the idea that socialism ignores racism in favor of class consciousness. For Taylor, this raises questions of how socialism came to be viewed as tangential to the struggles of people of color when such widespread acceptance of socialism was central to Black insurgency. Thus, she traces the emergence of socialism within Black liberation movements.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 prompted an international communist movement that overlapped with the radicalization of Black Americans during the 1920s and 1930s. The Communist Party recruited Black revolutionaries, whose presence shifted the party’s perspective on its relationship to the Black liberation struggle. By the 1940s, thousands of Black Americans had joined the Communist Party. However, the party’s shifts and contradictory positions, especially regarding Stalin’s ascendancy and attempts to downplay racial inequality in favor for “unity against Hitler at all costs” (204), prompted a mass exodus of Black Americans from the Party. The mass exodus, however, did not diminish the centrality of anticapitalism and socialism to the Black movement. In fact, Black workers were the leading force in the broader workers’ movement. Furthermore, socialism and antiracism were so deeply linked in the 1950s that advocates of McCarthyism assumed antiracist organizing was the work of communists.

Taylor goes on to discuss what capitalism is and how it functions. Because the economic exploitation of the many by the few “requires various political, social, and ideological tools to divide the majority” (205-06), racism has been one of the tools used to divide and rule because it pits workers against each other and diminishes class consciousness. That is not to reduce racism to a product of capitalism, but rather to explain the relationship between class exploitation and racial oppression that allows capitalism to function. Although Karl Marx has been criticized for not paying attention to race, Taylor refutes the idea that he was inattentive to the role of slavery and race in the functioning of capitalism. In addition, she provides evidence that he was personally opposed to slavery and noted the potential for solidarity among workers of all races.

Understanding how racism impedes worker solidarity requires attention to the creation of white identity and ideas of what “whiteness” is. Taylor cites historian Edmund Morgan on how racial slavery deflected class tensions among white men by allowing them to unite around “white identity,” i.e., not being slaves. Following Emancipation, the elite class used the strategy of white supremacy and the manipulation of white fear to continue to blunt the tensions between the white rich and the white poor. This drove the idea of “white people” and “whiteness” as an undifferentiated monolith to collapse the distinction among white people of various economic classes.

Taylor identifies two primary and interconnected reasons behind the continued acceptance of racist ideas among white workers. One is the idea of manufactured scarcity that is promoted by capitalists, and two is the competition over resources that this manufactured scarcity creates. While the political and economic elite shape the ideological world to their benefit, and while there is widespread acceptance of that ideology, its contrast to the lived experiences of the common people suggests the potential for a change in consciousness. Although the process of changing consciousness is not linear, the common experience among the poor and working-class creates the potential for solidarity and political unity. Taylor sees this unity as the key to liberation and emphasizes the need for theoretical, political, and strategic clarity. This clarity involves understanding what identities determine where allegiances and collaboration lie. In addition, solidarity requires standing in unity even when another’s experience of oppression is not identical to one’s own.

Drawing the chapter and the book to a close, Taylor reiterates that racism, capitalism, and class rule are inextricably linked because racism has always been about the most powerful white men justifying their political and economic power and repressing antagonism. The daily struggles of the common people, then, must be connected to a larger vision of what a different world can look like. The Black Lives Matter movement has exposed that police violence is connected to a larger issue of economic inequality, so the next steps in the movement must involve shutting down work and production until the demands of poor and working-class people are met. Connecting the movement against police terror to a larger movement to change the political economy of the US means transforming “this country in such a way that the police are no longer needed to respond to the consequences of that inequality” (219).

Chapter 6-Chapter 7 Analysis

In Chapter 6 and Chapter 7, Taylor addresses the question that she poses in the Introduction about the connection between earlier eras of the Black liberation struggle and the movement of BLM and other new left organizations. She identifies differences and continuities in both chapters that argue that generalizing beyond the struggle against police brutality creates a basis for solidarity among a broader group of poor and working-class people of all races that could prompt a radical reconstruction of American society.

Taylor devotes a significant portion of Chapter 6 to the “generational divide” that was expressed during the Ferguson rebellion. While she asserts that “there is much fluidity between the youth and older African Americans” (163), her articulation of Sharpton’s perspective and that of older established organizations points to some important contrasts between the “old guard” and the “new guard” that demonstrates a shift in political approach and analytic strategy. Taylor states the question that the older generation faced in their day of activism in Chapter 7: “Could the machinery wielded in the oppression of Blacks now be retooled in the name of Black self-determination?” (193). Taylor demonstrates with Chapter 6, and arguments that she builds in previous chapters, that the younger generation’s answer to the question would be an unequivocal “no.”

For example, Taylor quotes Dontey Carter on the legacy of the earlier civil rights movement where Black integration into the political establishment was a key focus. Carter says, “I feel in my heart that they failed us […] They’re the reason things are like this now. They don’t represent us” (161). Carter’s quote alludes to the elitism of the Black political establishment that Taylor articulates in earlier chapters and describes as “the top-down control of the civil rights establishment” (174) in Chapter 6. The old guard’s emphasis on “leveraging connections and relationships within the [political] establishment” (168) and “mastery of American politics and Black political representation as the highest expressions of inclusion in the mainstream” (193) has created a palpable distance between the Black political establishment, including older civil rights organizations, and the everyday lives of Black people on the ground facing the realities of inequitable structures. Thus, the new activists’ decentralized approach stands in sharp contrast to “national organizations like the NAACP, NAN, or even Jackson’s Operation PUSH, whose mostly male leaders make decisions with little input from the people on the ground” (168).

Some of the new activists’ emphasis on decentralization and the use of social media speaks to their resistance to the kind of hierarchy and elitism that characterizes the political establishment and its concomitant organizations, Black or not. For example, BLM activist DeRay McKesson argues that individuals can unite against injustices with social media alone and can build communities through online platforms.

In reference to BLM Washington march organized by Sharpton’s NAN, activist Johnetta Elzie poses a question that speaks to the exclusivity of the hierarchical, leader-centered approach of some of the older generation: “If it is a protest, why do you need to have a VIP pass?” (170). Even civil rights icon Ella Baker notes and respects the new activists’ resistance to the hierarchical structure of the older generations’ political approach when she speaks of their intolerance to “anything that smacked of manipulation or domination” (163). She goes on to articulate the new guard’s community-centered approach and its importance in inspiring group-led demonstrations. She argues that through the new approach, a singular leader cannot disappoint the activists under them if a group leads instead.

The new activists’ decentralized organization is a clear turn away from the hierarchy and elitism that was the outcome of the earlier civil rights activists’ entry into the political mainstream. Furthermore, Taylor’s discussion posits that the political apparatus is not the proper mechanism not simply because of its inherent hierarchical structure that disconnects leaders from their constituencies, but also because it is such a structure of domination and subjugation that allows so many overlapping oppressions to exist unchecked. Taylor notes that the driving organizing force of the new movement is largely female and queer, meaning that their analysis of structural inequality is not limited to racism, but also includes attention to the ways that patriarchy, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia, in addition to classism and ableism, are integral parts of the mélange of state-sanctioned inequality.

For example, Taylor writes that the new guard “start[s] from the basic recognition that the oppression of African Americans is multidimensional and must be fought on different fronts” (167). She includes quotes from Charlene Carruthers and Alicia Garza that articulate this intersectional approach to state violence. In addition, Taylor quotes Zakiya Jemmott who wants recognition of the impact of police violence on Black women. Jemmott highlights how media ignores how police brutality impacts women in the Black community just as much as men.

The new guard’s push to generalize the movement and articulate the ways that systems of oppression overlap also stands in contrast to the old guard’s focus on singular cases of injustice instead of systemic issues. However, Taylor also demonstrates that while the new guard’s intersectional approach is broader, it does have antecedents in the earlier movements. She adds that the newest generation is aiming for the widest impact but are confronted with some of the same questions as their predecessors regarding how American capitalism relates to Black oppression.

While Chapter 6 includes the new guard’s recognition of and respect for their predecessors, Taylor further articulates the continuity in Chapter 7 in her discussion of socialism’s integral role in the Black liberation struggles of earlier eras. The discussion provides evidence that earlier Black activists were generalizing beyond the struggle against American racism.

For example, Taylor writes that “King himself had come to locate the crises confronting the United States in the ‘triplets’ of ‘racism, materialism and militarism’” (195). She also quotes Malcolm X, who articulated that capitalism cannot be found without racism, and those who are not racist lean towards socialism.

Malcolm X’s mention of colonialism and decolonization highlights precisely the decolonization struggle coinciding with the Black American liberation movement that drew Black Americans into a larger, global struggle against exploitation that allowed them to generalize the struggle beyond American racism. As Taylor notes, “Placing the Black rebellion within the context of the ‘African Revolution’ defied the idea that Black people were a ‘minority’ population fighting on their own in the belly of the beast” (197).

Significant examples of continuity are illustrated between the old and new eras, not coincidentally, from Black feminist organizations of the 1960s and 1970s. Taylor notes that the Black Women’s Manifesto of the Third World Women’s Alliance “analyzed racism and sexism in the movement” (198). She also includes a passage from the Combahee River Collective that articulates their intersectional approach to the liberation struggle that holds capitalism, imperialism, patriarchy accountable and aims for a feminist and anti-racist freedom. These examples not only demonstrate the connection between racism and other structural oppressions at both domestic and international levels, but they also propose that generalizing creates a basis for multiracial solidarity and radical reconstruction of American society.

In Chapter 6, Taylor brings attention to the issues that connect BLM and movements for education justice and workers’ rights. The education justice movement focuses on “issues that disproportionately affect Black students” (184), namely, privatization of public schools, the school-to-prison pipeline, and high-stakes testing (184). Taylor draws the connection between privatization and zero-tolerance policies that increase Black students’ likelihood of encountering law enforcement in school, funneling them into the school-to-prison pipeline. This illustrates that BLM and the education movement share a common basis—their fight against the disproportionate impact that the police state and capitalism have on Black lives.

Similarly, BLM shares a common basis with the workers’ rights movement. Taylor writes that campaigns to increase low wages have links to BLM in the Black community’s “overrepresentation […] in the ranks of the poor and working class” (183). She draws more connections in outlining how police target low-income communities with Black and Latinx residents who struggle more with fines associated with law enforcement interactions and violence. Taylor not only connects her argument about BLM’s collaborative potential back to a point that she has made in a previous chapter, but the mention of Latinx workers alludes to the potential for multiracial solidarity within the movement. Taylor finds multiracial solidarity especially important because Black people only constitute about 13% of the American population. That is, the Black demographic is not large enough to effect systemic change on its own. However, given the way that Black resistance movements draw attention to America’s interrelated oppressions, non-Black people have a stake in the Black-led movement. Taylor articulates that Black liberation is in the interest of all American society as it is the foundation for granting freedom for all citizens.

Near the end of Chapter 6, her discussion of multiracial solidarity includes acknowledging that while there are significant differences among racial groups’ experiences that should not be disregarded, she argues that emphasizing those differences to the detriment of recognizing commonalities and overlaps erodes the potential for solidarity that would lead to the radical transformation. In addition, she discusses in Chapter 7 the challenge to multiracial solidarity, given that racism is the “common-sense” ideology of the American state and that manufactured scarcity and competition are integral to the ideology of capitalism. However, Taylor implies that there is hope because people’s lived experiences challenge dominant ideologies and have the potential to change consciousness. Furthermore, she defines solidarity as “standing in unity with people even when you have not personally experienced their particular oppression” (215), delineating again that identical experiences are not required for people to join forces against racism and capitalism. Thus, the radical reconstruction of society is possible and can be the end goal of the BLM movement.

Taylor caps her entire argument about radical reconstruction and forward movement in one of the concluding sentences of the book: “The challenge before us is to connect the current struggle to end police terror in our communities with an even larger movement to transform this country in such a way that the police are no longer needed to respond to the consequences of that inequality” (219).