As Black As Resistance-Finding The Conditions For Liberation

Description

Both theoretical and pragmatic, this refreshingly savvy book charts a

course for the Black Lives Matter generation. In the United States, both

struggles against oppression and the gains made by various movements for

equality have often been led by Black people. Still, though progress has

regularly been fueled by radical Black efforts, liberal politics are based

on ideas and practices that impede the continued progress of Black America.

Building on their original essay "The Anarchism of Blackness" Samudzi and

Anderson show the centrality of anti-Blackness to the foundational violence

of the United States and to the racial structures upon which it is based as

a nation. Racism is not, they say, simply a product of capitalism. Rather,

we must understand how anti-Blackness shaped the contours and logics of

European colonialism and its many legacies, to the extent that "Blacknessâ"

and citizenship are exclusive categories. As Black As Resistance makes

the case for a new program of self-defense and transformative politics for

Black Americans, one rooted in an anarchistic framework that the authors

liken to the Black experience itself. This book argues against compromise

and negotiation with intolerance. It is a manifesto for everyone who is

ready to continue progressing towards liberation. "As Black as Resistance

is an urgently needed book . . . a call to action through an embrace of the

anarchy of blackness as a recognition and a refusal of the deathly logics

of liberalism and consumption. In the face of the ever expanding carceral

state, levels of inequality, environmental degradation, and resurgent

fascism, this book offers a map to imagining the liberated futures that we

can and must and do make." Christina Sharpe, author of In the Wake: On

Blackness and Being