The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall ApartAn 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. |
Contents
CHAPTER TWO My Generation | 10 |
PART II | 45 |
CHAPTER FOUR The First Fight | 56 |
CHAPTER FIVE Unite to Fight | 84 |
CHAPTER SIX Trayvon Obama and the Birth | 95 |
CHAPTER SEVEN Rebellion and Resistance | 123 |
PART III | 139 |
CHAPTER NINE Unity and Solidarity | 149 |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Impostor Syndrome | 196 |
CHAPTER FOURTEEN No Base No Movement | 212 |
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Political Education | 219 |
CHAPTER SIXTEEN United Fronts and Popular Fronts | 233 |
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Platforms Pedestals and Profiles | 241 |
Power | 268 |
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF | 279 |
AFTERWORD | 291 |
CHAPTER TEN New Movements New Leadership | 160 |
CHAPTER ELEVEN Voting Can Be a Movement a | 166 |
CHAPTER TWELVE The Power of Identity Politics | 184 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 303 |
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The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart Alicia Garza No preview available - 2021 |
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