Reviews
Learning the political strategy behind Black Power has been so transformational for my understanding of how institutionalized and systemic racism actually manifests, and how I can show up as an ally. The book emphasizes that racism against Blacks is particularly unique in the US because it so heavily contributed to the financial foundations of our country, and that the hatred and bigotry directed at Blacks obscures the true colonial motivations of the "othering" of Black people: financial exploitation. By driving home this point, and laying out a clear political strategy and paralleling it to other political strategies that groups have used in the past - groups that have not had the color of their skin as such obvious, visible signaling for "othering" - Black Power really helped me understand how much racism is about power and subjugation for financial gain. This implies that the hatred and bigotry is the cost Black people pay for this oppression, but the dismantling of this dynamic is not about getting white people to like Black people. That's dealing with symptoms. The dismantling comes in undoing colonial practices that continue to exploit Black people and encourage the "othering" as a social justification for this financial and political gain. Incredible read.