scrimjm's review against another edition
5.0
I first learned of Viola Liuzzo when I briefly worked in the Detroit Department of Neighborhoods and had heard of the unveiling of her statue and christening of a park in her name (truly a long time coming after hearing the fight to have a street named in her honor— and it still wouldn’t have happened without the deep investment of block clubs), and her story piqued my interest. I was surprised I had never heard her name before.
So many threads of this history can be traced to our present-day moment, the glorification of the KKK and racist mythologizing as endorsed by elected leaders, the webs of power within police unions and associations, the press and deliberate use of disinformation, and a battle for “the soul of the nation.” I think it’s important for white people to uncover histories of other white people that have actively resisted white supremacy and worked towards collective liberation. This biography humanizes her with such care, a direct reclamation of her legacy from state-backed smear campaign from Hoover’s cointelpro. I appreciated all of the context to situate her life in Detroit and the rest of the Civil Rights Movement. I couldn’t help situating my own grandparents’ life in Detroit in relation to hers. Though there wasn’t justice in her life or death for her family, she no doubt impacted everyone she came into contact with leaving us with this reminder that the work still continues.
So many threads of this history can be traced to our present-day moment, the glorification of the KKK and racist mythologizing as endorsed by elected leaders, the webs of power within police unions and associations, the press and deliberate use of disinformation, and a battle for “the soul of the nation.” I think it’s important for white people to uncover histories of other white people that have actively resisted white supremacy and worked towards collective liberation. This biography humanizes her with such care, a direct reclamation of her legacy from state-backed smear campaign from Hoover’s cointelpro. I appreciated all of the context to situate her life in Detroit and the rest of the Civil Rights Movement. I couldn’t help situating my own grandparents’ life in Detroit in relation to hers. Though there wasn’t justice in her life or death for her family, she no doubt impacted everyone she came into contact with leaving us with this reminder that the work still continues.
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