Reviews
Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century by Barbara Ransby
sheabutterfemme's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. Love this book. Easy to read, really so fun to recognize the names of comrades and friends throughout the pages. I attended some of the events mentioned. I came into organizing right before Ferguson, so this was really kind of like? A nice reflection of sorts. I think people who are engaging with Black organizing right now should read this for a quick catch up on all that has happened. I wish it were longer though, because a lot of things were summed up rather quickly. I also noticed how harm was described, and found it to be slightly simplistic. We are making history right now, so I'm sure if Ransby were to write it today, things would be different.
ninawilson49's review against another edition
5.0
"No one is free until we all are free, and that includes those who are employed, unemployed, those who are incarcerated or in gangs, or who are sex workers. What we are fighting for is a world where our full humanity is honored and protected and valued, and that includes all of who we are" (Ransby 157). All black lives matter.
rabelais's review against another edition
5.0
Ransby is amazing, and does a splendid job of outlining recent history. Her contextualization of the movements and events over the last 6+ years helps us to better understand what we potentially only saw through discordant news.
"First of all, thank you. Thank you for your courage and your passion, for your savvy and your boldness. Thank you for facing the bloody reality--embedded in the historical fibers of this country and become all too routine--and saying "no." And in saying no you brazenly rejected the bourgeois trappings of respectability. In other words, you said "hell, no" to state violence in its crudest form, as well as to the slow death that racial capitalism and its neoliberal practices have caused over time." (p. 165)
"First of all, thank you. Thank you for your courage and your passion, for your savvy and your boldness. Thank you for facing the bloody reality--embedded in the historical fibers of this country and become all too routine--and saying "no." And in saying no you brazenly rejected the bourgeois trappings of respectability. In other words, you said "hell, no" to state violence in its crudest form, as well as to the slow death that racial capitalism and its neoliberal practices have caused over time." (p. 165)
vegjeri's review
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.5
This is a very informative look at the many organizers and activists who have been the driving force behind the Movement for Black Lives. I would have given it a 5, but it was fairly dense reading.
joymeetsworld's review
4.0
[4 stars] A timeline and discussion of the Black Lives Matter Movement / Movement for Black Lives and its development of a Black feminist lens. I am so appreciative that this archival history exists and names so many people who were central to movement building from the decades of activism that provided a political foundation to the organizing following the murders of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown to the development of the BLM Global Network organization and M4BL coalition and beyond. There is a lot here not covered elsewhere written in the style of Ransby’s talks and lectures.
I wish there had been a deeper NPIC analysis overlaid in the history, similar to the critique in INCITE’s The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, because I’m genuinely curious to know organizers’ thoughts on how foundation and major donor support has impacted the work; I can also see why those analyses weren’t included, as the movement is still being funded. I also felt there was something about the dynamics of gender, harassment, and harm that felt too “neat” in her descriptions (e.g. Dream Defenders being held up as an example of gender justice even though Black women I trust are still critical of Phillip Agnew’s misogynoir, the decision to name Malcolm London in the sections that share his leadership achievements but not the section that discusses his sexual violence). And as a personal bias, a friend who was central to BLMGN isn’t credited as such, even in a chapter that read as a listing of names; I don’t even know if she cares but I noticed the omission.
I think like any history it’s inevitably incomplete (especially since it’s about activism that is still happening) and influenced by who is telling it. Given my critiques, it’s still worth reading. I’d recommend it to those interested in detailed information about specific “watershed” moments in the evolution of M4BL and anyone wanting to know more about important Black-led organizing in Chicago.
Goodreads Challenge: 34/72
Reading Women Challenge: nonfiction by a woman historian
Popsugar Reading Challenge: a book with “twenty” in the title (bonus category!)
Femibooks Nonfiction Challenge: a book about feminism
I wish there had been a deeper NPIC analysis overlaid in the history, similar to the critique in INCITE’s The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, because I’m genuinely curious to know organizers’ thoughts on how foundation and major donor support has impacted the work; I can also see why those analyses weren’t included, as the movement is still being funded. I also felt there was something about the dynamics of gender, harassment, and harm that felt too “neat” in her descriptions (e.g. Dream Defenders being held up as an example of gender justice even though Black women I trust are still critical of Phillip Agnew’s misogynoir, the decision to name Malcolm London in the sections that share his leadership achievements but not the section that discusses his sexual violence). And as a personal bias, a friend who was central to BLMGN isn’t credited as such, even in a chapter that read as a listing of names; I don’t even know if she cares but I noticed the omission.
I think like any history it’s inevitably incomplete (especially since it’s about activism that is still happening) and influenced by who is telling it. Given my critiques, it’s still worth reading. I’d recommend it to those interested in detailed information about specific “watershed” moments in the evolution of M4BL and anyone wanting to know more about important Black-led organizing in Chicago.
Goodreads Challenge: 34/72
Reading Women Challenge: nonfiction by a woman historian
Popsugar Reading Challenge: a book with “twenty” in the title (bonus category!)
Femibooks Nonfiction Challenge: a book about feminism
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