Stay Woke. Candis Watts Smith
STAY WOKE
A PEOPLE’S GUIDE TO MAKING
ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER
TEHAMA LOPEZ BUNYASI AND CANDIS WATTS SMITH
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
New York University Press
New York
© 2019 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lopez Bunyasi, Tehama, author. | Smith, Candis Watts, author.
Title: Stay woke : a people’s guide to making all Black lives matter / Tehama Lopez Bunyasi and Candis Watts Smith.
Description: New York : New York University Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018057315| ISBN 9781479874927 (cl : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781479836482 (pb : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Black lives matter movement. | African Americans—Social conditions—21st century. | African Americans—Race identity. | United States—Race relations. | Race discrimination—United States.
Classification: LCC E185.615 .L66 2019 | DDC 305.896/073—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018057315
For André and Ximena
Contents
Introduction
1 On the Matter of Black Lives
2 All the Words People Throw Around
3 The Politics of Racial Progress
4 Are You Upholding White Supremacy?
5 It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way
6 Twenty-One Affirmations for the Twenty-First Century
Conclusion: We Believe That We Will Win!
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Authors
Everyone has heard of “Black Lives Matter.” #BlackLivesMatter went viral in 2013. It is a seemingly innocuous slogan that has caused a great deal of rancor among some Americans. It is a social movement that expanded globally and has inspired millions of people but seems to have dissipated over the past couple of years. Many folks believe either that the Black Lives Matter movement is (or was) focused primarily on uprooting police brutality or, on the other end of the spectrum, that it is (or was) simply an anti-police rallying cry. Neither of these impressions captures its essence or its vision. Furthermore, the movement has not dissipated but instead has evolved, as social movements tend to do. In this book, we take a step back not only to debunk certain myths about this social movement but also to illuminate the lessons that this contemporary Movement for Black Lives provides to people who are interested in being effective racial justice advocates and antiracists.
Black Lives Matter—the hashtag, the slogan, the movement—is an effort to bring attention to the precarious nature of Black lives in the United States. It is concerned with the various ways that Black people across an array of identities—including those who are gay, lesbian, queer, transgender, poor, formerly incarcerated, undocumented, and/or differently abled—face special challenges that must all be attended to in order for all Black people to attain equality in the United States and in order for the United States to truly say that it is an egalitarian and free society.
In this book, we use our expertise as scholars and educators to get you thinking about why a movement called Black Lives Matter rose to prominence during the first self-identified Black president’s second term in office. Relatedly, we’ll get you thinking about how this moment in American political life relates to a deep history of structural racism. We’ll have you critically examine many things that you probably take for granted or perhaps have never considered—including the ways in which you may participate in reproducing racial inequality—and do so in a way that brings otherwise-dry social science scholarship to life.
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Who Should Read This Book?
Stay Woke participates in the public discussion about race in order to guide people through the structural and ideological systems of contemporary American racism. We aim to enrich our readers’ understanding of the role that race and racism play in American society, treating the twenty-first-century Movement for Black Lives as a teachable moment. With that said, we know that not everyone will get on board with what we have to say, but that’s not what we’re looking for. Instead, we aim to convince enough people that until Black lives begin to matter, the United States of America will never be a liberal, egalitarian democracy. We know that not everyone will get on board with this book because they will not believe the information we share; the facts we provide will be new, shocking, and sometimes inconceivable to some. But, as they say, truth is stranger than fiction. We cannot make this stuff up, and we have not. We rely on accurate portrayals of US history and society. We rely on peer-reviewed books and articles, well-researched reports from reputable organizations, and data publicly provided by the US government. We integrate aspects of critical race theory with social science inquiry. We know that not everyone will get on board with this book because we are “academic elites with an agenda.” Yes, we have an agenda, best characterized as an effort toward antiracism. The interpretations and perspectives are our own, and as Charles L. Edson, an affordable-housing attorney, wrote, “If any are controversial and serve to keep the reader awake, so much the better.”1
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How Should You Use This Book?
Stay Woke is a little unorthodox, but the structure of this book is inspired by the many conversations we have had with our students, generational peers, colleagues, and college administrators, as well as folks from social justice organizations and antiracist trainings. Each chapter provides some insight into a contemporary or historical aspect of anti-Black racism in order to cultivate the reader’s identity as an antiracist or “one who strives to change the norms and practices that allow racism to exist,” as explained by the prominent sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva.2
We begin in chapter 1, “On the Matter of Black Lives,” by looking at why the Black Lives Matter movement is necessary. By illustrating how structural racism operates and detrimentally impacts the lives of Black people, we set the table for collectively thinking about how to enact change. We know that there are plenty of people who are looking to fight back, so throughout the book we provide tools and ideas about how to do so—especially for those of us who benefit from white privilege.
We have noticed that progressives and conservatives do a lot of talking past one another. They throw around all kinds of esoteric words and reference concepts that seem universally understood, but both groups often have different meanings in mind. To facilitate your way around the bumpy terrain of racial language, we have placed a glossary near the front of the book, in chapter 2,