Potent and relevant pieces by a groundbreaking Black politician.
A compendium of works by the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress.
A former teacher, Chisholm represented Brooklyn’s 12th congressional district for seven consecutive terms, from 1969 to 1983. This collection of her writings is divided thematically into eight sections, including education, criminal justice, racism and civil rights, and women’s rights and leadership. The preface provides a sweeping introduction by Fraser, director of the Shirley Chisholm Project on Brooklyn Women’s Activism at Brooklyn College. “Public oratory,” Fraser convincingly writes, “is at the center of the Black freedom struggle, serving as one of its most valuable weapons.” The first of Chisholm’s writings here is a 1973 address she gave, titled “The Necessity for a New Thrust in Education Today,” in which she said, “Our primary function as educators must be to break from tradition when that tradition does not serve the present or retards the future; to reorient our school systems…in terms of imparting to our students and children a sense of self-respect, a sense of hope, a sense of belonging, a sense of power.” The importance of education for Black people serves as a consistent theme in Chisholm’s speeches, as does women’s activism. She was a rare voice who argued against spending money on weapons, writing, “I do not think I will ever understand what kind of values can be involved in spending $9 billion…on elaborate, unnecessary, and impractical weapons when several thousand disadvantaged children in the nation’s capital get nothing.” Chisholm’s bracing collection could not be more timely, with Vice President Kamala Harris vying for the office that Chisholm hoped to win in 1972, when she ran as the first Black woman to campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Potent and relevant pieces by a groundbreaking Black politician.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9780520386983
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Univ. of California
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
For those satisfied with blame-the-victim tidbits of received wisdom.
The noted conservative economist delivers arguments both fiscal and political against social justice initiatives such as welfare and a federal minimum wage.
A Black scholar who has lived through many civil rights struggles, Sowell is also a follower of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, who insisted that free market solutions are available for every social problem. This short book begins with what amounts to an impatient declaration that life isn’t fair. Some nations are wealthy because of geographical advantages, and some people are wealthy because they’re smarter than others. “Some social justice advocates may implicitly assume that various groups have similar developed capabilities, so that different outcomes appear puzzling,” he writes. In doing so, he argues, they fail to distinguish between equal opportunity and equal capability. Sowell is dismissive of claims that Black Americans and other minorities are systematically denied a level playing field: Put non-white kids in charter schools, he urges, and presto, their math scores will zoom northward as compared to those in public schools. “These are huge disparities within the same groups, so that neither race nor racism can account for these huge differences,” he writes, clearly at pains to distance himself from the faintest suggestion that race has anything to do with success or failure in America. At the same time, he isn’t exactly comfortable with the idea that economic inequalities exist, and he tries to finesse definitions to suit his convictions: “The terms ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ are misleading in another and more fundamental sense. These terms apply to people’s stock of wealth, not their flows of income.” As for crime? Give criminals more rights, he asserts, as with Miranda v. Arizona, and crime rates go up—an assertion that overlooks numerous other variables but fits Sowell’s ideological slant.
For those satisfied with blame-the-victim tidbits of received wisdom.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9781541603929
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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