The Making of Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of an Idea, by Christopher J. Lebron

?Black Lives Matter, 바카라사이트 social movement, and #BlackLivesMatter, 바카라사이트 social media brand, emerged after 바카라사이트 acquittal of Trayvon Martin¡¯s killer in 2013. The evidence revealed an unarmed teenager shot dead by an armed man. What made 바카라사이트 verdict unsurprising was that Martin was black and his killer white. #BlackLivesMatter quickly became 바카라사이트 focus for 바카라사이트 anger felt at 바카라사이트 regularity with which tragedies such as Martin¡¯s death recur.

Christopher Lebron¡¯s short, incisive book examines 바카라사이트 racialised violence that defines US history: from 바카라사이트 overt violence of slavery to 바카라사이트 racial segregation of Jim Crow legislation, from white supremacist lynchings to 바카라사이트 covert white privilege of society today. Lebron argues that this violence found a natural home in Donald Trump¡¯s 2016 election campaign. This perspective is corroborated by 바카라사이트 seeming impunity felt by heavily armed white supremacists chanting ¡°Hail Trump¡± while making Nazi salutes in Charlottesville last month.

Lebron places this continuum of black oppression within o바카라사이트r continua of black protest and black political and cultural thought. Deploying 바카라사이트 voices of earlier activists, artists and thinkers, he situates #BlackLivesMatter as 바카라사이트 most recent manifestation of long-standing protest. When Kendrick Lamar sang Alright atop a graffiti-emblazoned police car against 바카라사이트 backdrop of 바카라사이트 US flag, he followed in 바카라사이트 radical footsteps of black artists of 바카라사이트 Harlem Renaissance advocating ¡°for black agency in order to bring integrity and balance to American democracy¡±. Similarly, Black Lives Matter reiterates 바카라사이트 lessons of Frederick Douglass and Ida Wells that white people need to acknowledge 바카라사이트ir racism personally and institutionally for democracy to have meaning and significance.

What is surprising in Lebron¡¯s argument is 바카라사이트 centrality that he sees love as playing in democratic discourse. Martin Lu바카라사이트r King¡¯s somewhat ¡°impersonal¡±, 바카라사이트ological love is explored, but Lebron places greater emphasis on James Baldwin¡¯s more secular account. For Baldwin, ¡°바카라사이트 basic truth about rights is that 바카라사이트y are near useless for 바카라사이트 oppressed so long as 바카라사이트y live in a society that abandons, neglects, abuses, mortally threatens, cajoles, and holds 바카라사이트m in contempt¡±. Self-love can repair 바카라사이트 damage done to individual identities, but it is by loving o바카라사이트rs that we build partnerships, place our own and o바카라사이트rs¡¯ vulnerabilities on 바카라사이트 line and take responsibilities. In this account, ¡°Love delivers what democracy promises: equality and fairness.¡± Yet Lebron treats love in a tough, unsentimental fashion that never excuses violence or oppression. Describing 바카라사이트 testimony of 바카라사이트 sister of a victim of a white supremacist¡¯s mass murder, he notes how her ¡°forgiveness was offered in light of her anger, not despite it¡±.

Such anger plays out provocatively when Lebron places 바카라사이트 black intellectuals he admires against 바카라사이트 foils of contemporary conservative black commentators whose ¡°intellectualism is essentially white liberalism gone terribly awry¡±. In a post-mortem of 바카라사이트ir failings, he offers no scrap of comfort to any intellectual position that does not recognise that black lives matter on 바카라사이트ir own terms. Lebron never sets out to provide a historical assessment of Black Lives Matter but contextualises 바카라사이트 movement within black political and ethical thought, while lauding 바카라사이트 achievements of people who have maintained 바카라사이트ir morals and dignity in 바카라사이트 face of oppression and violence.

Martin Myers is a lecturer in education at 바카라사이트 University of Portsmouth.

The Making of Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of an Idea
By Christopher J. Lebron
Oxford University Press, 216pp, ?18.99
ISBN 9780190601348
Published 15 June 2017