A History of Violent Protest

The images are familiar now. The police in their face shields, armed with batons and cans of pepper spray. The protestors, sporting bruises, pouring milk on each others’ faces. What’s happening right now might make you feel uncomfortable and angry. Kellie Carter-Jackson says: that’s the point. Today on the show, why a nice, peaceful protest may not accomplish the structural change America needs.

Guest: Kellie Carter-Jackson, PhD, a professor at Wellesley College and the author of Force & Freedom: Black Abolitionists the Politics of Violence.

Other books mentioned in this episode: The Deacons of Defense: Armed Resistence and the Civil Rights Movement by Lance Hill. And This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible by Charles E. Cobb Jr.

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