“Offers critical insights into the whirlwind pandemic and racism have reaped … Politics, history, strategy, and tactics are all that our side has. ” —Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of Race for Profit

“In the United States, being poor and Black makes you more likely to get sick. Being poor, Black, and sick makes you more likely to die. Your proximity to death makes you disposable. ”

The uprising of 2020 marked a new phase in the unfolding Movement for Black Lives. The brutal killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, and countless other injustices large and small, were the match that lit the spark of the largest protest movement in US history, a historic uprising against racism and the politics of disposability that the Covid-19 pandemic lays bare.

In this urgent and incisive collection of new interviews bookended by two new essays, Marc Lamont Hill critically examines the “pre-existing conditions” that have led us to this moment of crisis and upheaval, guiding us through both the perils and possibilities, and helping us imagine an abolitionist future.

“Marc Lamont Hill doesn’t shy away from the difficult questions, and he is willing to tell the hard truth. In this powerful book, his insight and commitment to justice leap from every page. Read it, be informed, and feel fortified in these trying times. Hill models what Henry James called ‘perception at the pitch of passion. ’” —Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. , New York Times bestselling author of Begin Again

“A brilliant, timely, and inspirational book … paints a beautiful picture of possibilities for the future. ” —Tarana Burke, founder of the Me Too movement