The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America *eBook
From the New York Times bestselling author of White Rage, an unflinching, critical new look at the Second Amendment―and how it has been engineered to deny the rights of African Americans since its inception. In The Second, historian and award-winning, bestselling author of White Rage Carol Anderson powerfully illuminates the history and impact of the Second Amendment, how it was designed, and how it has consistently been constructed to keep African Americans powerless and vulnerable. The Second is neither a “pro-gun” nor an “anti-gun” book; the lens is the citizenship rights and human rights of African Americans. From the seventeenth century, when it was encoded into law that the enslaved could not own, carry, or use a firearm whatsoever, until today, with measures to expand and curtail gun ownership aimed disproportionately at the African American population, the right to bear arms has been consistently used as a weapon to keep African Americans powerless--revealing that armed or unarmed, Blackness, it would seem, is the threat that must be neutralized and punished. Throughout American history to the twenty-first century, regardless of the laws, court decisions, and changing political environment, the Second has consistently meant this: That the second a Black person exercises this right, the second they pick up a gun to protect themselves (or the second that they don’t), their life--as surely as Philando Castile’s, Tamir Rice’s, Alton Sterling’s--may be snatched away in that single, fatal second. Through compelling historical narrative merging into the unfolding events of today, Anderson’s penetrating investigation shows that the Second Amendment is not about guns but about anti-Blackness, shedding shocking new light on another dimension of racism in America. Read more
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Why Must Read The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America?
How can someone, who claims to be a "researcher" get a subject so completely wrong? Carol starts her tome by claiming the Second Amendment had something to do with the death of Philando Castille. You see, the Second Amendment granted Philando the right to carry a gun, and that was all the police officer needed to justify killing him. Nowhere does Carol mention that officer Yanez feared for his life. Was Yanez justified in shooting? I suspect an honest reviewer of the case would say Officer Yanez was NOT justified, and committed murder. But the author doesn't mention this. That Mr. Castille had a gun, according to her, was all the justification the officer needed to shoot. The rest of the book follows this pattern of of dishonesty. Do we have a problem with police officers on power trips? Absolutely! Do we have individuals with criminal records (Alton Sterling) carrying guns illegally? 100% yes! And what happens when power tripping police encounter ANYONE with a gun? Ask Alton - people die! To Carol, the author, the problem isn't criminals carrying guns. Nor is it police officers with serious emotional problems, anger management issues, and so much more. It's not drug dealers, nor gangs, nor others breaking the law. No! Carol claims the problem must be the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. You see, to the author, the Bill of Rights is Racially Compromised. How? Somehow, somewhere in history, someone decided only whites could own guns, and they wrote that into the Bill of Rights. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." You see it, don't you? The part of the Bill of Rights that says the constitution is only for "whites". Other people of color are NOT given the same protections. You see where the Bill of Rights is only meant to restrict the rights of Blacks - right? I mean, it's there, isn't it? It couldn't be, not in a million years, that the Constitution and Bill of Rights are LIMITS on Government and government behavior. And not in a million years could we have a Congress, or President or Court that violate peoples rights - right? Dred Scott anyone. The author seeks to find Systemic Racism in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and boy does she find it. She should be ashamed. As a researcher, she had a preconceived outcome for this book and every word, sentence, paragraph and page shows her fatal bias. This isn't a good research material, it's just one more example of lies masquerading as research.
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