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Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America
Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America | Carol Anderson
13 posts | 11 read | 18 to read
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.
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staci.reads
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I got really behind on this one but did end up finishing it this month. It was thought-provoking and at times, angering. Glad to have picked this one up as part of the #SheSaid group! @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

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ncsufoxes
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This ended up being a great companion book to “When Crack Was King.” Anderson offers a well researched & examination of how throughout American history the Second Amendment is/has not ever really been intended for anyone other than white people. She discusses different moments in history up until present day where particularly Black Americans continue to not be protected (unlike white Americans) by the Second. It‘s an infuriating book. It‘s an

ncsufoxes important book that the people that should read it won‘t. “Policymakers & their constituents denigrated public expenditures for schools, jobs, housing, & health care as the quixotic plans of “bleeding heart” liberals who were “coddling criminals” & who had “irresponsibly squandered taxpayer money on ineffective social programs to control crime.”” Inequality continues to dominate & harm so many people in the US. April review #bookspin #shesaid (edited) 8mo
TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 8mo
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DebinHawaii
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#ReadAway2024 #AwesomeApril #readathon

Read with #SheSaid for April, it‘s a well-researched & well-written look at why the Second Amendment was set up to fail Blacks from the get-go. The author expertly pulls facts & data together & it had me both horrified & angry.

The last sentence says it all “The Second is lethal; steeped in anti-Blackness, it is the loaded weapon laying around just waiting for the hand of some authority to put it to use.”

DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳 8mo
Andrew65 Well done 👏👏👏 8mo
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Hello #SheSaid!

We have reached the end of another book! I got a lot from this one, I hope you did too. Let me know what you thought about the last section and the book as a whole. See you in the comments

CatLass007 I wish there were solutions for this crime against our fellow human beings. But all the Black Lives Matter marches and other protests won‘t change people‘s hearts. This and other books are good at stirring the emotions. But what are the answers? 8mo
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vlwelser I got so much from this book. This writer is amazing. The last part was so sad. All those young people that were basically murdered for absolutely no reason and no repercussions to the people that did it. 8mo
MallenNC I‘m glad to have read this with our group. It was sad and frustrating to read knowing that this amendment that some people think is so infallible was so flawed from the very start, purposefully and for racist reasons. It‘s another book that I think those who really need to read it never will. 8mo
willaful I think it's so important for this knowledge to be told and shared. And of course a lot of people are trying very hard to supress it. 🤬 8mo
willaful @MallenNC “It‘s another book that I think those who really need to read it never will.“ Ugh, painfully true. 8mo
DebinHawaii I missed last week‘s discussion but I was impressed by the book overall & learned a lot. Frustrating & heartbreaking. Sadly, not only do I think the people who need to read it won‘t, I also think even if they did, it wouldn‘t change their minds at this point. 🤬😖😥 Thank you for picking it & hosting. 8mo
Bookwormjillk I just finished. This was a tough book to read, but I‘m glad I did. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. 8mo
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vlwelser
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This author has a way of putting things together and explaining them so coherently that I often wonder why I didn't piece everything together myself. It all just makes sense when you follow her thought path.

#SheSaid @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

#DoubleSpin @TheAromaofBooks

Hooked_on_books I agree. She‘s really good. 8mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 8mo
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CatLass007
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#SheSaid #ReadAway2024 An excellent, heartbreaking book. Several times I had to stop listening to this audiobook to reduce my rage and grief at the way Black citizens have been legally murdered by the police and private citizens. Read and be educated.

DieAReader 🥳📚Awesome! 8mo
Andrew65 Well done 👏👏👏 8mo
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Hello #SheSaid!

Anyone else finish this part just infuriated…

I did!

Plus, I left feeling like 90% of the problems we have today are because we were not strong enough to deal with 💩 the first time. 😱🤯

MallenNC Yes. I know it is important to know real history but it‘s horrible and infuriating to read about. I think about how different things might be today if Reconstruction had not been actively sabotaged. 8mo
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC Yes. If they had won the war and followed through we everything in reconstruction… a different world we would be in. 8mo
vlwelser @MallenNC I definitely agree. All that stuff about Johnson blocking everything burned my butter. What a waste of a president that guy was. And to think he was Lincoln's vp and didn't align with what we assume Lincoln might have done is extra annoying. 8mo
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC but as infuriating as it is to read, I do truly believe that old saying, that not knowing history and doomed to repeat it. It‘s the white-washing and refusal to teach and learn about it that is leading to us making the same mistakes over & over. (edited) 8mo
CatLass007 I vacillated between fury and sorrow. I had to take a break to listen to a different audiobook for a bit to get me out of my funk. @Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC It‘s not just that we were too cowardly to fix 💩 the first time. It‘s not just about Reconstruction being sabotaged. It‘s about ALL the times we were cowardly and ALL the times progress was sabotaged. We only have to look as recently as the Charlottesville violence. We only (cont)⬇️ 8mo
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @vlwelser yes, you know those old sci-fi time travel axiom, about going back in time to “kill Hitler” or whatever, feels like maybe it should be to “save Lincoln”. 8mo
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @CatLass007 yes! The Supreme Court abd the Klan decision 🤬. I can totally see our current Supreme Court making some decisions just like that. 8mo
vlwelser 😂 or get rid of Johnson. But I like this premise. 8mo
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @CatLass007 I put it down for awhile in the middle and started reading Cultish 😂 8mo
CatLass007 have to look as recently as the January 6th insurrection. We only have to look as recently as the book bans that keep occurring. I don‘t know what the answer is. Most people are always going to hate and fear those who are different. Most people need to feel superior to someone else. Most people are completely unwilling to give up their power. I know this book is about the Second Amendment and how it has negatively affected Black (cont)⬇️ 8mo
CatLass007 Americans, but prejudice of all kinds runs rampant in this country and the world. 8mo
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @CatLass007 Yes, she is writing specifically about the American 2nd Amendment and our issues with race. But I‘m pretty sure if you read histories of any other country that had colonialism or slavery in their history and find similar….it was and is white-supremacy, which is what European‘s decided gave them the “right” to colonize other countries, because they “knew better” what was “best”. They were “smarter” “more evolved” than “heathens” ⤵️ 8mo
Riveted_Reader_Melissa ↪️ it was the justification for whatever they did to others to make it ok in their own minds to treat them sub-humanly. 8mo
Riveted_Reader_Melissa And because they did do horrible things… to get land, labor, whatever…. They needed that justification legally and needed to believe it mentally to make what they were doing ok. But we have not rooted out that thinking yet….i think it is more entrenched in the US than many other places. Probably because we kept slavery longer than other countries, used imperialism after the original European countries were transitioning out of it, and then ⤵️ (edited) 8mo
Riveted_Reader_Melissa ↪️ doubled-down with Jim Crow, to basically reinforce it, and every time we get rid of one , like slavery to Jim Crow to Mass Incarceration to police brutality….we never really just say outright no, so it festers on in a new way and new form. (edited) 8mo
CatLass007 @vlwelser I have many relatives who believe things would be better if the South had been permitted to secede and if Lincoln hadn‘t “interfered.” @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I agree. The fanatics who distort the teachings of the Bible to support their belief in white supremacy are the ones who are the worst. 8mo
Riveted_Reader_Melissa I think that the problem is all our white-washing and refusal to learn the real history and confront it. Where places like Germany after Nazi‘s or South Africa after Apartheid had major reckonings and really cracked down on those still spouting old ideas, our history as evidenced here is placate the old beliefs, and protect those still espousing those ideas “for peace” over those that have been wronged. 8mo
vlwelser @CatLass007 my aunt was born on an army base in MS and is always horrified when we all suggest we let them go, but this would have solved this problem entirely. She'd still be a citizen. 8mo
Susanita She was a guest on the Now & Then podcast. It was a powerful episode. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/now-then/id1567665859?i=1000569632405 8mo
willaful This chapter was just devastating. And we're definitely doomed to repeat. I think probably the people who know this history the best are those trying to undo every positive change that has been laboriously made. 😡 8mo
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Susanita Thank you, I‘ll check it out 8mo
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Hello #SheSaid

How are you all this weekend? Still learning a lot from the book. I‘m a bit behind this week, so please start discussing without me, I‘ll check in later (hopefully today).

vlwelser I'm really loving this history lesson that she has delved into. I never tied all of these things together. It was taught in school like a bunch of disjointed facts. The writing is very accessible. And I don't feel bored by it. Magic. 8mo
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MallenNC A lot of horrifying parts of US history are brought together in this chapter. One thing that‘s really clear is how wrong it seems that some act like the constitution and it‘s writers were infalible. Which is if course the point of the book. 8mo
DebinHawaii ‘George Washington was greatly concerned, as he brought his enslaved entourage to his presidential residence in Philadelphia, a city where free Blacks were nearly five times more prevalent than those "still tethered to the institution of slavery." He worried that "the idea of freedom might be too great a temptation for them to resist." His wife, Martha Washington, was even more determined to "shield... her slaves from the contagion of liberty."? 8mo
DebinHawaii This chapter was both interesting & horrific. Made it even more clear what an incredibly white-washed history education I was given growing up. 😱🤬 (edited) 8mo
MallenNC @DebinHawaii Agree. The parts I did know were from reading and learning as an adult outside of school. 8mo
willaful This was pretty much all new to me, and so staggering. The hypocrisy of the founders and “lovers of liberty“... 8mo
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @DebinHawaii right! I read a lot, so I had that thought before… but it still hits me every time it comes and I‘m still mad about how lied to I feel. And somehow still shocked that they left out XYZ when I was in school. And I should not be surprised considering recent discussions today about trying to control what is put in today‘s schoolbooks. 8mo
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Hello #SheSaid!

How are you this week?

Finding interesting things in this first part, things you knew already or were new to you? I found a bit of both, but like everything of Anderson‘s I‘ve read, she packs a lot of really well researched and sourced info into clear paragraphs without any extra fluff/tangents.

vlwelser This book is so interesting so far. The author is brilliant. She does an amazing job of giving the history of the second amendment and how it relates back to slavery. I never thought about how some of this all tied together. 9mo
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Bookwormjillk Interesting so far but I get so frustrated when these types of books completely ignore women‘s experiences. 9mo
CatLass007 The way our fellow human beings treat other human beings both infuriates me and makes me want to weep. 9mo
MallenNC I am appreciating this book. She does a great job spelling out how the 2nd amendment came to be in its final form, and the real purpose of it. I‘m interested to see where she takes the rest of the book. 9mo
staci.reads So far, it's engaging. I'm looking forward to see where she goes next now that the origin story is done. 9mo
DebinHawaii Very interesting so far. I didn‘t know about all the reasons the 2nd amendment was written & finalized. As usual, our U.S. history makes me shake my head (while hanging it in shame). 😡 9mo
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @DebinHawaii Right 😂 it‘s crazy sometimes, some of history we do not teach (Shame part) is the most fascinating as far as truth is stranger than the glossy fiction version we think we know. And as twisted as it is, it is some very interesting and impressive political finagling to get the bread baked. And a really interesting side on some of our lionized “patriotic” “heroes” of the revolution. 9mo
willaful I think it's mostly info I knew but having it all put into context makes it much more powerful. And the historical background is so important. 9mo
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Up next for #SheSaid!

Please put in you library holds and interlibrary loans and see you on Sunday!

Bookwormjillk I was able to get this one from the library so count me in this month. 9mo
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Bookwormjillk her books are usually very well written and researched, a lot in not many pages, I‘m really looking forward to this one. 9mo
DebinHawaii Hoping my library hold comes in this week! 9mo
willaful I'm travelling for a lot of this month but will try to participate. 9mo
CatLass007 It‘s all ready for me to start listening. 9mo
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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#SheSaid Carol Anderson has a new book out, for months now and I didn‘t realize it, she wrote one of our first reads about voting rights. Anyone interested in adding this to our reading list? She writes such good and well researched books.

Riveted_Reader_Melissa For some reason Litsy won‘t let me tag the group right now, but I‘ll try again later . 2y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa Yay! It worked today 😂 2y
vlwelser 😂 I must have hit like on this the other day. Feeling like a robot atm. Yes. Let's do it. 2y
KathyWheeler This looks good. I say, add it. 2y
Karisa It looks very interesting! 2y
ncsufoxes It looks interesting! 2y
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MsLeah8417
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Hooked_on_books
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The fantastic Carol Anderson looks back to before the 2nd amendment existed, showing the centuries-long efforts to keep guns out of black hands and how even the crafting of the 2nd was steeped in anti-blackness (as a concession to southern states to legalize escaped slave patrols). She brings this forward to the current day and our ongoing police murders of black people. Excellent.

Leftcoastzen Aaawww! Cute !🐶 2y
Christine I‘ve really been looking forward to this one, now even more so! 2y
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