When We Free the World

Book excerpt: In When We Free the World, acclaimed writer and activist Kevin Powell presents a stunning and brutally honest survey of America, yesterday and today, and what he hopes for its future, through the window of his own very painful personal trials - as #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, mass shootings, immigration, a global pandemic, and Donald Trump rotate in the background. The result is a deeply spiritual and emotional reminder of why freedom and justice and equality still remain so elusive for many, in this nation, on this planet. Inspired by the poetic dream montage of Langston Hughes, the prophetic letter sermon of James Baldwin, and Bobby Kennedy's raw and naked eulogy speech for Dr. King, Powell has created a fearless literary and political manifesto that is a town-hall meeting for an America seemingly at war with its own soul. With a passion and sensitivity that few writers of his generation can match, Powell tackles leadership, history, family, community, parenting, education, the legal system, racism, sexism, love, hate, forgiveness, mental health, and violence in all forms. And he challenges us, from beginning to end, on what that word "freedom" means, or ought to mean, for all human beings.