Moments like this one that we saw in 2020,
where millions of people took to the streets
are really a reflection of the fact
that we are contending for power.
And once we understand that,
we actually get a clearer sense of,
well, what needs to happen besides protest, right?
That's a question I get a lot.
"How come we're protesting and nothing's changing?"
Well, there's a lot of things that have to happen
in order for real change to occur.
( theme music playing )
Hey, everybody, I'm Alicia Garza,
and I'm so excited to be joining you on BookTube
to talk about my new book,
"The Purpose of Power:
How We Come Together When We Fall Apart."
It's a story about how I come to be
the kind of person that spends all of their time
freedom dreaming, and testing and trying
and innovating new things.
And what I wanted to do with this book
is really pull back the curtains
on how it is that change happens,
and also giving you a little bit of a cheat sheet
about what you might expect in the process of social change.
Let's get started.
Hey, I'm Denise.
And I'm Ebony.
And we are from the YouTube channel
called Team2Moms.
On our channel, we talk about normalizing LGBTQ+ parenting.
Precious.
Ebony:
and we also talk about being a multicultural family--
me representing the black community.
And me representing the Hispanic community.
Now, let's talk about "The Purpose of Power."
Yes, 'cause we are filled with emotions about this book.
- Girl, you were real... - Mm-hmm.
- ...raw. - Yes.
Being a two-mom family and also being raised by two strong women,
we really resonated with the relationship you had with your mom.
She was very direct in talking to you
about sensitive topics, such as S-E-X.
( Alicia reading )
- Mm-hmm. - They really are.
They really are.
Kids are expensive.
Ultimately, you say that your childhood with your mom
was your first lesson in politics.
Can you talk more about the direct impact
of your mom's influence on your work?
First of all, I am also Team 2 Moms.
I support it 100%,
and I'm loving what y'all are giving me here.
Here's the thing.
Our moms teach us how to survive in the world,
and I know my mom did.
My mom taught me how to be a black woman
in a world that hates black women.
My mom taught me how to love myself,
how to navigate all of the different barriers that would come up
because of race, because of gender,
and she used her own experiences to help light the way for me.
The other thing that my mom did
was really force me to look at the world
as it is and not just as I want it to be.
Here's a little secret.
I'm a bit of an idealist.
Even though I'm a Capricorn and I'm very practical,
I'm like, "Well, maybe this could happen,"
or "Maybe it could be like this."
And my mom's like, "Okay, girl, maybe,
but can we just talk about how it is right now?"
So, I think that is also an enduring lesson in politics,
especially for anybody who wants to make change.
In order to imagine the world that we want,
we have to be very clear with ourselves about the world that is.
And if we're not super clear about the world that is,
we'll make mistakes in terms of building the world that we want to see.
So, shout-out to Mom for encouraging me
to believe in change,
but also to be grounded in what is,
and to never lose faith and hope
that actually things can be different
than the way that it is right now.
Hi, Alicia. My name is Nai'a.
I am from the YouTube channel NayaReadsAndSmiles.
My mom is Hawaiian and Filipino and my dad is black.
I grew up in Hawaii until I was around 13 years old,
and then I moved to the mainland for the first time with my dad,
to a very, very small town
in a predominantly white neighborhood,
and it was rough.
One of my favorite chapters
in your book is Chapter 13,
where you talk about imposter syndrome
and the patriarchy.
You said that for black girls,
it is this literal feeling of inauthenticity
that I do not belong here or I am not enough.
I related so heavily to this chapter.
When I was around 12 or 13 years old,
I tested into a higher level English class.
I was the only black girl,
only person of color in the class.
That teacher decided to hold a poetry contest.
I was very excited about this poetry contest.
I worked so hard, and I won!
I was over the moon about it.
Yes! That's awesome.
It just gave me so much confidence--
until I came to school the next day
and overheard one of my classmates, who was a boy,
making a comment to another girl,
telling her that the only reason why I won
was because the teacher felt bad for me
and was taking pity on me, and she did it out of charity.
Ooh, that one hit me in my gut.
People always try to erase our merits
in place of somebody feeling
like they're doing a charitable act for us.
Every feeling of confidence and capability,
- it just went out the window. - Mm-hmm.
My question for you is,
how do you personally combat imposter syndrome
and how you keep moving forward
despite the world not always choosing
to accept or recognize your voice?
Nai'a, this is such a good question.
I really resonated so much with your description
of growing up in a community where you were one of the only.
For me, imposter syndrome is the very real feeling
that no matter how accomplished you are,
how smart you are, that somehow you are faking it
and that you are getting over on people--
that really you don't deserve to be where you are.
So, here's what I do to address imposter syndrome.
Honestly, I surround myself with people
who I also know are bosses
and who have experienced the same thing,
and who can reflect back to you, through your own fog of anxiety,
really who you are and what you mean to the world.
In your story, you also shared an interaction
that happened between you and a police officer.
But unlike most interactions that happen
between the black community and the police,
yours didn't go negatively.
You actually were given a second chance and weren't charged.
Could you share a little bit about that story
and why you chose to include it in your book?
I'm so glad you asked about that, Nai'a.
It's a piece of the book that I actually feel like
doesn't get a lot of attention.
So, the interaction that you're talking about,
I was a young person in a community
that was wealthy and white and suburban.
It's a community that I lived in.
And I was caught smoking weed in a car
with one of my classmates.
( Alicia reading )
I handed over my license to this officer,
and they let me go.
I got a pass,
and I got a pass because of who my family is,
I got a pass because of where my address was,
and I got a pass because of who I was with,
a blonde haired, blue eyed white girl.
But if that scenario had been any different,
I would have been like the millions of people
who are locked up behind bars for non-violent drug offenses.
We have this notion in this country
that the rules apply equally to everyone.
And I included this in the book to say,
"That's actually not true.
The rules do not apply equally to everyone."
So, I'm so glad that you saw that piece of the book
and that you highlighted it.
Hey, Alicia, my name is Louis Cole.
I'm passionate about storytelling, traveling, and activism.
Hey, Louis.
Last year, I co-founded the Social Good Club,
an organization focused on supporting online creators
to use their platforms to inspire social change.
Over the course of the last year,
we hosted activists to run educational virtual meetings...
That's my friend Rashad!
...for online creators to learn more deeply
about issues specifically around
systemic racism in America.
And my friend Phil.
I was incredibly impacted
by your book "The Purpose of Power."
In part one, your book does such a great job
breaking down how the US arrived at this present moment
of social and political upheaval.
You detail how years of the Reagan revolution
expertly chipped away the moral credibility
that black movements had established.
I encourage everyone to check out the book
to hear how you expertly detail this,
but for those watching who are just dipping
their toe in the water,
can you share key inciting events
that set the stage for the America of today,
and why understanding the past is so important?
Louis, excellent question.
I think sometimes we assume the things
that we see in front of us are brand-new,
they've never happened to anybody.
It's a unique challenge that only us have to face.
But the fact of the matter is,
there's not that much new under the sun.
So, it's really important that we invest
not just in looking backward,
but really thinking through
what does forward look like,
and how do we build it,
and who do we need in order to get it that way?
Hi, Alicia. My name is Jesse,
and I have a YouTube channel called Bowties & Books.
I thought that "The Purpose of Power"
was nothing short of transformative.
You can tell by all of my notes and annotations,
it sparked so many thoughts.
It put things into perspective.
Okay, wait a minute.
Before we get to your questions--
Outfit? Looking fantastic. You look great.
I have some questions that I'm very, very excited to ask.
In your book, you wrote, "Shallow unity will always fall under pressure.
We cannot be so concerned with coming together
that we don't do the work to stay together."
Mm-hmm.
Jesse:
requires healing and shedding of internalized biases,
what are some active steps that can be taken
to begin that healing?
Um, first and foremost,
whenever we talk about solidarity,
it has to be active and not passive.
We have to learn about each other.
Not the histories that we are taught,
but the histories that we know in our bodies
and from our families and from our communities.
Too often, efforts to build relationships
between communities go under
because those relationships themselves are not deep.
They lack depth.
It's almost like pouring your heart out
to somebody you just met in the grocery store.
I mean, in some ways that can be appealing
because you might assume, right,
that you'll never see them again,
so maybe they won't judge you for it.
But ultimately, don't you long for somebody
who really knows you and who can hear your story and not judge you,
reflect back to you where you need to be held accountable,
but also be able to say,
"I've got your back no matter what."
That's how I see the core of what it means
to build multi-racial solidarity,
especially when we are being egged on
by people who don't want to see us coming together.
One of my favorite things about your work
was that you touch on the trauma
that is still surrounding us today.
That it can be totally gripping and isolating,
and I absolutely relate to that.
There is a lot of grief.
There are a lot of grievances
which can be deeply immobilizing.
Yet in your book, you state how hopeful you are,
how you started out more cynical than you are today.
- That's right. - What advice do you have for young advocates
who wrestle with the emotional turmoil of the world?
Who are struggling with its mental toll
and are trying not to get burnt out on the fight?
This is such an important question.
Here's the facts.
Movement work is hard work. It is emotional.
There is no space in a movement
where you will not at some point feel burnt out,
where you won't feel disappointed
or frustrated or angry.
When I look at those photos of those families, that grief,
I have seen and I have heard the wail of a mother
who sees her child dead in the street.
But she does not turn away from the efforts for change.
In fact, she turns towards it,
and she channels that rage
and that pain and that grief.
When you look at the mother of Kenneth Harding,
when you look at the mother of Oscar Grant,
those women are involved in the fight
to build the kind of world where no mother has to look
at an empty seat at the dinner table.
As people who want to see change,
we have to build our capacity for emotional intelligence.
But you don't have to be some extraordinary figure
that falls from the sky with a cape.
Being a superhero just means finding other people
that care about the things that you do and joining them.
And then once you do, bringing other people with you,
so that eventually there are so many of us
who care about the same things and who are working for change
that we cannot be stopped and we cannot be ignored.
What do I want for the next four years?
We have a new administration.
There's all kinds of new initiatives
and executive orders that are being put to the forefront.
But the thing I really want to see
is more of us at the table and setting the menu.