America, Goddam by Treva Lindsley: Book Review Essay

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Introduction

America, Goddam investigates the impact of anti-Black racism, sexism, and capitalism on the lives of black women and girls in the United States today. Lindsey examines the forms and histories of assault against these women and girls, and their calls for justice for themselves and their communities, using personal narratives and hard-hitting analyses. This book illuminates the gender dynamics of anti-Black violence by integrating history, theory, and memoirs. African American women and girls are susceptible to damage and death, and the circumstances and traumas of this violence go unreported and unstudied. The author demonstrates that the sanctity of life and the independence of negro women are rarely at the forefront of Black liberation movements. In defiance of this exclusion, African American women have led campaigns calling for justice. Their unwillingness to keep silent in the face of brutality against them inspired many people to imagine and work toward Black liberation via organization and radical politics throughout generations and centuries. America Goddam is a call to action on our communal road toward just futures, echoing the enthusiasm of Nina Simone’s burning protest song that inspired the title.

Personal Reaction

America, Goddam is a detailed representation of the struggles faced by black American women in the country. Lindsley tells the stories of negro women killed by police, their disparities in enduring harm and abuse at the hands of lovers, family members, and the system that keeps them confined (Lindsey, 2022). There are some great and important information on the brutality that these women endure in America, but some are quite tough to read. For example, the author contends that the COVID-19 epidemic is fatphobic and victim-blaming because specialists believe that pre-existing diseases increase one’s chances of contracting severe COVID instances (Lindsey, 2022). There are some crucial points, like how poor infrastructure and racist systems prohibit Black people from obtaining appropriate medical treatment during the epidemic, but many compromises exist.

The book is opinionated, and the author relies heavily on emotional responses and concepts rather than facts, twisting several remarks that may have been legitimate points into a very emotional stance. Besides, the book has many repetitions as the author makes the same argument numerous times and utilizes extremely comparable sets of statistics frequently. Even if the stated ideas are very important and serious, it rapidly gets tedious to read.

The book is an honest account of the predicament of Black women in the United States. It takes the reader on an emotional rollercoaster that necessitates much self-realization. This is maybe the most outstanding written example of what it is like to be a Black woman in the United States in the twenty-first century. The book demanded that author to delves deep, be vulnerable, brave and live up to the feelings of the late Nina Simone’s Mississippi Goddam. There is a lot of important information to learn, and the author is well-educated and skilled in her profession. It is clear that this book was written after extensive investigation and soul-searching.

Lindsey presents the material as though she believes every word; it is compelling and condemning. It is tragic, though, that we live in a society where African American women are immediately expected to be the world’s voice, yet they are not given the opportunity. They are supposed to be strong in every aspect, yet no resources are accessible even when they are most needed. According to Baker and Garcia (2019), Lindsey is the voice of a generation, speaking for people who have never had the opportunity to speak for themselves. What stands out most about her ground-breaking work is the sensitivity with which she analyzes and confronts the abuse that Black women and girls suffer. America Goddam is an intense and, at times, disturbing novel that requires one’s total attention.

Racial Awareness

Racial awareness is recognizing and accepting the historical, social, political, and economic ramifications of belonging to a racially oppressed group. After reading American Goddam, I realized that racial consciousness had been employed from the period of slavery to educate black people about their inferior status in terms of human rights, economy, and politics in comparison to their white counterparts. The mistreatment of these women and girls by the police, including those who died due to failed raids, demonstrates that something must be done to rescue black women and girls from these atrocities.

Being racially sensitive should be irrelevant in today’s America, a country working for the equality of all its residents. Recognizing the social, political, and economic ramifications of belonging to a racially oppressed race would only exacerbate the inequities caused by racial segregation (Bapuji et al., 2020). We are all responsible for acting quickly; hence, we must all confront the systemic inequity and entrenched prejudice that has brought us here and strive toward a future where these gaps do not exist. Everyone has an important job to perform, whether via civic involvement, personal learning, capitalizing on our privilege, positions, and platforms, or confronting our friends, colleagues, and institutions.

The Main Points by The Author

America Goddam powerfully demonstrates that the struggle for justice begins with reckoning with the pervasiveness of violence against African America women in the United States. By writing this book, the author was trying to address three main issues. First, the author was keen to ensure that the reader understands how these women who have been both victims of anti-Black violence and frontline participants are rarely the focus of Black freedom movements. Secondly, Lindsley wanted to inform her audience about how numerous forms of violence have curtailed the negro women’s movements that have always demanded justice. Finally, Lindsley highlights the black liberation campaigns through radical politics due to their refusal to remain silent about violence.

The author was successful in her attempt to convey the message. American Goddam offers incisive insight into contemporary movements like #BlackLives Matter, #SayHer Name, and #MeToo (Bapuji et al., 2020). The book is written with intelligence, caring, and energy. It creates its influence via a bright and limitless sense of how we may and should come to understand the origins, forces, and opportunities for fighting violence. Lindsey’s voice introduces us to the book’s themes through the prism of her life experiences. While much of the country is aware of the many Black boys and men, who have been unjustly killed by our criminal punishment system, sadly, the stories of the girls and women who have also mainly suffered go untold. Furthermore, her research and personal accounts of misogynoir are riveting and illuminating, especially when one considers components of our culture that have been accepted as usual for decades or dismissed as harmless entertainment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, America Goddam is a well-researched and passionately recounted chronicle of the horror, brutality, and dehumanization Black women and girls have encountered, fought against, and resisted. The book’s concentration on twenty-first-century incarnations of the oppression and exploitation of Black women dissects simplistic tropes about advancement and change in American history, highlighting both continuity and change. Treva Lindsey offers the historical and analytical skills required to make sense of the unending media and academic narratives of abuse and neglect in the coverage of Black women’s experiences. America Goddam significantly contributes to the expanding canon of Black feminist writings and studies with its unique insight and primal passion.

References

Baker, D. V., & Garcia, G. (2019). . Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology, 8(1), 2–39. Web.

Bapuji, H., Ertug, G., & Shaw, J. D. (2020). . Academy of Management Annals, 14(1), 60-91. Web.

Lindsey, T. B. (2022). America, goddam: Violence, black women, and the struggle for justice. University of California Press.

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