The Black Lives Matter movement has awakened a new generation of activists. On the one hand, this seems encouraging, but on the flip side, the violence against black Americans by police officers continues in a shockingly regular pattern. Activist and scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor explores this issue in the context of the current political climate. Reviewing the progress (or lack thereof) of the Obama presidency, she discusses the death of our collective illusion of a post-racial America. Dr. Taylor, an assistant professor of African-American studies at Princeton, surveys the historical and contemporary ravages of racism and persistence of structural inequality such as mass incarceration and black unemployment. She argues that this new struggle against police violence holds the potential to reignite a broader push for black liberation.
