The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America

Emory University history Anderson (White Rage) takes an illuminating look at how U.S. laws and customs around gun ownership have been used to subjugate Black Americans. Arguing that the primary function of the "militias" mentioned in the Second Amendment was "controlling the Black population" in the South, Anderson compares 18th-century insurrections such as the Whiskey Rebellion, which was led by white agitators who largely escaped punishment, to contemporaneous slave uprisings, in which dozens of perpetrators were executed upon capture. She also details the harsh consequences faced by Black citizens who took up arms to protect themselves from lynch mobs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and discusses California's 1967 Mulford Act, which was designed (with the support of the NRA) to prevent the Black Panthers from carrying weapons while patrolling Black communities. The well-informed historical discussions provide essential context for recent events, including the 2016 deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, two Black men in possession of guns at the time they were killed by police. This is a persuasive and eye-opening look at the intersection of gun rights and racial injustice in America. (June)