Ten Lives, Ten Demands: Life and Death Stories, and a Black Activist’s Blueprint for Racial Justice

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Jones (The Dead Man’s Wife) issues a brisk and impassioned call for America to “right the wrongs of a past that is littered with laws meant to subjugate African Americans.” Each chapter recounts the story of a Black person victimized by the nation’s “racist criminal justice system” in the 21st century and offers a specific proposal for reform. For example, the 2020 murder of George Floyd frames a discussion of racial disparities in the enforcement of drug laws and the need for reparations to repair “a centuries-long pattern of stripping profit, property, and people from Black communities.” Elsewhere, Jones cites the 2014 killing of Michael Brown as evidence of why the federal government should more aggressively use consent decrees to reform police departments with a history of racist or abusive behavior, and backs up his call for the elimination of “stand-your-ground” laws with a harrowing retelling of Trayvon Martin’s 2012 killing by a neighborhood watch volunteer. Throughout, Jones details his own run-ins with the law before he overcame a crack addiction, and provides blunt depictions of systemic racism in action (“Black crack addicts are cast as enemies in a War on Drugs while white heroin addicts are the victims in an opioid crisis”). This cri de coeur rings loud and true. (Nov.)