Social Protests of 2020

Joyce A. Joyce is professor in the English Department at Temple University.

Joyce A. Joyce’s book, The Social Protests of 2020: Visceral Responses to Police Brutality, COVID-19, and Circumscribed Sexuality is an assemblage of visceral, raw, and recognizable reflections on what bearing witness to the global civil unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd meant for BIPOC scholars, artists, and activists. At the same time, the anthology of beautifully crafted essays interrogates and indicts racism and white supremacy as fulcrum for maintaining an American status quo that upholds violence against the full spectrum of Black bodies. Joyce and the other contributors don’t stop there, however; their essays are evidence that courageous vulnerability and self-reflection are part and parcel of the longue dureé of Black liberation struggles and critical to individual and collective healing wrought by PTSD (Post Traumatic Slavery Disorder), state-sanctioned violence against Black men, women, and LBGTQIA+ people, and COVID-19 pandemic. Collectively, their experiences, memories, musings, and words point the way we must go if we want to get free.

• Chapter I: The Space Between Grief and Gratitude: A Letter to My Beloved Friends”Ana-Maurine LaraChapter II: “Moving to the Left: Black Response to Structural Violence”Wende MarshallChapter III: “People Who Have Done Bad Things: Why the Idea of Police Has Failed”Melba Joyce BoydChapter IV: “Sanctioned Murders: An Epidemic Disease”Joyce A. JoyceChapter V: “No Love: ‘Tennis’ in the Era of Pills, Exceptionalism, and Black Lives Matter”Gregory E. Rutledge,Chapter VI: “Better Late than Never”Donna Marie PetersChapter VII: “The Brotherhood Gone Viral: Reading Invisible Man on #blackouttuesday”Margarita M. Castromán SotoChapter VIII: “To Protect and Serve: Medieval Knights, the Police, and Sexual Violence”Carissa M. HarrisChapter IX: Fieldwork, Flowers, and the Force: A Perspective on Gender Expression, Profession, Race, and Policing”Élan R. AlfordChapter X: “The Toll of Devaluing Black People’s Humanity Is to Live in a Nation that Will Feel Like Home to No One”Yvonne FulmoreC