E book cowl of “New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Motion” by Juan Williams.
E book cowl of “New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Motion” by Juan Williams.
“New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Motion” by Juan Williams
c.2025,
Simon & Schuster
$28.99
271 pages
You’re not letting go that simply.
No, you’re on the precise facet of justice and also you’re not letting go of the problem. Your heels are dug in, your again is straight, and your resolve is steely. You have got a plan and also you’ll hold it, and see it to the top it doesn’t matter what occurs. As within the new e book “New Prize for These Eyes” by Juan Williams, there are some who’ve gone earlier than you however your effort is what issues now.
Historical past disagrees on the precise catalyst for the civil rights motion, however Juan Williams says that “the second Civil Rights Motion” sparked on the 2004 Democratic Nationwide Conference, and it took lower than 20 minutes.
Not lengthy after younger Senator Barack Obama, whose presence was meant to draw Black voters, started his speech at that conference, he had the viewers cheering. He was optimistic, energetic, and energizing, and spoke of “a brand new sense of frequent objective,” which spurred a Second Civil Rights Motion and a mandate to “take care of… cultural points that the First Motion had left unresolved…”
The speech thrust Obama onto the nationwide stage and, with the endorsement of many aged guard Civil Rights Motion figures, finally put him within the White Home. His presence there wasn’t with out points, each politically and racially, nonetheless: the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Philando Castile completely affected Obama’s phrases, partly as a result of “he acted solely as a referee” and didn’t “take any particular degree of response as a Black man.” Nonetheless, early civil rights leaders agreed with him that America was “higher” then than it was sixty years prior.
Earlier than Obama’s second time period was over, a “right-wing backlash” that was “fueled by grievance” ushered Donald Trump into workplace however by then, younger Black Individuals had flocked to social media and gave root to the Black Lives Matter motion. “Covid-19 would additionally remodel” the scenario.
By the summer time of 2024, “the Second Civil Rights Motion was removed from finishing its agenda,” says Williams, however “it had nonetheless achieved exceptional success.”
Play very shut consideration when you’re studying this e book. It’s full of politics, however there’s a pay-off in it: writer Juan Williams does just a little forecasting towards the top of “New Prize for These Eyes,” promising readers a brand new motion, a 3rd one, to return.
Even when you’re not notably a politics-watcher, Williams instructions your consideration to the final twenty years and the way they keenly formed racism and racial points in America. Typically, he appears to ask argument, utilizing Obama as a singular catalyst for this “Second” motion and its present continuation, pretty or unfairly; and he locations different credit on folks and occasions that may make readers need to discover somebody to debate it. The tantalizing thought of a 3rd motion will solely underscore that need.
As a sequel to Williams’ Eyes on the Prize, this can be a must-read for anybody who is aware of the place we’ve been or wonders the place we’re going. Discover “New Prize for These Eyes.”
You gained’t need to let it go.
