America, Goddam: Violence, Black Women, and the Struggle for Justice

by Treva B. Lindsey

A powerful account of violence against Black women and girls in the United States and their fight for liberation.

Echoing the energy of Nina Simone's searing protest song that inspired the title, this book is a call to action in our collective journey toward just futures.

America, Goddam explores the combined force of anti-Blackness, misogyny, patriarchy, and capitalism in the lives of Black women and girls in the United States today.

Through personal accounts and hard-hitting analysis, Black feminist historian Treva B. Lindsey starkly assesses the forms and legacies of violence against Black women and girls, as well as their demands for justice for themselves and their communities. Combining history, theory, and memoir, America, Goddam renders visible the gender dynamics of anti-Black violence. Black women and girls occupy a unique status of vulnerability to harm and death, while the circumstances and traumas of this violence go underreported and understudied. America, Goddam allows readers to understand
 
How Black women—who have been both victims of anti-Black violence as well as frontline participants—are rarely the focus of Black freedom movements.
How Black women have led movements demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Toyin Salau, Riah Milton, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, and countless other Black women and girls whose lives have been curtailed by numerous forms of violence.
How across generations and centuries, their refusal to remain silent about violence against them led to Black liberation through organizing and radical politics.

America, Goddam powerfully demonstrates that the struggle for justice begins with reckoning with the pervasiveness of violence against Black women and girls in the United States.

Genres: Nonfiction, Race, History, Feminism, Politics, Social Justice, Gender

342 pages, Hardcover

Published April 5, 2022

Reviews

[Chris Linder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hate that we live in a world that requires black women to illustrate over and over and over again examples of and the consequences of anti-blackness and misogynoir. Why don’t we just believe them without the raw stories??? This book is one of the most well-written pieces I have ever read centering Black women. Part autobiographical and extremely well-documented, I don’t know how someone could read this and NOT comprehend how damaging our “well-intended” systems are to black women and girls.

[Rosereadseverything ❁]

I just can’t seem to finish e books anymore

[Sarah Abdella · Rating 5 out of 5]

seriously one of the best books i’ve ever read. Dr. Lindsey is one of the best writers and scholars i’ve encountered.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that should be required reading for all Americans. While much of the country is aware of the many Black boys and men who have been unjustly killed by our "criminal punishment system," sadly, the stories of the girls and women who have also suffered largely go untold. Lindsey's research and individual stories of misogynoir are revealing and compelling, especially when considering aspects of our culture that have been normalized for centuries (e.g "Yo Mama" jokes) or brushed off as harmless fun (209).

Lindsey's hope for the future is heart-breaking: "We work toward a goal from which we may not directly benefit because we understand that the "our" in "our freedom" is unbound by time and borders" (233).

I was most moved by her letter to Ma'Khia Bryant in her epilogue. Hers was a name I didn't know, which proves Lindsey's thesis about the anonymity of so many Black girls and women who have died untimely, unjust deaths just for trying to survive in this country. I too will "#SayHerName."

[Karly Grice · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most important books I’ve read for understanding American history and our intersectionally diverse peoples. Lindsey is a beautiful writer and brilliant scholar. Her writing style itself reminds me of how powerful academic writing CAN be when scholars are encouraged and empowered to bring their whole selves to the table—whatever that table may be (teaching, learning, writing, advocating, or otherwise just BEING). I’m forever grateful for having attended Ohio State for my PhD for many reasons, but one of them is the ability I had to learn from some of the amazing scholars Lindsey mentions in her acknowledgements. Another is that even though I never got to take a class with Lindsey herself, I was able to see her speak on these issues in campus events. Finally, I was constantly pushed and nurtured to be better/do better by my grad student colleagues who knew of her work.

When I think of “what I want to be when I grow up,” I hope that I am even a FRACTION of the kind of whole human teacher scholar activist and accomplice that Lindsey is.

Read this now. Everyone. If you read nothing else, at least read her epilogue “A Letter to Ma'Khia Bryant.” I’ll be assigning it in my own classes this year.

Thank you, Dr. Lindsey, for this brilliance.

[Erikka · Rating 5 out of 5]

My god this was a hard read. We truly do not value the lives of Black women in this country and they are subjected to so much violence from every angle that I find myself disgusted and depressed. Pausing to listen to Nina Simone's song that inspired the title after the introduction was a good idea--it put me in the right mindset to appreciate this author's tireless efforts to give Black women a platform, a voice, and a story. It was going to be a four star until we got to the epilogue and I learned our author is not just an Ohioan, but lives here in Columbus where I live. Her heartfelt letter to Ma'Khia Bryant, a young woman who was murdered in the middle of a crisis rather than subdued in any other number of available ways, was particularly heartbreaking for me as I worked on the protest following her death. I wear a shirt bearing her name to protests to this day. We see Black women as disposable and that has to change or we will never truly be the land of the free. Also, and I cannot reiterate this enough, ACAB.

[Nuha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whew is all I can say. This book will make you cry. Treva Lindsey details all the ways in which Black women's lives are devalued in contemporary America. Using case studies and examples from her own life, Lindsey makes the case for why we all need to #SayHerName and rally behind Black women, girls, and nonbinary folks. I had to stop several times because of how deeply personal the stories felt and how disturbing the cases were. The final chapters will galvanize you to act, in whatever way, to protect the lives of Black women, girls, and nonbinary folks.

[Terry Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful lens of looking at the anti-blackness and misogynoir that has specifically harmed black women in the US. The author uses case studies and abundant references and data to center the unique oppression of black women, cis and trans. The writing is courageous, with personal revelations that leave no doubt why this book was created and needed by our society. One can only hope that we will go ally listen to this black women, but also all who grace us with their experiences and wisdom.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read. “A battered Black woman or girl faces a far harsher and less compassionate criminal punishment system when she details the imminent danger she has faced. Police officers, who undergo training to appropriately assess danger, are given more space to be wrong about imminent danger than an untrained Black woman being violently attacked.”

[Jess Bergeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️ I liked this book and it will make for excellent discussions at book club and beyond. I especially appreciated the lived experiences shared. At times it felt like certain points would be made, and then drug on reiterating what was already presented-this would be my only criticism of the entire work and even this only happened a couple times.

[Vicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW - hard to read and, as she mentions, I can’t even imagine how hard to write. But so important, grounded in hope for a just future and very illustrative of the several atrocities that simultaneously operate to subdue and oppress black women in the US. Read this book

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very necessary book.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scathing and necessary

[Vanessa Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful book.Essential reading.

[Tommy Estlund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. Must read.

[Stephanie Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

a must read for everyone

[Christopher Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-read for everyone. I learned so much from this book. Now I must read anything else she has written......

[Jenn Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an important and well-written book about the experiences of Black women in the US. Highly recommend.

[liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Needs to be required reading for white Americans.

[Britt Stern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Important and incredibly well written.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be mandatory reading for all humans. It is apparent how much damage is thrown on the Black community that is so knitted into the fabric of this Country and indeed the World. Recent responses to environmental issues in Jackson by the government only echo this. However, Black women face oppression on several different levels that often keeps them stuck due to these systeemic forces working against them. This book is a hard but necessary read with a message of hope for those who believe in Civil and Human rights for all to keep wishing for a better world, and to keep speaking out and fighting for one.

[Sarah Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good & well rounded introduction to Black feminist literature & the idea of intersectionality. A well worth read for a beginner or an expert in those topics.

[Stacia Stee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so important, I hope to remember the names of the victums of the systems of misognoir and antiblackness that are discussed in this book. Thank you Dr.Lindsey for telling these stories