The Purpose of Power

How to Build Movements for the 21st Century

By: Alicia Garza

Narrated by: Alicia Garza

Brought to you by Penguin.

In a powerful exploration of recent racial history, the cofounder of Black Lives Matter examines the moment we're in, how we got here and how together we can build movements to create a just and equal world.

Black Lives Matter began as a hashtag when Alicia Garza wrote what she calls 'a love letter to Black people' on Facebook. But hashtags don't build movements, she tells us. People do. Interwoven with Garza's experience of life as a Black woman, The Purpose of Power is the story of how she responded to the persistent message that Black lives are of less value than white lives by galvanising people to create change. It's an insight into grass roots organising to deliver basic needs - affordable housing, workplace protections, access to good education - to those locked out of the economy by racism. It is an attempt not only to make sense of where Black Lives Matter came from but also to understand the possibilities that Black Lives Matter and movements like it hold for our collective futures. Ultimately, it's an appeal to hearts and minds, demanding that we think about our privileges and prejudices and ask how we might contribute to the change we want to see in the world.

©2020 Alicia Garza (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Black lives matter - Alicia Garza's love letter read around the world. The Purpose of Power is another love letter that should be read around the world. It speaks to all that moulded Garza, all that moulds organizers, all that moulds movements." (Ibram X. Kendi, number one New York Times best-selling author of How to Be an Antiracist)

"Alicia Garza combines immense wisdom with political courage to inspire a new generation of activists, dreamers and leaders.... People like Alicia have been speaking up for decades. If we want to turn protest into substantive change, it's about time we finally listened." (David Lammy, MP)