The Second

Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America

By: Carol Anderson

Narrated by: Karen Chilton

Bloomsbury presents The Second by Carol Anderson, Ph.D., read by Karen Chilton.

From the New York Times bestselling author of White Rage, an unflinching, critical new look at the Second Amendment and how it has been engineered to deny the rights of African Americans since its inception.

In The Second, historian and award-winning, bestselling author of White Rage Carol Anderson powerfully illuminates the history and impact of the Second Amendment, how it was designed, and how it has consistently been constructed to keep African Americans powerless and vulnerable. The Second is neither a “pro-gun” nor an “anti-gun” book; the lens is the citizenship rights and human rights of African Americans.

From the seventeenth century, when it was encoded into law that the enslaved could not own, carry, or use a firearm whatsoever, until today, with measures to expand and curtail gun ownership aimed disproportionately at the African American population, the right to bear arms has been consistently used as a weapon to keep African Americans powerless—revealing that armed or unarmed, Blackness, it would seem, is the threat that must be neutralized and punished.

Throughout American history to the twenty-first century, regardless of the laws, court decisions, and changing political environment, the Second has consistently meant this: That the second a Black person exercises this right, the second they pick up a gun to protect themselves (or the second that they don’t), their life—as surely as Philando Castile’s, Tamir Rice’s, Alton Sterling’s—may be snatched away in that single, fatal second. Through compelling historical narrative merging into the unfolding events of today, Anderson’s penetrating investigation shows that the Second Amendment is not about guns but about anti-Blackness, shedding shocking new light on another dimension of racism in America.

©2021 Carol Anderson, PhD (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Phenomenal National Treasure!

Read it and pass it on! This educationally excellent material should be the standard and taught everywhere.

Very Informative Read!

I learned so much from this book. The historical research is outstanding and I have shared it with everyone I know. It’s highly worth the listen.

The history of the the right to a standing militia transmuted into the right to own

This was an interesting and well documented history of US gun policy from before independence until now. The idea that it was aimed at suppression of African Americans is documented, but ignores the genocide of indigenous people who were systematically exterminated under the same gun laws and US military policy.

I own guns and enjoy shooting but as one returning Afghan sniper quipped, I used the weapons I did as part of my mission. I don’t go deer hunting with an assault weapon any more than I would use my hunting rifle while serving. That we can possess weapons does have credible arguments, though the constitution does not preclude limiting what weapons civilians can have.

This is a worthwhile book to read both for the cultural aspects and historical background of gun rights.

Why Critical Race Theory is so frightening to Some

This book is the prefect counter to American elected officials and white mothers attempts to shelter their children from the horrible true that their privilege is the result of their ancestors then and now inhumanity to Black and Native American peoples. gruesome details the savagery

Wow, what an insight.

This is a must read. I was oblivious to the truth of the second ammendment. Like most Americans I'm sure, I thought the 2nd was applicable to all in the same manner. Boy was I wrong.

Very very informative

Tells the truth about the origin and function of the second amendment to the US Constitution.

I learned so much from this book

The book is an incredibly well written book recounting the events that shaped the second in regards to black history. Anyone should read it who wants to know more about black history in respect to a “valued” American “right.” I was saddened by the events that have happened, angered by the response to them and ashamed that I didn’t look deeper into it before now but most of all I’m glad that I read the book to help me understand this modern day issue from a viewpoint other than the white washed one taught in schools. It’s definitely worth listening to.

A gut punch to American exceptionalism

The Second is a no holes barred look at the dual history of gun rights for White Americans and a profound lack of parity with Black Americans in particular. The book covers over 400 years of American history that is rarely taught about racial fear influencing American Law and Politics.

History Untold

I love the way historical documents were brought into context and quoted verbatim at times to level set the listener/reader. Excellent points made throughout history and current day to awaken the eyes of everyone.

Essential reading

This is such an important read that unearths the true history of the second amendment and it’s relationship to controlling slaves, the disparity in the application of gun rights racially, and pushes us to think critically about the role the second amendment plays in our contemporary world.