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.

Patricia Williams Lessane, Morgan State University