SOCIAL SCIENCES

Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want

by Ruha Benjamin
Princeton Univ. Oct. 2022. 392p. ISBN 9780691222882. $29.95. SOC SCI
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Benjamin (African American studies, Princeton Univ.; Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code) has spent much of her career conducting groundbreaking research about race, justice, and technology. Part memoir, this book is an emotional and thought-provoking wake-up shout to put an end to systemic discrimination and the racist rewriting of justice. The author believes that people are far more than the worst thing they’ve ever done; people must empathize with each other. Her stories and descriptions are mindful of George Orwell’s 1984 and how, in the dystopian, 21st-century version of evolution, photos of young, Black men with a previous record have reportedly been used for target practice at a police gun practice range.
VERDICT This a rich and engaging space for collective healing, integrity, and social commentary on the reasons why structural hurdles must be removed for racial justice to ever be achieved.
Reviewed by Alessandro Cimino , Jul 01, 2022
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