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Knocking The Hustle: Against the Neoliberal Turn in Black Politics . By Lester K. Spence . Brooklyn, New York : Punctum Books . pp. 190. $19.00 (paper).
Neither I nor anyone else should be writing a review of Knocking the Hustle: Against the Neoliberal Turn in Black Politics. It is potentially too important to be satisfied with its current form. It is a draft, but it should not be a final draft.
The work's greatest strengths are that it identifies, explains, and illustrates a number of key concepts that enable one to grapple with contemporary Black politics in the United States. Its greatest weakness is its exposition.
The narrative opens with a brilliant introduction which the author calls a Foreword. Dr. Spence describes an episode in his own life and compares it with that of a hypothetical Black man of different educational, income, family, and networking backgrounds. The rest of the book explains and illustrates the circumstances which have rendered the two scenarios commonplace within the contemporary United States, points out the extraordinary depth and breadth of oppressive conditions, and argues for political strategies which can overcome them. Except for the Foreword, the most powerful part of the book is the last chapter, outlining strategies which might effectively counter the liberal turn.
The question of central importance to Dr. Spence is the kind of society and governance that Black people in the United States, and the United...