On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with Solomon Jones, award-winning columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer and morning host for WURD radio in Philadelphia. He is the author of Ten Lives, Ten Demands: Life and Death Stories, and a Black activist's Blueprint for Racial Justice.
In his book, Jones recounts the lives of George Floyd, Michael Brown, Hassan Bennett, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Alton Sterling, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Deborah Danner and Sandra Bland.
Jones discusses the importance of their lives and talks about how their deaths pushed the Black Lives Matter movement forward; he explains how each act of violence was incited by specific instances of structural racism, and details concrete and actionable strategies to address the failures of the legal system, policing and beyond.
