On the Other Side of Freedom: Race and Justice in a Divided America

Five years ago, DeRay Mckesson quit his job as a schoolteacher, moved to Ferguson, Missouri, and spent the next 400 days on the streets as an activist, helping to bring the Black Lives Matter movement into being. Now, in his first book, he draws on his own experiences – of growing up without his mother, with a father in recovery, of having a house burn down and a bully chase him home from school, of pacifying a traffic cop at gunpoint and being dragged out of a police station by his ankles, of determined activism on the streets and in the White House – to make the case for hope, for believing a better future is possible. It is a visionary’s call to take responsibility for imagining, and then building, the world we want to live in.

About the Author :
DeRay Mckesson is a civil rights activist. Born and raised in Baltimore, he graduated from Bowdoin College and holds honorary doctorates from The New School and the Maryland Institute College of Art. A leading voice in the Black Lives Matter Movement and a co-founder of Campaign Zero, DeRay has been praised by Barack Obama for his work as a community organizer, and has advised officials at all levels of US government and internationally. He has been named among the World's Greatest Leaders in Fortune magazine, one of the 30 Most Important People On The Internet by Time and listed as one of Foreign Policy magazine's 100 Global Thinkers.

Review :
‘Hope and insight and empathy spring from every page of On the Other Side of Freedom. DeRay Mckesson…stares down the faces of bigotry and unfreedom and cynicism and doesn’t flinch in writing out our marching orders toward freedom.’ ‘He forces anyone who reads his words to understand the humanity of the black body; the black body that has otherwise been demonised, made monster-like, or contorted into some negative narrative. A vital read, if you are to truly know resistance, and the stories it gives rise to.’ ‘On the Other Side of Freedom reveals the mind and motivations of a young man who has risen to the fore of millennial activism through study, discipline, and conviction. His belief in a world that can be made better, one act at a time, powers his narratives and opens up a view on the costs, consequences, and rewards of leading a movement.’ ‘Mckesson and a core group of other activists have built the most formidable American protest movement of the 21st century to date.’ ‘An inspiring reminder that hope is vital to any political change, and it’s the driving force for any successful attempt at social justice.’ ‘Riveting and affecting . . . written with astounding poetry, vulnerability, and flair. Mckesson is a gifted, pointed storyteller.’