Why do some fights for justice hit a wall while others succeed? What does it take to win social change, especially now? According to author and social change strategist Rashad Robinson, it all comes down to understanding one thing: the difference between presence and power.
Robinson has watched many movements unfold in his more than twenty years at the highest levels of leadership in two of the most significant social movements of our time: the fight for LGBTQ rights and the fight for racial justice. He's taken on tech giants and the criminal justice system, politicians in Washington and corporate executives in Hollywood. He's been on the front lines of protest and in the back rooms of negotiation.
In his new book, From Presence to Power, Robinson argues that achieving presence — the visibility of marches, media fads, and making issues popular — is not the same as gaining the leverage required to change the rules for how society works or change the decisions that politicians, corporate executives, and other people in authority make.
The book offers a set of essential lessons about power for anyone who wants to understand it, gain it, and use it to win the progress we all deserve — and to defeat the forces trying to take our freedoms away. Robinson provides the tools needed to help everyday people build real leverage in systems designed to prevent them from doing so and offers a hopeful, practical guide to achieving positive impact in the most challenging times.
Rashad Robinson is a social justice leader, strategist, and organization builder. He has designed campaigns to change public policies, corporate practices, electoral outcomes, and media representations. Through Rashad Robinson Advisors (RRA), he advises and collaborates on developing high-impact strategies to bring about progress with foundations, nonprofits and leaders across media, politics, government and business. He previously led Color Of Change for nearly fourteen years, transforming it from a start-up into a national force for racial justice, and also led programs at GLAAD, reshaping media representations of LGBTQ people during the fights to win marriage equality and end discrimination.
Angela T. Rye, Esq. is an award-winning host, lawyer, social justice advocate, producer, and Principal/CEO of IMPACT Strategies. She is co-creator of State of the People, which is a coalition of more than 200 national and local organizations. Attorney Rye is co-host of the NAACP Image Award–winning podcast Native Land Pod, and co-founder of Reasoned Choice Media. Through her firm's Professional Development Program, she has helped develop more than 500 leaders serving across government, corporate, and nonprofit sectors. A Capitol Hill veteran, Angela is the former Executive Director and General Counsel to the Congressional Black Caucus and has more than two decades of experience in crisis management, political strategy, and coalition building.
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Elliott Bay Book Company
