Rising Up offers a timely exploration of how truthful narratives by and about people of color can be used to advance social justice in the United States.
While people of color are fast becoming the majority population in the United States, the perspectives of white America still dominate the vast majority of the media created and consumed every day. Media makers of color, long shut out of the decision-making process, are rising up to advance a set of different narratives, offering stories and perspectives to counter the racism and disinformation that have long dominated America’s political and cultural landscape.
In Rising Up, award-winning journalist Sonali Kolhatkar delivers a guide to racial justice narrative-setting. With a focus on shifting perspectives in news media, entertainment, and individual discourse, she highlights the writers, creators, educators, and influencers who are successfully building a culture of affirmation and inclusion.
“Sonali Kolhatkar reminds us we are the stories we tell. Our stories can cast a spell of hate, division, and fear, or they can break the powerful grip of racial injustices that have held us since our country’s beginning. With personal and collective wisdom, Kolhatkar guides us in the storytelling that liberates.”—Luis J. Rodriguez, author of Always Running: La Vida Loco/Gang Days in L.A.
“Rising Up challenges the reader to not only rethink their assumptions, but to understand the critical importance of the creation of progressive narratives as an instrument in the struggles for human liberation.”—Bill Fletcher, Jr., author of The Man Who Fell From the Sky
"Even though people of color are fast becoming the majority population in the United States, the perspectives and privileges of white America still dominate our key narrative-setting institutions and industries. People of color, long shut out of mainstream news studios, Hollywood's writers' rooms, and executive suites, are rising up to advance new political and social narratives that center on racial justice and equity. In Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice, award-winning broadcast journalist Sonali Kolhatkar delivers a back-pocket guide to racial justice narrative-setting. Kolhatkar focuses on shifting narratives in three spaces: news media, popular culture, and individual discourse. Drawing from her own life experiences as an Asian American woman and media maker of color, she highlights other journalists, writers, creators, educators, and social media influencers who refuse to remain marginalized and are dedicated to building a new culture to displace white supremacy. Kolhatkar carefully and passionately argues that narrative change is a critical step all Americans should engage in to prevent the country from falling further under the influence of false racist, far-right disinformation that leads to social polarization and political violence"--
