Why do some struggles for justice falter while others succeed? What will it take to achieve social change, especially now? The key is to understand one thing: the difference between presence and authority.
Not doing so is one of the reasons we got into this mess, but understanding how power really works is a big part of how we get out of it.Rashad Robinson knows this well. He is a social change strategist who has spent more than twenty years at the highest levels of leadership in two of the most important social movements of our time: the struggle for LGBT rights and the struggle for racial justice.
He has taken on tech giants, the criminal justice system, politicians in Washington, and Hollywood executives. He has been on the front lines of protests and in the back rooms of negotiations.Robinson argues that achieving visibility—that is, the media visibility of marches, the widespread exposure of issues, and their popularity—does not necessarily mean gaining the influence needed to change the rules of society or change the decisions made by politicians, corporate executives, and other people in power.This book offers a set of essential lessons about power for everyone who wants to understand it, gain it, and use it to achieve the progress we all deserve, and to defeat the forces that seek to take away our freedoms. Robinson provides the tools to help ordinary people build real influence in systems designed to prevent them from doing so.As someone who helped shape the resistance after the 2016 election, and who continues to help leaders at all levels find innovative ways to resist and make progress today, Robinson offers a practical, hopeful guide to making a positive impact in the toughest of times.
