Carol Anderson: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America

The Constitution clearly states that Americans have the right to keep and bear arms, an argument often used to dispute proposed gun control legislation. However, historian Carol Anderson says that deeper analysis of the formation of the Second Amendment reveals ulterior, racialized motives to keep Black people powerless and oppressed. In her new book The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America, Anderson uncovers the history behind the Second Amendment and argues that it was designed to keep African Americans vulnerable and subdued. As a professor of African American Studies at Atlanta's Emory University, Anderson’s research primarily focuses on how racial inequality affects the processes and outcomes of policymaking. In early America, slaves were prohibited from owning, carrying or using a firearm. She says this sentiment remains today as measures to expand and curtail gun ownership are aimed to keep the Black community neutralized and punished. In an era when many are reexamining government policy through a racial lens, Anderson sheds new light on another mysterious dimension of anti-Blackness in the United States. Join us in conversation with Carol Anderson to understand the connection between Blackness, gun ownership and racial equality. NOTES Our thanks to Marcus Books for fulfilling book orders Photo by Stephen Nowland/Emory. SPEAKERS Dr. Carol Anderson Ph.D., Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies, Emory University; Author, The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America In Conversation with Melissa Murray Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law, NYU School of Law; Co-host, "Strict Scrutiny" Podcast 💯SUBSCRIBE for more VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/user/commonwealthclub 📆 UPCOMING EVENTS: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events 🎉 BECOME a MEMBER: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/membership 💰 DONATE NOW: https://support.commonwealthclub.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=298 📺➕📻 Watch & Listen https://www.commonwealthclub.org/watch-listen The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum 📣, bringing together its 20,000 members for more than 400 annual events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy. Founded in 1903 in San Francisco California 🌉, The Commonwealth Club has played host to a diverse and distinctive array of speakers, from Teddy Roosevelt in 1911 to Hillary Clinton in 2010. Along the way, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have all given landmark speeches at the Club.