Elie Mystal
Allow Me to Retort
A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution
The New Press, 2022
What's inside?
Journalist Elie Mystal advocates fairness for people of color, starting with how the Constitution is applied.
Recommendation
The Nation’s justice correspondent Elie Mystal – embracing controversy, never equivocating – examines the US Constitution and finds that racism shaped how Americans interpret it. He includes judges who misread it in ways that harm Black people. In Mystal’s view, the courts’ application of the Constitution has never fully included women or people of color. Besides, he says, it hasn’t solved many problems, given the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol and recurring mass murders. Mystal advocates Supreme Court reform and a more positive, fair understanding of the Constitution. He’s provocative, but even if you disagree with him, his analysis – notably of systemic racism and the law – is enlightening.
Summary
About the Author
The Nation’s justice correspondent Elie Mystal is the Alfred Knobler Fellow at the Type Media Center, an MSNBC commentator, and the legal editor at the More Perfect podcast.
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