Social Sciences
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Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want
From the author of Race After Technology, an inspiring vision of how we can build a more just world―one small change at a time
"A book as urgent as the moment that produced it."―Jelani Cobb, Columbia Journalism School
Long before the pandemic, Ruha Benjamin was doing groundbreaking research on race, technology, and justice, focusing on big, structural changes. But the twin plagues of COVID-19 and anti-Black police violence inspired her to rethink the importance of small, individual actions. Part memoir, part manifesto, Viral Justice is a sweeping and deeply personal exploration of how we can transform society through the choices we make every day.
Vividly recounting her personal experiences and those of her family, Benjamin shows how seemingly minor decisions and habits could spread virally and have exponentially positive effects. She recounts her father's premature death, illuminating the devastating impact of the chronic stress of racism, but she also introduces us to community organizers who are fostering mutual aid and collective healing. Through her brother's experience with the criminal justice system, we see the trauma caused by policing practices and mass imprisonment, but we also witness family members finding strength as they come together to demand justice for their loved ones. And while her own challenges as a young mother reveal the vast inequities of our healthcare system, Benjamin also describes how the support of doulas and midwives can keep Black mothers and babies alive and well.
Born of a stubborn hopefulness, Viral Justice offers a passionate, inspiring, and practical vision of how small changes can add up to large ones, transforming our relationships and communities and helping us build a more just and joyful world.
"A book as urgent as the moment that produced it."―Jelani Cobb, Columbia Journalism School
Long before the pandemic, Ruha Benjamin was doing groundbreaking research on race, technology, and justice, focusing on big, structural changes. But the twin plagues of COVID-19 and anti-Black police violence inspired her to rethink the importance of small, individual actions. Part memoir, part manifesto, Viral Justice is a sweeping and deeply personal exploration of how we can transform society through the choices we make every day.
Vividly recounting her personal experiences and those of her family, Benjamin shows how seemingly minor decisions and habits could spread virally and have exponentially positive effects. She recounts her father's premature death, illuminating the devastating impact of the chronic stress of racism, but she also introduces us to community organizers who are fostering mutual aid and collective healing. Through her brother's experience with the criminal justice system, we see the trauma caused by policing practices and mass imprisonment, but we also witness family members finding strength as they come together to demand justice for their loved ones. And while her own challenges as a young mother reveal the vast inequities of our healthcare system, Benjamin also describes how the support of doulas and midwives can keep Black mothers and babies alive and well.
Born of a stubborn hopefulness, Viral Justice offers a passionate, inspiring, and practical vision of how small changes can add up to large ones, transforming our relationships and communities and helping us build a more just and joyful world.
Editorial Reviews
"Ruha Benjamin is among our sharpest, most expansive thinkers on the manifold inequalities of the current order. Viral Justice reckons with the practices that uphold that order and how we might dare to change the world―a book as urgent as the moment that produced it."―Jelani Cobb, Columbia Journalism School
"As Ruha Benjamin narrates her life story, we come to see in detail both how structures―carceral, racial, gender―affect individuals and communities and how, through small acts of justice, we can navigate these structures, prefiguring the world that we want and need."―Angela Y. Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of California, Santa Cruz
"In this riveting and beautifully written book, Ruha Benjamin expertly channels her personal experiences to illuminate how solutions to social and racial injustice can be transformative when they are individualized. To accomplish meaningful, collective change, we should first look within ourselves. Justice can be contagious when it is personal."―Uché Blackstock, MD, founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity
"This book is an education. Wide-ranging and provocative, soaring yet grounded, Viral Justice reveals how racism poisons our bodies, communities, and institutions, but the book also chronicles inspired movements seeking repair and justice. The work of a beautiful mind and spirit, it moves fast―mixing memoir with social analysis and community engagement―and left me challenged and hopeful and stirred."―Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
"As Ruha Benjamin narrates her life story, we come to see in detail both how structures―carceral, racial, gender―affect individuals and communities and how, through small acts of justice, we can navigate these structures, prefiguring the world that we want and need."―Angela Y. Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of California, Santa Cruz
"In this riveting and beautifully written book, Ruha Benjamin expertly channels her personal experiences to illuminate how solutions to social and racial injustice can be transformative when they are individualized. To accomplish meaningful, collective change, we should first look within ourselves. Justice can be contagious when it is personal."―Uché Blackstock, MD, founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity
"This book is an education. Wide-ranging and provocative, soaring yet grounded, Viral Justice reveals how racism poisons our bodies, communities, and institutions, but the book also chronicles inspired movements seeking repair and justice. The work of a beautiful mind and spirit, it moves fast―mixing memoir with social analysis and community engagement―and left me challenged and hopeful and stirred."―Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Readers Top Reviews
Gayatri Sethi, PhD
This book is overflowing with nuanced & needed perspectives. It’s written with capacious wisdoms & impeccably researched too. It’s the kind of book I’d love to study & discuss in collectives. I already know that I’ll be returning to many pages often to reabsorb the insights.
Eddie Hutchinson
How do we transform society to where we are all beneficiaries of truth, equality, and justice? To address this question, Prof. Ruha Benjamin’s memoir/manifesto, Viral Justice, offers guideposts to help us on this mission; if we choose to accept it. Throughout the various topics, she weaves in her own personal history: - In chapter two, Hunted, we are introduced to her younger brother in highlighting the injustices in mental health, policing & the carceral system. - The following chapter, Lies, she traces her academic journey while calling into question the many inequities in the educational system. - Chapter four, Grind, Benjamin reflects on her own work history to discuss the biases in the workforce and technology (see also her book Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code) and how we can reimagine work & redistribute wealth. - Her pregnancy and childbirth experiences are incorporated in chapter five, Exposed, to spotlight medical and healthcare inequities. Viral Justice exposes many societal ills and to be a part of the cure it requires our commitment and participation. No need to wait for the silver bullet of change when, in small doses, we all can act as seekers of truth & justice to begin the healing process and transform the world for the better. For those in book clubs, discussion groups, etc… there is a Reading and Discussion Guide on RuhaBenjamin.com.
Artemis Kourosh
This is a urgent read for every caring person in this explosive moment on our planet. If the inflamed rhetoric of our modern world is bothersome to you then Ms. Benjamin writes a prescription for us all to work together creating cooling breeze over our world. Should be required reading for every college student.
PWDecker
This book is a must read for anyone who has become more aware of their impact on the world and the system in which they live over the last few years. No matter where you are on your antiracist journey, this book will provide plenty of information, context, and heart. The audiobook is beautifully narrated by Dr. Ruha Benjamin, going through her life's stories while showcasing a way in which every one of one can cause change in small ways every day. I recommend this especially to white folks who are actively working on their own impact on BIPOC folks in their lives. I give this book 5/5. Listen or read this book and continue along your journey of becoming a better person for yourself and for others.
R. M. SmithJudy
The author marshals a seemingly random set of anecdotes and second rate research findings to produce a long and tedious Marxist rant about racism. I could only muster a close read of the first three chapters then had to skim the remainder. Look elsewhere for informed discussion of the issues.
