Juan Williams is an award winning journalist and historian who is best known for his book "Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965," which was subsequently adapted into a PBS documentary of the same name, and "Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary," the biography of the first African American Supreme Court justice. In "New Prize for These Eyes" Williams turns his gaze on the Second Civil Rights Movement, which he defines as commencing with the groundbreaking speech given by then Illinois Senator Barack Obama, a relative unknown, during the 2004 Democratic National Convention. That electrifying address marked the beginning of a new generation of leadership, as Obama did not come up through the usual paths that previous civil rights leaders such as John Lewis, Jesse Jackson and others trod to achieve recognition and success within the Black community. As a result of this and his relative youth his subsequent announcement that he would run for the presidency in 2008 was met with widespread scorn and disapproval, as most African Americans supported Hillary Clinton in the early stages of the Democratic campaign, Jesse Jackson was openly hostile towards him, and the majority of Black leaders withheld their support. (I remember several conversations with African American men in my local barbershop in Atlanta during the early stages of the campaign, and the majority of the customers, along with my barber, also disapproved of Obama, as they felt he was not one of them and would not understand their concerns or support them if he was elected president.) He eventually won over Black leadership and Black voters, and he was successfully able to portray himself as a post-racial candidate who spoke to the concerns of all voters, not just African Americans, which propelled him to a historic win in the 2008 general election. At the same time Republicans viewed Obama as a grave threat, someone who could create a multiracial coalition that could threaten their ability to win elections for decades to come, especially as the percentage of Whites in the United States was sharply declining due to the rise of Asian and especially Latino populations and as college educated Whites gravitated toward the Democratic Party. White grievance also began to rise in the mid 2000s, as many felt that Blacks and Latinos were taking advantage of them in terms of job opportunities and benefits that rightfully belonged to them. By the late 2000s there was a rise of groups that espoused far right beliefs, fueled by traditional and social media, and by the mid 2010s alt-right groups and media outlets began to dominate conservative thinking, as Donald Trump in particular took advantage of this growing movement. In 2014 the nation was captivated by the death of Michael Brown, a teenager who was shot to death by police officers in broad daylight in Ferguson, Missouri. The subsequent protests against police officers along with the murder of another unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin, by a vigilante in Florida in 2013 led activists to create the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter and the creation of the grass roots movement of the same name (BLM for short). It differed from traditional civil rights organizations created in the 1960s such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coördinating Committee (SNCC) and earlier organizations such as the NAACP and the Urban League in that they were centrally run with a male dominated leadership that tolerated little dissent; BLM was initially created by three Black female activists and groups under the same name started with little if any connection to the originally founded group. The Black Lives Matter movement aimed to address the systemic and institutional inequities that African Americans continued to experience despite the removal of legal barriers to equal treatment won during the first Civil Rights Movement, and its members assumed that it had a dedicated ally in President Obama. Obama found himself in a difficult position, though, as he kept his promise to be the president for all Americans, not just Black ones, which was frustrating and disappointing to younger Blacks and their supporters. Unfortunately one of the adverse effects of the Black Lives Matter movement, according to Williams, was a White anti-BLM, anti-civil rights backlash, fueled by right wing media and comments by Trump and others, and fatigue over the movement’s activities, which many non-supporters viewed as disruptive and lawless. Williams describes the numerous failures of the first Trump presidency, including the backlash over his harsh comments of and treatment toward those who protested the monstrous murder of George Floyd by a rogue police officer in Minneapolis in 2020 that was captured and distributed by a young woman who happened to be present, and his failed handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The book concludes with the infamous January 6th insurrection, the right wing backlash to the Biden presidency, the Trump fueled refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election by voters and Republican politicians, and the rise of movements and legislation opposed to civil rights, such as the Stop WOKE Act by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the wrongheaded opposition to the teaching of critical race theory in schools. The Black Lives Matter movement largely imploded due to a lack of central organization and its inability to effectively state its goals or support or influence politicians who were sympathetic of their aims. Williams states that the Second Civil Rights Movement, while not a success in the eyes of Black Lives Matter supporters and younger Blacks, was successful to a large part in bringing awareness of systemic racism to everyday Americans. He proposes that a Third Civil Rights Movement must consist of a multiracial coalition similar to what Barack Obama was able to create, one that would redefine the aims of civil rights in the United States and provide equal opportunities for all Americans. This book was published before the start of Trump 2.0, and its rapid destruction of democratic norms that erased many of the gains of the preceding Civil Rights Movements, and it is already out of date to some degree even though it was published earlier this year. "New Prize for These Eyes" is a compelling account of the Second Civil Rights Movement, which includes the successes and failures of the Black Lives Matter movement and the rise of the far right and the forces that propelled Donald Trump to his successful 2016 and 2024 presidential campaigns. Unfortunately Trump 2.0 has rendered much of the gains of the Civil Rights Movements moot, but given the rising protests to what Trump and Elon Musk are doing there is at least some hope that a Third Civil Rights Movement can rise from the ashes and restore what has been lost after the disastrous 2022 and 2024 elections. (read less)

Juan Williams is an award winning journalist and historian who is best known for his book "Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965," which was subsequently adapted into a PBS documentary of the same name, and "Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary," the biography of the first African American Supreme Court justice. In "New Prize for These Eyes" Williams turns his (read more)

Obama hit the nail on the head. His presidency, Black Lives Matter, and even the Trump backlash are all essential parts of the Second Civil Rights Movement. from New Prize for These Eyes by Juan Williams I knew this history–I lived through it. And yet, seeing it in a narrative was a revelation. It was all agonizing. The events that spurred the new Civil Rights movement are horrendous to revisit. Juan Williams begins with President Obama, the idea of a ‘post-racial America’ that so many of us believed had been achieved. Obama declared himself the president of all Americans, not Black Americans only. When unarmed Black men and boys were killed by police, new movements arose around hashtags on social media–#BlackLivesMatter, #DefundthePolice. Systemic racism was its target. It was fueled by a multiracial group of young people. A backlash soon rose up fueled white supremacy groups and President Trump’s MAGA supporters, white folk who believed that minorities were threatening them economically and socially and politically. Williams contends that the first Civil Rights Movement was about ending segregation and gaining voting rights and affirmative action laws. The second Civil Rights Movement was about justice, police reform, and (still) voting rights. The first movement was organized by groups led by men. The second was grass-roots, and less organized. …the coming movement for racial justice is likely to be built as a search for common ground among people with different experiences of America, people of different races and ethnicities. from New Prize for These Eyes by Juan Williams Williams predicts a third, more inclusive, wave will soon be upon us. Last of all, Williams sets forth the reforms needed to fully achieve equal rights. First, we must solve issues of police violence, voter suppression, gun violence, and economic disparities. To do this we must address the inequality of our current system of representation, the court system, and the Electoral College. As Williams reminds us “The truth is that civil rights activism in never finished.” It was surprising to read in the Acknowledgements that the book was a “near-death experience” until the CEO of Simon & Schuster promoted its publication. When I shared the ARC photo on social media, there was a good response. Thanks to the publisher for a free book through LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. (read less)

Obama hit the nail on the head. His presidency, Black Lives Matter, and even the Trump backlash are all essential parts of the Second Civil Rights Movement. from New Prize for These Eyes by Juan Williams I knew this history–I lived through it. And yet, seeing it in a narrative was a revelation. It was all agonizing. The events that spurred the new Civil Rights movement are horrendous to (read more)