They Can't Kill Us All

Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement

By: Wesley Lowery

Narrated by: Ron Butler

A deeply reported book that brings alive the quest for justice in the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Freddie Gray, offering both unparalleled insight into the reality of police violence in America and an intimate, moving portrait of those working to end it.

Conducting hundreds of interviews during the course of over one year reporting on the ground, Washington Post writer Wesley Lowery traveled from Ferguson, Missouri, to Cleveland, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina; and Baltimore, Maryland; and then back to Ferguson to uncover life inside the most heavily policed, if otherwise neglected, corners of America today.

In an effort to grasp the magnitude of the repose to Michael Brown's death and understand the scale of the problem police violence represents, Lowery speaks to Brown's family and the families of other victims other victims' families as well as local activists. By posing the question, "What does the loss of any one life mean to the rest of the nation?" Lowery examines the cumulative effect of decades of racially biased policing in segregated neighborhoods with failing schools, crumbling infrastructure and too few jobs.

Studded with moments of joy, and tragedy, They Can't Kill Us All offers a historically informed look at the standoff between the police and those they are sworn to protect, showing that civil unrest is just one tool of resistance in the broader struggle for justice. As Lowery brings vividly to life, the protests against police killings are also about the black community's long history on the receiving end of perceived and actual acts of injustice and discrimination.

They Can't Kill Us All grapples with a persistent if also largely unexamined aspect of the otherwise transformative presidency of Barack Obama: the failure to deliver tangible security and opportunity to those Americans most in need of both.

Critic reviews

"Lowery's book is electric, because it is so well reported, so plainly told and so evidently the work of a man who has not grown a callus on his heart.... Lowery's book is valuable for many reasons. He circles slowly and warily around the question of why, during Obama's presidency, so little has happened to improve on the racial front."--Dwight Garner, New York Times

"Lowery's dispatches from the front lines of this new era in racial justice movement building have proven indispensable, and with They Can't Kill Us All, he further shows just how vital his reporting has become. Part early history of a still growing movement, as well as part critique of the media charged with covering this movement, Lowery also offers a peek into the process of reporting--the structural challenges, unfortunate failures, and personal successes in accurately capturing the politics and personalities involved in the biggest domestic story of the Obama presidency. They Can't Kill Us All proves itself a necessary read for anyone in need of greater understanding of why and how a new generation of young black activists have taken to the streets to demand justice from their country.—Mychal Denzel Smith, New York Times bestselling author of Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching

"Riveting.... A timely, significant book."
—Kirkus, Starred Review

"With empathy, anguish, and a superb eye for telling detail, Wesley Lowery chronicles the birth of the new civil rights movement. This book is an urgent, grounds-eye view of the struggle."
—Chris Hayes, author of A Colony in a Nation

"They Can't Kill Us All is a wise memoir that chronicles the fatigue of reporting Black death at the hands of law enforcement."
—Ebony

"Lowery takes us inside the pain and courage of those who have cared to challenge the police and this nation. He details their stories and, along the way, provides a powerful and all-too-human account of what it means to be a reporter in a time of profound crisis. His example gives me renewed home in those who report the news. This is a must read!"
—Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., author of Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul

"They Can't Kill Us All is a comprehensive record of the #blacklivesmatter protest movement, as well as a first-person account of those events from the author's dual--and conflicted--perspective as a journalist and an African-American man."
—Esquire

"[A] vital book.... Setting the fatal police shootings of young black men in the historical context of racial violence, Lowery also adds personal insight as a young biracial man professionally bound to the crisis."
—Elle

casting issue?

I can't decide if there was a casting issue or if the casting was intentional to speak to a broader base. To me the voice I was hearing didn't match the story being told.

Eye opening book I want to send to my Uncle(s)

The dedication to telling the stories in this book is admirable and highly commended. The stories themselves need to be heard because they are true and necessary

Informative, great narrator

The narrator does a great job. The book is very informative and keeps you intrigued.

Necessary and Inspiring

A blueprint for social change. A rollercoaster ride of emotions as the history of police brutality and racial injustice is retold in a fresh way.

Revealing!

The story under the headlines by one who writes those headlines. Worth everyone's time especially to be more conscious and active