Quarantine Session #104: Hawa Allan + Anjuli Raza Kolb

Summary

Greenlight welcomed lawyer and critic Hawa Allan to discuss her prescient and timely debut book of nonfiction, Insurrection, a deeply researched and felt history and critique of the paradoxical state of black citizenship in the United States. Tracing the origins of the Insurrection Act of 1807 to our current moment, Allan reveals how the Act empowered the Federal Government to either defend or violate Black enfranchisement at various times throughout history. Throughout, she draws from her own experiences as one of the only Black girls in her leafy Long Island suburb, as a Black lawyer at a predominantly white firm during a visit from presidential candidate Barack Obama, and as a thinker about the use and misuse of appeals to law and order. Author Anjuli Raza Kolb joined Allan for a penetrating conversation on law, the control of history and cultural narratives, and the concept of citizenship as entitlement. (Recorded February 24, 2022)