They Can't Kill Us All
Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement

Quotes

"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

"The best journalism serves as the 'first draft of history,' but every so often a reporter gets to write the second draft as well. Wesley Lowery has provided a crucial dispatch from a particularly American frontline. Ferguson, Charleston, Baltimore and Cleveland are more than flashpoints in current affairs, they are the theaters in which our longstanding battles for racial equality have taken place. They Can't Kill Us All is a valuable field report on the status of American democracy itself."
—Jelani Cobb, staff writer, The New Yorker and professor of journalism, Columbia Journalism School

"[Lowery's portrait of a nation facing up to issues of race and justice is gripping, as are his accounts of the passion and pain of activists like Brittany Packnett, who told President Obama, 'Our lives matter, stop killing us.'"
—Jane Ciabattari, BBC

"A narrative of outrage, struggle, and, eventually, optimism.... A balanced look at a protest movement that's only just begun to gather focus and strength."
—Vulture