“What do you do when something is broken and can’t be fixed?”: Black political engagement in an anti-Black world

BY: Deanna Adams

"What do you do when something is broken and can't be fixed?": Black political engagement in an anti-Black world

Shortly after Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me was released to critical acclaim, I moderated a book discussion about it. During the talk, a self-proclaimed fearless Black man asked an engineer in the room, “What do you do when something is broken and it can’t be fixed?” The engineer, another proud Black man, repeatedly exclaimed, “I’m an engineer!