I DON'T WANT YOUR LOVE AND LIGHT

After a photograph of Rachel Cargle and her white friend standing together at the 2017 Women's March went viral, and in the wake of the resulting backlash, Cargle, a committed Black activist, began to wonder, Is there a place for me in the modern, white-washed feminist movement? How can we achieve feminist solidarity, one that manifests a just world for Black women within a movement built on racist foundations? She started documenting her investigation into these questions and many others on her Instagram account, which grew into a robust community of nearly two million members. 

Now, in I Don't Want Your Love and Light, Cargle shares her journey, depicting a framework for allyship that she developed along the way. True freedom from the structures that reinforce white supremacy comes through the combination of three foundational elements: knowledge, empathy, and action. In sharing her story, Cargle reveals how these three elements activate a radical reimagining, one that can be applied to all aspects of life, liberating us from the constructs that confine and limit not just Black women, but all people, and empowering us to reorient our lives around our own personal higher values. 

Part memoir, part manifesto, I Don't Want Your Love and Light shows readers how to reimagine their relationships and our world. Cargle presents a map toward a freer, more equal existence-one that is not based on hierarchy or othering, but on seeing, existing alongside with, and honoring one another for who we really are.