Episode 16: Linda Burnham

Black Work Talk

In this episode of Black Work Talk’s Season Two, Steven Pitts launches the power-building mini-series with his co-host, Lauren Jacobs. Steven and Lauren talk with Linda Burnham – long-time social justice organizer, writer, and theoretician. Linda is co-editor of a phenomenal book entitled: Power Concedes Nothing: How Grassroots Organizing Wins Elections – a collection of essays and interviews about the on-the-ground efforts that mobilized voters in 2020 across the United States. Linda has a nuanced understanding of power, history, and the path forward to a better world and we talked about the complex path to building more power in this country. Linda stressed that elections are not the only arena where we build and contest for power, but it is an important one and she helped us understand how we can successfully build electoral majorities and build the thick relationships with working people that allow for successful action beyond elections.

To read more about the book Linda co-edited, see Power Concedes Nothing: How Grassroots Organizing Wins .