“I’ve been working to change the political system for years. I have believed that what is needed is a movement strong enough to unite both people of color and white working-class people. I have scratched my head about how best to frame this. Then Merge Left arrived. Finally, we have the how-to manual for dismantling a system of division that hurts everyone.”
—Jane Fonda
“Racism is a weapon against the working class and cross-racial solidarity is the linchpin to creating an energized and empowered movement for restaurant workers and beyond. In Merge Left, Haney López explores a powerful strategy and path forward where working people and families can win—not just in the next election, but into the future.”
—Saru Jayaraman, president, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United
“Frankly, this approach connecting race to class and calling for unity is the most important work I’ve been involved with in twenty years of polling.”
—Celinda Lake, Democratic pollster and strategist
“Having presented and implemented winning campaigns based on this research, I can’t imagine a clearer or more long-overdue playbook for progressives than Merge Left. Haney López moves us from diagnosis to cure.”
—Anat Shenker-Osorio, research director for the Race-Class Narrative Project
“We all lose if the only people talking about race are the people trying to divide us against each other. That’s why [Merge Left] is so pivotal in our fight for an economy and democracy that works for everyone.”
—Gerry Hudson, secretary-treasurer, SEIU
“Ian Haney López has established himself as one of the most prescient and insightful voices on how race and racism have shaped and continue to reshape American society. Here he asks the toughest question facing strategists of the left. How do we unite those on the losing end of both the nation’s racial divide and its rampant class inequality? … This is an important read for anyone hoping to build a meaningful workers’ coalition on the left.”
—Gary Segura, dean, Luskin School of Public Affairs, UCLA
“Merge Left makes clear that major progress on racial justice will follow from defeating dog whistle politics once and for all. For all of us seeking to end state violence against communities of color, this book is powerful, timely, trenchant, and practical.”
—Kimberlé Crenshaw, executive director, African American Policy Forum, and faculty director, Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies, Columbia University
“Merge Left is the essential handbook for everyone who is standing up to xenophobia and fighting for humane immigration policies. And it is so much more than that. Merge Left is for every activist and progressive committed to building a broad, diverse and dynamic movement that actually delivers on the promise of both racial and economic justice.”
—Frank Sharry, executive director, America’s Voice
“Solidarity is the crucial ingredient in the fight against the evermore-dangerous plutocracy. Ian Haney López helps explain where that solidarity might come from, even in our strained and divided society. Epically helpful!”
—Bill McKibben, environmentalist and author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?