Black feminist and reproductive justice organizer Loretta J. Ross has spent decades dealing with people she fundamentally disagrees with, starting with an encounter she had as a young sexual assault survivor. She was working as a rape counselor when she received a letter from a convicted rapist asking to visit him in prison because he wanted to learn how to not be a rapist. At first she was enraged but then decided to meet him.
That interaction began her lifelong journey toward developing a philosophy about how people who are fundamentally on opposite sides of one another can come together. Her new book, Calling In: How to Start Making Change With Those You’d Rather Cancel—a handbook, a memoir, and a manifesto all at once—lays out what she has learned.
Ross is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow and associate professor at Smith College. She co-founded the National Center for Human Rights Education and the Sister Song Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. She spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about her new book.