When her best friend's son is murdered, Kitty Feliz uncovers a racist scheme involving drug gangs, police corruption and gentrification through the deliberate blighting of Black communities.

Spanning two cities-Portland, Oregon, and New Orleans-Usurpation tells an emotional story of hardship and redemptive love through the lives of two families, and through the eyes of Kitty, whose experiences and musings as a Black lesbian lyrically link the personal with the political, the heart with the mind.