THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. New York Times Editor’s Pick. Library Journal Best Books of 2019. TIME Magazine’s “Best Memoirs of 2018 So Far.” O, Oprah’s Magazine’s “10 Titles to Pick Up Now.” Politics & Current Events 2018 O.W.L. Book Awards Winner The Root Best of 2018 “This remarkable book reveals what inspired Patrisse’s visionary and courageous activism and forces us to face … remarkable book reveals what inspired Patrisse’s visionary and courageous activism and forces us to face the consequence of the choices our nation made when we criminalized a generation. This book is a must-read for all of us.” – Michelle Alexander, New York Times bestselling author of The New Jim Crow
A poetic and powerful memoir about what it means to be a Black woman in America–and the co-founding of a movement that demands justice for all in the land of the free.
Raised by a single mother in an impoverished neighborhood in Los Angeles, Patrisse Khan-Cullors experienced firsthand the prejudice and persecution Black Americans endure at the hands of law enforcement. For Patrisse, the most vulnerable people in the country are Black people. Deliberately and ruthlessly targeted by a criminal justice system serving a white privilege agenda, Black people are subjected to unjustifiable racial profiling and police brutality. In 2013, when Trayvon Martin’s killer went free, Patrisse’s outrage led her to co-found Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.
Condemned as terrorists and as a threat to America, these loving women founded a hashtag that birthed the movement to demand accountability from the authorities who continually turn a blind eye to the injustices inflicted upon people of Black and Brown skin.
Championing human rights in the face of violent racism, Patrisse is a survivor. She transformed her personal pain into political power, giving voice to a people suffering inequality and a movement fueled by her strength and love to tell the country–and the world–that Black Lives Matter.
When They Call You a Terrorist is Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele’s reflection on humanity. It is an empowering account of survival, strength and resilience and a call to action to change the culture that declares innocent Black life expendable.
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Helped me understand racism on a personal level
When someone writes a memoir about growing up black and poor and female in a neighborhood that was virtually a police state, and that neighborhood is 5-10 miles from where you grew up in a comfortable white suburb, the reality of racism strikes home. Patrisse Khan-Cullors has written an engaging, sobering story of her childhood, her mother working 3 jobs to make sure they survived, the fate of her brothers at the hands of the police, her poignant relationships with her father and step-father, and her transformation into an activist who founded the Black Lives Matter movement. Her words, and her voice on the audio version, are calm, friendly, and loving, even as she is describing the most horrific acts committed against her family, herself, or other African Americans, which brought me into her world in a way that brought out my compassion. She is a true bridge between people, and an eloquent spokesperson for one of the most important movements today. Even of you think you know the meaning of Black Lives Matter, read this to know it more deeply.
Highly recommend this eye-opener
Black Lives Matter founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors crafts a memoir about her jagged childhood, reeling from the trauma of a mentally ill brother abused by the penal system, a birth father saddled with addiction and a yearning for personal identity and belonging. From the kindling of her early experiences and the catalyst of Trayvon Martin’s murder, a movement is born. Oft misunderstood, at worst it is called a terrorist organization, chapters that are dedicated specifically to fight the false premise of our country’s Rule of Law, that laws are applied equally to everyone and that no one is above the law. It is painfully evident through 400 years of history that laws have been specifically DESIGNED to maintain discrepancy in racial treatment. Thus, BLM.
Inspiring and eye-opening. A must read for those wanting or needing a peek into racism. Great book!
A heartbreaking and moving read, Patrisse Khan-Cullors’ account shows how the events of her life, as well as her family’s experiences, put her on the trajectory to become an activist. Cullors depicts one marginalizing experience after another, all the ways her school, her city, and society at large told her her life did not matter, her brother Monte’s life did not matter, her father’s life did not matter, her husband’s life did not matter, and so on. It was maddening to see all they endured but sadly it was not surprising. This is the lived reality for people of color and this is why the Black Lives Matter movement is so important. It could not have been easy for Cullors and her coauthor to write this book but I’m so glad they did. It’s an essential, beautifully written memoir. I appreciated how intentional she was in naming people, from activists to her loved ones to those who were killed. I hope it serves as reminder to center the voices of the BLM founders and women of color in general who are all too easily left out of the narrative.
A powerful American narrative set down in lucid passionate prose about one Los Angeles Black Queer woman’s personal journey and how that propelled her leadership role in the spontaneous birth of #blacklivesmatter. Heartbreaking, educational and damning of the white supremacy that persists in America despite the many times we’ve stood up and fought. I will be buying and sharing copies of this memoir with friends and colleagues for years to come.
Anyone who has any opinion about the Black Lives Movement, positive or otherwise, will benefit from reading this memoir. It is an unvarnished account of a woman who used the tragedy injected into her life by hostile forces seemingly beyond her control to spearhead a movement so powerful that the response of the powers that be was to seek to criminalize her efforts to bring some right to a nation so wrong.
Ms. Cullors continues the legacy of activism in an amazing read.
A must-read for these times, When They Call You a Terrorist is a powerful personal story that reveals and explains the impact of structural oppression on woman and her family. It also demonstrates the healing powers of community and organizing for change.