Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith

29 reviews

wifeslife's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual violence, Rape, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Genocide, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Child death, Death, Deportation, Violence, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Racism

brynalexa's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Poetic, powerful, and thought-provoking. Filled in some gaps in my education while inspiring me to seek out more information on the world’s cruel history. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Rape, Slavery, Bullying, Torture, Violence, Child death, Colonisation, Grief, Kidnapping, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Genocide, Hate crime, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia

amsswim's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I very much encourage everyone to read or listen to this book. Follow the author to important heritage sites to the legacy of slavery through the US and beyond; plantations, prisons, confederate cemeteries.  Made me very reflective on random interactions I have had over the years and how the people in my family history may have interacted. The content is graphic and unflinching, which is entirely necessary. It is also one of the best written non-fiction books I have read, I believe because you are going on a journey with the author. I am unable to summarize so much of one amazing book, so I am just going to say again read it.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Violence, Trafficking, Racism, Confinement, Murder, Racial slurs, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Slavery, Sexual violence, and Rape

jaiari12's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Racism, Classism, Police brutality, Violence, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Rape, and Racial slurs

analenegrace's review

challenging informative

I was fortunate enough to meet Clint Smith and get a free signed copy at a university book event over a year ago, but I just now got to reading it. Smith is an amazing writer whose poetry clearly influences his prose, and it is written in such a compelling and beautiful book, even with the difficult subject matter. 

I cannot recommend reading this book, especially if you're trying to deconstruct what racism in America looks like. While there are so many lines I marked as pivotal to the book, the most important comes on page 289 in his epilogue, 

"The history of slavery is the history of the United States. It was not peripheral to our founding; it was central to it. It is not irrelevant to our contemporary society; it created it. This history is in our soil, it is in our policies, and it must, too, be in our memories."

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Classism, War, Racism, Genocide, Grief, Violence, Murder, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Confinement, Death, Medical content, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Trafficking

leahkarge's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Trafficking, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Genocide, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Racial slurs, Classism, Death, Torture, Violence, Racism, and Rape

kasnobi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Racial slurs, Hate crime, and Slavery

tlaynejones's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

This was such an excellent book. I have an interest in learning about the system of enslavement and exploitation of Black, Indigenous and other Peoples of Colour that the USA has been built upon, so I had high expectations for this one. It was even better than I hoped. Smith has framed his examination of history through visits to key locations in the USA and Africa. He writes in a style that is a mix of conversational anecdotal experiences, and beautifully framed observations and analysis. It was extremely readable and engaging, not dry at all. 
I was filled with all the feelings as I listened to this book. I feel so strongly that we all, but especially those of us from privileged positions, have a responsibility to learn, and to unlearn our histories. 
Highly recommended. Go get this one. Read it. 
Let me know what you think. 
❤️📚
** edit. This is a book about the profoundly violent exploitation of Black people for hundreds of years, and the white people who blithely (and often proudly) committed this violence. There are many depictions of white people doing and saying violent and callous things towards Black people, and then justifying themselves. There are many CW for Black readers, and for other people of colour. 💗

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Trafficking, and Hate crime

sydapel's review

dark informative reflective slow-paced

Part history compilation, part piece of journalism and partly the authors own reflections, but primarily I was fascinated by how Smith keeps coming back to how we teach others about slavery, both in America and abroad. A lot of the images described in this book, as well as the writing, will stick with me for a long time. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, Racism, Murder, and Slavery

Moderate: Colonisation, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Rape, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, and Confinement

Minor: Police brutality

jrosegross's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Hate crime, Slavery, and Racism