Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love by Valarie Kaur

8 reviews

beth_simmons's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

This book should be required reading at this moment in our society. Full of insight, hope, and honesty, Kaur's idea of revolutionary love and how we practice it is so engaging it needs more than one read-through. I led a discussion about it which was supposed to be a single one-hour session. Instead, we stretched it out over four sessions which all went well past the time allotted. It is just so full. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

parablesarah's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, and War

ajaggers324's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Islamophobia, and Medical trauma

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Genocide, Homophobia, Infertility, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

brimcnull's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Wow wow wow. I first encountered Valarie Kaur in 2015 at the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Her breakout was my favorite and I was thrilled to see she wrote a book. 

See No Stranger was challenging, sometimes haunting, and what this world needs. Cannot recommend enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Mass/school shootings

readalongwithnat's review against another edition

5.0

Absolutely heart wrenching. Touched on so many topics but they were woven together so intricately. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

rebekajones's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I did not want this book to end. This book is a testament that social justice and advocacy can and must be paired with self-love and wonder to be sustainable. If you are looking for an infusion of hope as you navigate the dismal landscape of current events, look no further.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Xenophobia

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual assault

ar_singh's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

5.0

Tati Vao Ana Lagai. The hot winds cannot touch me.

This memoir was amazing! Kaur writing was poetic as it was deeply moving and inspiring. Her explanation of how she moves past trauma, hate and grief to find love, joy, acceptance and forgiveness will stay with me forever.

Breathe, push, inhale, exhale. Find wonder in those around you. Na Ko bairi Nahi Begana. I See no Stranger, I See no Enemy. 

As a young Brown women, there are so many stories and experiences that Kaur went through that I felt on a deeply personal level. Her activism and dedication to her community and her work shows the strength and resilience, brown and black people have forged in the face of hate. And her wise words of wisdom and steady guide in her work Revolutionary love will continue to help me and I hope many others in facing the problems of today.

This memoir is one that I intent to return to. Time and time again. When I need advice, when I need guidance to find hope again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, and War

leweylibrary's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

This is a book that's going to stay with me and I'm going to need to sit with for a long time to really fully appreciate it's value in my life. The stories Valarie Kaur tells about her [absolutely awe inspiring] life show a side of life in America that I haven't thought about a lot until now. I love her concept of Revolutionary Love--it seems difficult to implement but totally worth it and game-changing once you do.

Quotes:

• New horrors keep arising from old impulses. The past keeps bleeding into the present. No civilization in the world is exempt. But what is particular to America is that many who suffered enormous loss and destruction have had to do so alone, had to marshal language to tell the story, only to find that there was no one to hear it because their suffering contradicts the story that the nation keeps telling itself--the story of American exceptionalism. America is a beacon of light, the singular enforcer of truth. Our sorry of exceptionalism doesn't allow us to confront our past with open eyes. A nation that cannot see its own past cannot see the suffering it has caused, suffering that persists into the present. A nation that cannot see our suffering cannot grieve with us. A nation that cannot grieve with us cannot know us, and therefore cannot love us. (58)
• This is not the dominant narrative of American history, but, if you look closely, you can see many stories of solidarity. In response to great violence or injustice, there are people who rush to bury the dead, cut down the lynching noose, or attend the memorials to say: not in my name. When people who have no obvious reason to love each other it come together to grieve, they can give birth to new relationships, even revolutions. (59)
• ... witnessing suffering does not necessarily lead to meaningful action. The credits roll; we go home or swipe the screen. We think that something has been accomplished because we are emotionally spent, but nothing has changed. We can have all the empathy in the world for a group of people and still participate in the struggles and systems that oppress them. We might believe we are listening, but we have journeyed only half the circle. We have drawn close to the story and lost ourselves in another's experience, but we haven't returned to ourselves and asked: what fits this demand of me? Is it the reckoning of my privilege? Is it an expansion of whose struggles connect with mine? What will I do differently now? (144)
• "it's easy to love people who love you back," she [Her mother] said. "When somebody gives you pain, how do you love that person? That's the real test of love." (262)
• America needs to reconcile itself and do the work of apology: to say to indigenous, black, and brown people, we take full ownership for what we did. To say, we owe you (ital) everything. To say, we see how harm runs through generations. To say, we own this legacy and will not harm you again. To promise the non-repetition of harm would require nothing less than transitioning the nation as a whole. It would mean retiring the old narrative about who we are--a city on a hill--and embracing a new narrative of an America longing to be born, a nation whose promised lies in the future, a nation we can only realize by doing the labor: reckoning with the past, reconciling with ourselves, restructuring our institutions, and letting those who have been most harmed be the ones to lead us through the transition. (271)
• I don't know how this will end or how much worse it will get. But in such moments, I see glimpses of a nation waiting to be born, this society we aspire to be--in America that is multiracial, multi-faith, multi-gendered, and multicultural, a nation where power is shared and we strive to protect the wellness and dignity of every person and work to save our earth and our collective future. Each of us has a role in this long labor, no matter who is in the White House. That means when a voice in us says "I can't," Our most urgent task is to find the wisdom to stay in the fire. (288)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma

Some quotes I love: New horrors keep arising from old impulses. The past keeps bleeding into the present. No civilization in the world is exempt. But what is particular to America is that many who suffered enormous loss and destruction have had to do so alone, had to marshal language to tell the story, only to find that there was no one to hear it because their suffering contradicts the story that the nation keeps telling itself--the story of American exceptionalism. (Ital) America is a beacon of light, the singular enforcer of truth. (End ital) Our sorry of exceptionalism doesn't allow us to confront our past with open eyes. A nation that cannot see its own past cannot see the suffering it has caused, suffering that persists into the present. A nation that cannot see our suffering cannot grieve with us. A nation that cannot grieve with us cannot know us, and therefore cannot love us. (58)

This is not the dominant narrative of American history, but, if you look closely, you can see many stories of solidarity. In response to great violence or injustice, there are people who rush to bury the dead, cut down the lynching noose, or attend the memorials to say: (ital) not in my name. When people who have no obvious reason to love each other it come together to grieve, they can give birth to new relationships, even revolutions. (59)

... witnessing suffering does not necessarily lead to meaningful action. The credits roll; we go home or swipe the screen. We think that something has been accomplished because we are emotionally spent, but nothing has changed. We can have all the empathy in the world for a group of people and still participate in the struggles and systems that oppress them. We might believe we are listening, but we have journeyed only half the circle. We have drawn close to the story and lost ourselves in another's experience, but we haven't returned to ourselves and asked: what fits this demand of me? Is it the reckoning of my privilege? Is it an expansion of whose struggles connect with mine? What will I do differently now? (144)

"it's easy to love people who love you back," she [Her mother] said. "When somebody gives you pain, how do you love that person? That's the real test of love." (262)

America needs to reconcile itself and do the work of apology: to say to indigenous, black, and brown people, we take full ownership for what we did. To say, we owe you (ital) everything. To say, we see how harm runs through generations. To say, we own this legacy and will not harm you again. To promise the non-repetition of harm would require nothing less than transitioning the nation as a whole. It would mean retiring the old narrative about who we are--a city on a hill--and embracing a new narrative of an America longing to be born, a nation whose promised lies in the future, a nation we can only realize by doing the labor: reckoning with the past, reconciling with ourselves, restructuring our institutions, and letting those who have been most harmed be the ones to lead us through the transition. (271)

And this one is my ultimate favorite:

I Don't know how this will end or how much worse it will get. But in such moments, I see glimpses of a nation waiting to be born, this society we aspire to be--in America that is multiracial, multi-faith, multi-gendered, and multicultural, a nation where power is shared and we strive to protect the wellness and dignity of every person and work to save our earth and our collective future. Each of us has a role in this long labor, no matter who is in the White House. That means when a voice in us says "I can't," Our most urgent task is to find the wisdom to stay in the fire. (288)