Reviews
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by asha bandele, Patrisse Khan-Cullors
kenwashburne88's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.25
lindy_b's review against another edition
3.0
When I went into reading this book, I was hoping to learn about the nitty gritty details of activism: successes, failures, conflicts within the movement, that sort of thing. That is not what When They Call You a Terrorist ended up being about. That's fine. It's fine that Khan-Cullors has chosen to write primarily on her radicalization through interpersonal relationships in her family and community with the actual organizing retreating into the background for the most part. The text illustrates how the War on Drugs (for example) continues to inform every aspect of some people's existence; this has never been abstract to the author, and I think she chose to write this way to de-abstractify it to those more privileged.
I'm kind of reminded of [b:Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger|18777980|Eating Fire My Life as a Lesbian Avenger|Kelly J. Cogswell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1407813527s/18777980.jpg|26685099], as neither author has a great grasp of what kinds of details I, a stranger, might find to be pertinent. For example, it's hard to get a read on the personalities of any of the major figures.
Khan-Cullor's prose reads like transcripts of sermons. I imagine this would be a good one as an audiobook, if you're into that.
I want to reiterate: there is nothing really wrong with this book. I just didn't get what I was hoping to out of reading it, but as the reviews on here attest, many other people did.
I'm kind of reminded of [b:Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger|18777980|Eating Fire My Life as a Lesbian Avenger|Kelly J. Cogswell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1407813527s/18777980.jpg|26685099], as neither author has a great grasp of what kinds of details I, a stranger, might find to be pertinent. For example, it's hard to get a read on the personalities of any of the major figures.
Khan-Cullor's prose reads like transcripts of sermons. I imagine this would be a good one as an audiobook, if you're into that.
I want to reiterate: there is nothing really wrong with this book. I just didn't get what I was hoping to out of reading it, but as the reviews on here attest, many other people did.
kenjanae_s's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
An incredibly enlightening memoir. Lots of personal stories regarding the war on drugs, the prison-industrial complex, and LGBTQ+ discrimination. I recommend reading this book to anyone invested in making the world a more just place.
elfyn's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Really informative about how BLM came to be and the women behind it. It's shocking how much is directly relevant now though - it almost could have been written this year, so little seems to have changed.
karimorton33's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, this book hit me right in the heart. I don’t remember tearing up much reading books (I don’t know why I don’t) but this one got to me. I could relate, even if only in the way that I have also seen a loved one go to jail (although for a very short period of time). This book talked about experiences I’ve never had to face and never will have to face as a white person, and it was really heartbreaking but heartening to see everything that Patrisse did to start to make the US (and world) a better place.
sanitakacuba's review against another edition
3.0
A title is a bit bigger than the book but hey, it got the attention, did it not?
This is a biographical story of growing up feeling repressed and unwanted from government; coming to age while facing so much of injustice; finding yourself against the norms of society and doing something about it.
This is a biographical story of growing up feeling repressed and unwanted from government; coming to age while facing so much of injustice; finding yourself against the norms of society and doing something about it.
ela_lee_'s review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars, maybe rounded down to 3? Overall I enjoyed this book and learned a few new things from a different perspective. I was hesitant to read it since the author was recently convicted of using fundraiser money ($2 million?) for personal use…kinda detracts from the morality of this book. However, she’s definitely not the first to do something like this and I don’t think it negates all the work she’s done for BLM and our country.
The author has seen some shit. She’s witnessed firsthand what our current system has done to her neighborhoods, brother, father, partner, friends. She’s experienced how the police treat those with mental illness, seen countless friends arrested or abused for essentially no reason. Cops have literally barged into her house demanding to speak to her husband because he “matched the description of someone.” Constant degradation directly correlating to her skin color and living situation.
The only reason I didn’t give this book a higher rating is because it did feel a little unprofessional at times…a little too “he said, she said.” Also a few too many unnecessary details regarding her relationship statuses. But regardless, she has accomplished something great and maybe you need to be a little unhinged to make that happen.
A few quotes I highlighted:
“What does it mean to be world’s wealthiest nation, and yet the place with extraordinary unemployment, an extradorinaiy lack of livable wages, and an extraordinary disruption of basic opportunity?”
"Depression is the predictable outcome when people are forced to deny their humanity."
"How is it possible that the only response we have for poor people who are mentally ill is criminalization? How does this align with the notion of a democratic or free society? More mentally ill people are in our nation’s prisons than in all of our psychiatric hospitals combined."
"Even as we are labeled criminal, we are actually the victims of crime. And I tell them that there are no stats to track collateral deaths…the ones that unfold over months and years in mourning and grief. The depression that becomes addiction to alcohol, that becomes cirrhosis, or else addiction to food that becomes diabetes, that becomes a stroke. Slow deaths, undocumented deaths, deaths with a common root: the hatred that tells a person daily that their life and life of those they love ain’t worth shit. A truth made ever more real when the people who harm you are never held accountable."
"We begin a list of local demands that add to the evolving national demands which begin, not surprisingly, with slashing police budgets and investing in what actually keeps communities safe: jobs, good schools, green spaces."
"We are a forgotten generation. Worse, we are a generation that has been written off. We’ve been written off by the drug war, we’ve been written off by the war on gangs, we’ve been written off by mass incarceration and criminalization. We’ve been written off by broken public schools and we’ve been written off by gentrification, that keeps us out of the very neighborhoods we’ve helped build.
The author has seen some shit. She’s witnessed firsthand what our current system has done to her neighborhoods, brother, father, partner, friends. She’s experienced how the police treat those with mental illness, seen countless friends arrested or abused for essentially no reason. Cops have literally barged into her house demanding to speak to her husband because he “matched the description of someone.” Constant degradation directly correlating to her skin color and living situation.
The only reason I didn’t give this book a higher rating is because it did feel a little unprofessional at times…a little too “he said, she said.” Also a few too many unnecessary details regarding her relationship statuses. But regardless, she has accomplished something great and maybe you need to be a little unhinged to make that happen.
A few quotes I highlighted:
“What does it mean to be world’s wealthiest nation, and yet the place with extraordinary unemployment, an extradorinaiy lack of livable wages, and an extraordinary disruption of basic opportunity?”
"Depression is the predictable outcome when people are forced to deny their humanity."
"How is it possible that the only response we have for poor people who are mentally ill is criminalization? How does this align with the notion of a democratic or free society? More mentally ill people are in our nation’s prisons than in all of our psychiatric hospitals combined."
"Even as we are labeled criminal, we are actually the victims of crime. And I tell them that there are no stats to track collateral deaths…the ones that unfold over months and years in mourning and grief. The depression that becomes addiction to alcohol, that becomes cirrhosis, or else addiction to food that becomes diabetes, that becomes a stroke. Slow deaths, undocumented deaths, deaths with a common root: the hatred that tells a person daily that their life and life of those they love ain’t worth shit. A truth made ever more real when the people who harm you are never held accountable."
"We begin a list of local demands that add to the evolving national demands which begin, not surprisingly, with slashing police budgets and investing in what actually keeps communities safe: jobs, good schools, green spaces."
"We are a forgotten generation. Worse, we are a generation that has been written off. We’ve been written off by the drug war, we’ve been written off by the war on gangs, we’ve been written off by mass incarceration and criminalization. We’ve been written off by broken public schools and we’ve been written off by gentrification, that keeps us out of the very neighborhoods we’ve helped build.