A review by letsgolesbians
Black Disability Politics by Sami Schalk

challenging informative reflective

5.0

sami schalk says at the beginning of the book that this is written for Black people, specifically Black disabled people, and the rest of us are welcome to sit and listen. as she reminds us throughout the book, listening to the people with the most marginalizations and those most oppressed by the state about liberation will help liberate the rest of us.

schalk is a fat queer Black disabled woman weaving together teaching, activism, and scholarship in Black disability politics. schalk examines "how Black people have engaged with disability as a political issue through exploration and analysis of the work of the Black panther party, the national Black women's health project, and 21st century Black disabled cultural workers" and recognizing the work the Black community has done for disability politics while not always calling it disability politics or centering disability. this work has often been left out of disability conversations and its erasure has contributed to much of the activism surrounding disability to be focused on white disabled people. i think this book is a great learning opportunity; not only is the framework of Black disabilty politics an important one, but i also learned a lot about the Black panther party and found particular interest in how the national Black women's health project worked to inform people of and protect people from HIV/AIDS.

some of the things schalk talked about regarding Black disability politics reminded me of what i've learned about harm reduction and addiction from indigenous people and were good reminders for me not to look at people through such a white, western lens (e.g. not relying on medical and legal frameworks, definitions, and diagnoses). if you're looking for a nonfiction book to read for pride, i recommend this book, even though it's not specifically centered on queerness. imani barbarin reads the audiobook, and i'm grateful thatdarnchat 

CWs: ableism; HIV/AIDS; racism (general systemic, as well as medical and environmental)

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