Fantastic look at the often overlooked beginnings of the Black Lives Matter movement and the many people who came together to build it up to the force it is today. Kahn-Cullors offers an intimate view into her own life and the lives of those who helped her and her leadership team bring attention to the basic fact that Black Lives Matter and how hard it can be to convince people of the humanity of POC.

I am not black.
I am not queer.
I am not a former prisoner, have never been in jail or had family in jail.

I grew up poor, but I have no idea. No. Idea. Whatsoever.

I have never had family ripped from their beds by police in the middle of the night just because they "might" fit the profile of someone the police are looking for.
I was [nor were any of my friends] never thrown in jail just for hanging out together.
I have never been shot at just for having different color skin than those around me.
I have never had to live in fear of being pulled over by police [and possibly being shot and dying] simply because of the color of my skin.
I have never had to live in fear and be afraid of retribution or jail or attacks simply for who I have chosen to both be and love.

I am a cis, white female who strives daily to preach and believe in equality for all.
I used to believe I was knowledgeable in this topic.
I was wrong.

This book has completely changed me. I spent much of it crying and apologizing for the atrocities that have been inflicted in Patrisse, her family, her chosen family and indeed, all black lives and POC. This book humbled me. It reminded me of how much I DO NOT KNOW. And that head knowledge is not the same as heart and life knowledge. But it DID teach me. It made me angry. And it reminded me over and over again that I. HAVE. NO. CLUE.
It reminded me that I do have to learn; I had to educate myself and then get involved. I have to practice more compassion and empathy. I have to fight harder against injustice. And I have to let go of the fear of what people think of me when I stand up for what I believe is right because clearly, THAT is not a true fear.

This book educated me.
This book reminded me of who I want to be as a human being.
This book should be required reading for everyone.

May we all strive to make this a world where everyone belongs and lives without fear.

#BlackLivesMatter

Perhaps you are looking at democracy from another perspective, focusing on the growing resistance movement, and would be interested in the memoir WHEN THEY CALL YOU A TERRORIST by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele. In rather angry terms, this tells the story of a Black Lives Matter co-founder and describes how she grew up, gaining strength from charter schools and art classes despite prevailing hostility from society. She and others used social media and civil activism to protest the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, eventually forming Black Lives Matter. She writes about now being a "terrifying time," with concerns about healthcare availability, deportation, and so much else, while also celebrating that "we have centered and amplified the voices of those not only made most vulnerable, but most unheard .... Even still, there is so much work to do." With an emphasis on women of color and non-gender conforming individuals, Khan-Cullors shared a great deal in this book, both personal and unique observations as well as some surprising facts. More commentary on this movement is provided in the October 2017 American Prospect's "What Will It Take for Black Lives to Matter?" by activist and academic Todd Gitlin. WHEN THEY CALL YOU A TERRORIST received starred reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, and Publisher’s Weekly.

Link within blog post: http://prospect.org/article/what-will-it-take-black-lives-matter

This was a gut-wrenching read. Each chapter seemed more intense and more emotional than the last. Patrisse left it all on the pages of the book, so much so that I feel so unexplainably connected to her and the movement even more than before. I love the way she tells her stories, but weaves facts and statistics into the narrative to provide real data about the issues which she is so passionate about and how these issues have impacted her personally and in the communal sense. You find yourself rooting for Gabriel, praying for Monte and hoping that the black men in her life find peace.

But most of all, throughout this entire novel I'm wishing that people who don't understand why Black Live Matter is necessary read this, I mean really read it and internalize her words and her experiences and commit to being part of the change that the U.S. so desperately needs.

Ahhh, this is a good book. Even though it is about one of the founders of Black Lives Matter, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, there is sooooo much more than just BLM rhetoric here. It begins with her childhood in Los Angeles, growing up poor and constantly harassed by law enforcement. Her single mother worked multiple jobs and never quite got by. Without much adult supervision, both of her brothers eventually end up in the prison system. One of her brothers, whom she spends multiple chapters describing the plight of, was mentally ill and systematically abused by the prison system. It is tragic and harrowing, anyone who reads this book will come away with a detailed understanding of Cullors' rage at law enforcement, the justice system, corrections, and pretty much every institutional system in America.

The author herself is bisexual (she describes herself as queer). She spends a lot of time discussing the fact that Black Lives Matter was founded by three queer women and is a mostly women and LGBTQ-headed movement--though the way it is conveyed in the press, you would not know this. There is also a discussion of the full agenda of the movement, which encompasses far more than simply an end to police violence against people of color. In addition to the rights of Black citizens, Black Lives Matter stands for economic justice, health insurance, prison reform, educational reform, ending domestic violence, an end to the abuse of immigrants and unfair deportation, and so on.

Regrettably, much of what Cullors and the Black Lives Matter movement has worked for in the last few years has been undone by the current president and his administration. This is lamented in the last part of the book. It's not an ending, however, but a call to action, hope for the future.

Once again, this is a timely read and great book.

Happy publication day, Patrisse! I couldn't think of a better choice to start on MLK Day and finish a little after midnight on the day of its release. Many people will say that one of our biggest problems right now as a society is our lack of empathy -- that we just can't relate to any perspective but our own. This book is the perfect empathy test. If you read this book and are not moved by the author's life experience growing up as a Queer black woman to a greater understanding of why we need Black Lives Matter, then you might just be part of the problem. Those of us who are white who are trying to listen and learn and do what we can to center black experiences and let people of color lead and guide us to do better -- this book is one of several right now that can guide us. And it's an accounting of this history literally being made around us -- how a small group of veteran organizers quickly made a big impact in response to the untimely deaths ravaging their communities. Like many books written while their history is still being made, it's a little scattered and unfocused at times, but that doesn't take away from its overall impact. It's a relatively quick read that packs a very powerful punch.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

"You do not have the words to explain any of this, the full measure of the loss. Do words even exist to explain some forms of devastation, are there pictures that aproximate in real-world terms what the shattered heart of a Black girl looks like?
"This is why you tuck it away quietly in secret pockets.
"This is why you act like you are fine.
"This is why you go to school and pretend that algebraic equations that never add up to your father coming home make some kind of sense.
"This is why sometimes you think, I can't breathe.
"I can't breathe.
"I can't breathe."*

People are sleeping on this book and I have no idea why.

There is so much work to be done in today's world and no organization has made it more clear (in my political consciousness, short as it is) than Black Lives Matter. When They Call You a Terrorist is a joint venture by BLM co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele. The message, I shouldn't even need to tell you, is powerful and raw, full of love, community, terror, and oppression. It is a story of our country as experienced mostly by Patrisse herself, a self-identified queer Black woman. It is also phenomenally written and so emotionally heavy that I had to frequently put it down because I became too worked up. It's a story that needs to be shared, told by voices we have historically overlooked.

Even a quarter of the way through, this book was already one of the most thought-provoking reads I've had in quite a while. It was so significant, in fact, that I started looking up events to see whether Patrisse and asha would be in my area to talk about it. Lo and behold, today, MLK Day, they gave a free talk in Brooklyn that I attended. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect union and I am so, so thankful that there are others who now have a copy of this and can appreciate this book for what it is. Seriously, if you have any interest in social justice work at all, this book is a must-buy.

*Quote taken from ARC and may change in final publication.
Thank you to St. Martins Press for providing an advanced copy via Netgalley, which did not influenced my opinion on the book.

When They Call You a Terrorist is a soon to be classic in black literary thought and canon. This is a stunning memoir that poignantly captures the vitality of Patrisse and her family's strong spirit and determination struggling against brutal and relentless injustice. bandele's signature writing style is prevalent and gives Khan-Cullors narrative an almost poetic feel. This memoir packs all of the fire, all the receipts and brings down the full weight of harm perpetuated in the black community.

Khan-Cullors tells the story of her hard working mother, often working three jobs to provide for her children. Though she works three jobs, she is barely able to pay rent and put food on the table, and definitely finds it difficult to be present in the lives of her children. At 12 her children, as Khan-Cullors notes, like a lot of black children in poor disenfranchised communities, become the targets of a vicious police state using every tool in their arsenal to incarcerate and perpetuate lifelong servitude, guilt, and worthlessness within the black community. With striking prose, Khan-Cullors articulates how she saw loving members of her family brought down by the drug war, abused during incarceration, and the object of excessive police presence and brutality. Through all of the inequality and maltreatment, hers is a story of love and acceptance. A story about a queer black woman who through the queer and trans community learned to accept all people and advocate for all people - traits dismally absent in the strict Jehovah's Witness community and respectability politics of her mother's middle class black family.

When Kahn-Cullors speaks of her community...a community where helicopters are abundant, a community where black lives are expendable - only useful as forced labor in privatized prisons...you feel it. You feel the heartbreak of her mother frantically trying to find her 14 year old brother, and not knowing where or how to reach him. You feel how hopeless most people feel about their ability to change the system. You feel the difference in how crime is treated in the white community versus the black community. You feel that something needs to be done, and like her, you have the power to do something.

Anyone seeking to learn more about the Black Lives Matter movement should definitely start here. This is not a movement born out of timidity or of being on the fence about the validity of black lives. It has been Khan-Cullors mentality that ALL Black Lives Matter, her fight is that all people should matter in the eyes in of the law, our society, and in the way we love and service one another. We can't say that black lives matter and then exclude those among us who are trans or queer. We can't say that black lives matter but then exclude people that have been incarcerated or are struggling with drugs. We can not continue to allow respectability politics to alienate our most vulnerable from being among us. This is a powerful declaration, and one, unfortunately, so many people still need to hear.

Fascinating and essential reading about one of the most necessary and misunderstood movements of this time.

I strongly suggest that everyone read this book. The book is written by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele and they write so beautiful. Not only is the book a memoir but I learn so much. It moved me and I was not surprised that it did.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I want to know why we need “Black Lives Matter”.
That is why I read “When They Call You a Terrorist” by Patrisse Khan-Cullors.
This book is about the formation of the group “Black Lives Matter”. I wanted to know how it came about, and why it is needed. This book explains that.
The author is one of the founders of the group “Black Lives Matter”. I wanted to know more about “Black Lives Matter”, but much of the book is about the author’s life. However, that does explain how she came to create “Black Lives Matter”.
There were many factors in the process. There was her life growing up in poor neighborhoods. There were her experiences growing up in the Black culture. There were political factors. There was the tendency of the police to call any group of Black kids, a gang. There also was the tendency to call Black political or social activists, terrorists. By labeling them terrorists, they could treat them with more severe tactics. Their civil rights as citizens were often ignored. Then there were a string of instances when police killed unarmed Black suspects on the streets. This brought with it, fear and anger and mistrust.
The three women who started “Black Lives Matter” did not do anything illegal. They did not kill anyone, nor make a bomb, yet they were labeled terrorists. The author writes about her fear that at any time, police could kill her or one of her friends or family members. She writes about needing to find some hope. Taken in full, this book does explain how “Black Lives Matter” was started and why we need it. This book is a political history, but it is also a memoir. That is a strange mix, and yet it is the life the author experienced. Out of her life, “Black Lives Matter” was born.
Reading this book will explain a lot about what living Black in the United States is like. It will explain why we need “Black Lives Matter”. For me, it explains why we should encourage the group “Black Lives Matter”. We do not have freedom, until every citizen has the same freedom.

Great read. Patrisse Khan-Cullors' memoir is heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time. Cullors is a compelling writer, making this book hard to put down.

When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele

We live in a world where we need to tell people that Black Lives Matter. It’s not meant to say other lives don’t matter, we simply need to address that Black lives do in fact matter and their deaths, murders and killings should be addressed, their lives should be whole and they shouldn’t be forced to live in fear. This book isn’t a discussion on whether you should believe or even appreciate that stance. This book is about the life of the one of the women who started the Black Lives Matter movement.

This book is split into two parts. The first reveals Patrisse’s upbringing in a poor neighborhood in Los Angeles. She describes how she witnessed her brothers being approached by the police for doing nothing more than playing outside. She details her experiences going to different schools outside of her community in affluent neighborhoods during both middle school and high school and the affect that had on her upbringing. Patrisse also talks about her parents: the mother who was ostracized from her parents and her religion for having sex and becoming pregnant outside of marriage and her father who struggled with addiction most of his adult life. Patrisse also talks about being Queer, coming out and the family’s struggle with her brother’s mental illness and stints in jail.

The second part of the book brings with it many of the topics introduced in the first part but it delves deeper into the organizer that Patrisse has become. Her personal experiences dealing with law enforcement and the criminal justice system with her father and brother’s cases helped drive her to make a change. She works with different organizations working directly with youth, and eventually is called to even more action after the killing of Trayvon Martin and the decision made to let his killer go free. Patrisse, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi would eventually begin the Black Lives Matter movement, an organization that would eventually have over 40 chapters across the globe.

I was automatically drawn to this book after reading the title. I was well aware of the Black Lives Matter movement after the marches in Ferguson after Michael Brown’s death, but I feel like there was a lot of confusion and no credit was given to the original founders Patrisse, Alicia and Opal. It wasn’t until recently that I learned their names and heard some of their actual story. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to read a memoir written by one of the founders. It centers the narrative of someone who throughout her life has been part of a world that was actively working against her and the people she had in her life, because she was black and poor. Khan-Cullors has created with this memoir a passionate, well written, documentation of the abuses she has personally experience. It is heartbreaking and sobering and grounded in reality. Not everyone will share these same experiences with her but that does not take away how valid each of these experiences are and how they need to be addressed.

This is such a relevant book in this political climate. This is a book that will make people stop and think before they try to center themselves and utter All Lives Matter. This is a book that will force people to rethink the way the criminal justice system in the U.S. really works. This is a book that will make you question how people are taught to police and carry out their duties. This is a book that will make you think about mental illnesses, how they are discussed and treated throughout the U.S. And it will make you think about the roles of women and what it means to be Queer or Trans in this continual fight for change. Necessary, well thought out, emotional and direct. This is a book I highly recommend.

Read this book and commit the experience of reading it to memory. #blacklivesmatter is not just a hashtag or a movement but it is an anguished plea to stare reality in the face and acknowledge its existence.