As its long title implies, there’s a lot going on in this book. Some chapters I loved, some chapters I skimmed, and some left me weeping for humanity. See my complete review by clicking on the link below:

Well, That Escalated Quickly by Franchesca Ramsey IMMEDIATELY appealed to me. Friends, I am like okay at social justice. There is a whole lot that I have to learn, right. So, this book felt like a great opportunity to learn about being a better activist. ALSO, I am one of those people who has retweeted Ramsey’s Decoded videos before. I think she explains social justice concepts in a way that is easy to understand. Also, in a way that is WAY better than I ever could to other people. This book seemed like a good way to learn from Ramsey’s experiences and apply them in my own activism.

Franchesca Ramsey’s memoir basically opens with her talking about her experience going viral on Youtube with her video – Shit White Girls Say To Black Girls. This is the video that really launched her, right. So then she talks about the interviews she gave – what went well and what went wrong. She manages to get on the wrong side of social justice Tumblr. However, some kind people messaged her with links to resources that would educate her as well as to private Facebook groups. She grows and learns. We see what happens when she meets a troll in real life. We learn about her tutorial videos for natural hair and locs. Also, about her time on The Nightly Show as well as Decoded.

Overall, Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs And Mistakes Of An Accidental Activist is SUCH an engaging book. Initially, I began reading this book on my iPhone via the Kindle app when I had some downtime. It was kind of my background book, if that makes sense. However, I eventually made it my main book and could NOT stop reading it. This was the book that I finished reading on my birthday and have no regrets making that choice.

I felt like Ramsey’s writing was empowering. She comes across as understanding when people make missteps due to not having knowledge of different concepts. She takes the time to explain out the concepts and talks about how “you don’t know what you don’t know.” I guess I liked that she allows for people to grow and realizes that not everyone comes about into the world with knowledge of intersectionality and social justice. That is not to say there’s no message to do better, there is. In fact, at the end is a glossary and there’s also frequent mentions of places in the book that you can go to learn more about social justice.

People who are new to the fight will gain a lot from this book. I think you’ll learn why it is important to privilege the voices of women of color. You will learn why it is so rude to call a troll out using terms that disparage another group of people. She’s got an excellent chapter on calling out versus calling in. I think that this book is quite impactful and I am so, so glad I read it. I will absolutely recommend this to people who want a world that is better than what we have now.