The author wrote a memoir that perfectly captured the triumphs and setbacks of their life. It was easy to empathize with the author due to the raw writing.

We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders is a profound memoir. Linda Sarsour, who rose to international fame shortly after Trump's election, tells her story of personal identity as a Palestinian American, along with her public story as an activist. She passionately narrates the story of 911, revealing to the reader how her family and community were unjustly affected as Arabs and Arab Americans, and later, how a personal tragedy catapulted her into very public activism. Sarsour also details the hate that has been directed at her due to her Palestinian identity and the much needed work that she does to combat injustice, not only that directed at Arabs, but at all people.. As a daughter and a mother, she has had to make careful choices and difficult decisions in the face of hate.

For readers who hold a one sided view of the events of 911, this book is a must read, as it will enlighten them as to the cruelty and injustice that was (and continues to be) directed at the Arab community in the US.
#NetGalley #WeAreNotHereToBeBystanders

If anything, Sarsour’s book reinforces exactly what the Black Lives matter movement is all about and gives clarity to the anger of protestors who are fed up. What the book also shows is the power of commitment and determination one very determined woman can make in the lives of many people. Now is the time to read it. It helped clarify many things in the protests we are seeing now. Sadly, the people who most need to read this book will refuse and that’s too bad. They might be forced to take their blindfolds off and see what’s happening outside their very white, conservative communities.

Linda Sarsour, community activist extraordinaire, has written a beautiful and raw memoir that resists and counters the vitriol that has been flung at her and her community through the years.

Sarsour begins her book with a powerful story about the moment she decided to wear a hijab. She was 19, married, and pregnant with her first child. Weaving in a story from her childhood, Sarsour explains her sometimes complex relationship with her identity, and why choosing to wear a hijab was such a profound, yet very easy, decision to make. The honest exploration of herself was the moment I knew I was going to enjoy reading this book.

Sarsour’s writing is highly accessible; she invites everyone into her life and gives her readers a profound sense of welcome. She shares the tenderness between her and her father; the heartbreak when she lost her cousin and longtime mentor, Basemah; the pain she felt when she realized she would never be seen in the same way after 9/11. She opens up to her readers, asking us to she her for who she is: a woman working tirelessly for the advancement and equality of all people; a mother who tries to balance an intense job fighting for other people’s children while raising her own. Above all else, though, she asks us to see her as a human being. Linda Sarsour has endured unimaginable hate, but has never given up fighting for what is right and fair and just.

We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders is Linda Sarsour’s “social justice manifesto” and if you walk away from this book without feeling inspired by all she has overcome and all she has done for people everywhere, I will be shocked.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me access to this book.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy

Available May 1st 2020

Wow. I am completely in shambles after reading this book. As a long time fan of Linda Sarsour on social media, I was elated to read her memoir. Part rally cry, part sociological analysis, part community organizational lessons, "We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders" is a book that will linger in your thoughts for a long time. Every other chapter, I found myself reaching for a tissue or two. Sarsour is raw and honest when she discusses the tolls of social justice work, the long hours away from family, the constant critique of her actions, the paranoia of living in a police state. Yet the memoir is hardly ever bitter. Instead, in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Sarsour shows love to those who conspire against her while still maintaining her positions and beliefs. It is these moments that are most transformative for me as a reader, to learn how to shift the framework of a situation from one of fear and hatred to one of understanding and kindness. Sarsour's wit, humor and humanity are sorely needed in these times.