The book is structured into five sections: Revolution, Protection, Force, Flight, and Joy, spanning diverse periods and locations across the U.S. and its territories. Protection and Force sections were especially moving. Women feature prominently throughout, challenging the notion that resistance and force are exclusively male domains. The author interweaves personal family stories, adding intimacy to the narrative. From the start, she's bold in her arguments. White readers might feel uncomfortable or defensive, but it's crucial to push past these reactions. This book presents a compelling, well-written case for acknowledging Black use of force as a form of resistance throughout American history.

I really enjoyed this audio. It was so nice to have to read along with the physical book. When I read non fiction, I find that the audio holds my attention much better. The narrator did a great job brining this story to life. It's probably one of my favorite NF reads of the summer.

Thank you, NetGalley and Tantor Audio for this audiobook for review. This was a powerful look at Black resistance in creating change and freedom for Black people. This is essential reading for white supremacy as not all resistance is violent, but sometimes violence is necessary. I also loved the chapter on Black joy.

This book is an absolute must read for folks wanting to work to dismantle white supremacy. We Refuse is an engaging, nuanced, and important exploration of Black armed resistance through history. In many ways, I think this book challenges our preconceptions of what resistance and protest "should" be in a highly impactful way. This is best read an an audiobook for me because it made all the historical context so easy to follow.

This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by Kellie Carter Jackson, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley.

The narrator of this audiobook is Kellie Carter Jackson. I am not usually a fan of authors reading their own nonfiction history books, but this was really well done. The audio quality was crisp and clear. I enjoyed being able to hear the emotion in the authors own voice. Most especially because her statements are so powerful.

"This is a book about the ways Black people in America have responded to white supremacy—including through force. The intrinsic belief in Black humanity is essential to understanding Black resistance to racial terror."

This is an important and powerful historical record. I wasn't really sure what to expect, and I started this with extremely high hopes. I'm elated to share that I was not disappointed in the slightest. I was familiar with the basics of this history as both a historian and Black Feminist. Still, I learned so very much. Even the information I was familiar with was presented in a new light and connected to other applicable historical characters and incidents.

I purchased the Kindle copy of this when it was released and so was excited when I saw the audiobook available to review on NetGalley. My quotes in this review and in my updates as I was listening to the audiobook are taken from the digital book, which was published this past June.

This book is right on time as this has important history to remember and keep in mind as our nation heads into a presidential election like no other with extremely high stakes.
"Or we can let whiteness drown in the violence of its own making."

Thank you to Kellie Carter Jackson, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

an effusive thanks goes to tantor audio and netgalley for the advanced audiobook copy of this book and my greater thanks goes to kellie carter jackson for putting this book into the world. (so glad you found your thumb drive!)

--

last year, i read March, a graphic novel series memorializing the life of the late senator john lewis, specifically unpacking his belief system centered in nonviolence. it's no secret that, particularly after trump, racism has exponentially shown itself publicly and loudly again. (a note here: i am in no way suggesting racism wasn't ultra prevalent prior to trump's inauguration, just that the installment of a violent racist into the american presidency seemed to embolden and inflame the racists still living in our country to be louder and more violent than the recent years prior, but i acknowledge as a white person i've had the inordinate privilege of not being privy to the same hatred and violent acts as black, indigenous, and other people of color.)

one of the stupidest talking points i've heard was the dissection on "appropriate protest", particularly when the protests in question happen in the wake of yet another white officer killing another unarmed black person - perhaps even trying to incriminate the black person by planting evidence, lying about their actions (which are later disproved by body cams or witnesses), and suggesting they deserve death, usually for the crime of just living while being black. so i picked up we refuse because i was interested in reading the counterpoint to the nonviolence argument.

this was actually immaculate. jackson uses historical examples to make her point - the haitian revolution, the christiana riot, john brown's raid - but what made this special was interspersing these historical events with the history of her own family. jackson's great-grandmother arnesta was nine and stepped on a nail. a white doctor refused to treat her unless her mother would agree that in exchange for his services, arnesta would live her life in slavery, doomed to a life of certain abuse, rape, and violence on top of subjugation. arnesta's mother's breathtaking choice to deny the doctor the right to arnesta's personhood was horror inducing, not because a mother was refusing care for her child but because a person saw a child facing probable death and instead of rendering immediate care thought first about acquiring ownership over another human. this is white violence.

jackson expertly weaves the necessity of violence from therein, but does several incredible things that need to be called out:

1.) she centers the actions of black women, in particular, often forgotten or diminished by history. i cherished the story of solitude, a pregnant woman fighting back against france for a better life for her baby. i think about the unthinkable act of violence perpetrated against her when she was captured - she would be allowed to give birth, her child would become a slave. i think about margaret garner, the woman that fleed enslavement and when followed and cornered to be brought back to her plantation, began to kill her children because death was better than them living their lives enslaved. i can't imagine being faced with a choice like this.

2.) there's not just a heavy focus on violence as an antidote to oppression, but also flight being a reasonable response. i also loved the emphasis on black community, how black people had to look after each other because relying on the humanity and kindness of white people was not something that could be expected or guaranteed. this culminated in a story about tye anders, a young, black man accused of running a stop sign (with no evidence). he pulled up in front of his grandmother's house. he was lying on the ground screaming that he was scared. he clearly had no weapons. multiple guns were trained on him. his 90 year old grandmother walked out of the house and stood between the police and tye. jackson didn't tell this story to talk about why police don't need to exist (we should all be aware of this) but to display a certain kind of protection and bravery that could only be displayed by person that has seen the worst things that white supremacy does to black people. this brings me to point 3 -

3.) jackson spends a whole chapter talking about black joy, how its existence is a radical act, how the joy of black people can remove some power from white people trying to express their power and privilege. i'm glad the book ended on this note. i think it's not and has never been the oppressor's business to tell the oppressed how to respond to their own oppression, there's always going to be someone that tries to do so. the same people that live in a country where bull connor directed officers to use their dogs and physically attack CHILDREN during the children's march want to claim that it's "history" don't deserve to have opinions about how black people respond to the violence enacted against them by white people or a white supremacist society.

frankly, i treasure this book. i think this should be required reading in schools. it was truly an honor to be able to hear kellie tell her own family's stories in her own voice. i try my best to educate myself (and i will continue to learn until i'm no longer able) but i value this book for teaching me things that i did not know and never would have considered. truly one of my favorite books of all time.