When They Call You a Terrorist

I cannot recommend this book enough. Please read this book. I think it’s especially powerful after reading one of the more academic anti-racism books like How to Be Anti-Racist or So You Want to Talk About Race. I split my time reading and listening to this one and preferred the audiobook, especially as it’s narrated by the author. (I used to be soooo anti-audio books but have come to really enjoy them, particularly for memoirs when the author of the book reads it to you.) Patrisse Cullors is one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the book is her memoir. From growing up Black and queer and watching the men in her life struggle with addiction and mental health issues (and wind up imprisoned for it) to founding what has become a global movement, it is absolutely amazing (though yes – very hard to read at times). It’s hard to read. I didn’t know the whole story of how BLM was founded and hearing the stories of the early movements (especially leading up to Trump’s election) feel eerily similar to the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. I loved this book and I hope you all will read it. It’s an important book. It will break your heart and is a lot to absorb but it’s definitely one of my favorite books from this year.