Unabridged Audiobook
i literally had to stop what I was doing while listening to this in order to authentically listen and take in what Patrice Kahn-Cullors was saying in too many parts of her memoir. Just stop what I was doing and sit down. Or just pause the player and walk out onto the deck and breath in the forest to so that I could take more in as my breath was literally stolen from me as she reports on the events of her youth and the terrorism of the justice and carceral system upon her family, and more specifically her mentally ill brother. This is why we need mental health support and explicitly LESS police activity with mental health issues. Although I have been involved in anti-racist work for 20 years, I have a far deeper understanding of what Patrice, Opal, and Alicia were saying, from the inception of #BlackLivesMatter. Inception is the wrong word tho. It is a struggle that has been ongoing and has never ceased. One that cannot be ignored once you read this. It is short. I got through it in two evenings. These women are not only carrying the torch of Fannie Lou Hamer, Malcolm, MLK, but evolving it to be truly inclusive, pro queer, pro-femme, feminist, and a model of radical Black love that we all need to learn from. You will understand what radical Black love means after reading this book of survival and deepest commitment.