When They Call You a Terrorist

paperback, 288 pages

Published Jan. 14, 2020 by St. Martin's Griffin.

(1 review)

A poetic and powerful memoir about what it means to be a Black woman in America—and the co-founding of a movement that demands justice for all in the land of the free.

Raised by a single mother in an impoverished neighborhood in Los Angeles, Patrisse Khan-Cullors experienced firsthand the prejudice and persecution Black Americans endure at the hands of law enforcement. For Patrisse, the most vulnerable people in the country are Black people. Deliberately and ruthlessly targeted by a criminal justice system serving a white privilege agenda, Black people are subjected to unjustifiable racial profiling and police brutality. In 2013, when Trayvon Martin’s killer went free, Patrisse’s outrage led her to co-found Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.

Condemned as terrorists and as a threat to America, these loving women founded a hashtag that birthed the movement to demand accountability from the authorities who continually turn a …

A poetic and powerful memoir about what it means to be a Black woman in America—and the co-founding of a movement that demands justice for all in the land of the free.

Raised by a single mother in an impoverished neighborhood in Los Angeles, Patrisse Khan-Cullors experienced firsthand the prejudice and persecution Black Americans endure at the hands of law enforcement. For Patrisse, the most vulnerable people in the country are Black people. Deliberately and ruthlessly targeted by a criminal justice system serving a white privilege agenda, Black people are subjected to unjustifiable racial profiling and police brutality. In 2013, when Trayvon Martin’s killer went free, Patrisse’s outrage led her to co-found Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.

Condemned as terrorists and as a threat to America, these loving women founded a hashtag that birthed the movement to demand accountability from the authorities who continually turn a blind eye to the injustices inflicted upon people of Black and Brown skin.

Championing human rights in the face of violent racism, Patrisse is a survivor. She transformed her personal pain into political power, giving voice to a people suffering in equality and a movement fueled by her strength and love to tell the country—and the world—that Black Lives Matter.

When They Call You a Terrorist is Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele’s reflection on humanity. It is an empowering account of survival, strength and resilience and a call to action to change the culture that declares innocent Black life expendable.

10 editions

Stephanie Jane reviewed When They Call You a Terrorist by Angela Davis

A very readable and powerful work

4 stars

Prior to spotting this autobiography in Amazon's recommended reads for me, I had never given much thought to how the Black Lives Matter movement had actually started or to the individuals who had been inspired to first shout the compelling slogan. In When They Call You A Terrorist, Patrisse Khan-Cullors recollects her impoverished childhood and the years of blatant racial injustice which gave her the impetus to bravely stand up firstly for herself and her tribe, then for black people across America and the world.

When They Call You A Terrorist is a very readable and powerful work. Khan-Cullors writes with such clarity and vision that I would struggle to believe anyone would not be moved by her words. That the double standards practiced by the police, judiciary and politicians across America are intended to continue a form of Jim Crow segregation and provide ultra cheap labour for greedy corporations …

Prior to spotting this autobiography in Amazon's recommended reads for me, I had never given much thought to how the Black Lives Matter movement had actually started or to the individuals who had been inspired to first shout the compelling slogan. In When They Call You A Terrorist, Patrisse Khan-Cullors recollects her impoverished childhood and the years of blatant racial injustice which gave her the impetus to bravely stand up firstly for herself and her tribe, then for black people across America and the world.

When They Call You A Terrorist is a very readable and powerful work. Khan-Cullors writes with such clarity and vision that I would struggle to believe anyone would not be moved by her words. That the double standards practiced by the police, judiciary and politicians across America are intended to continue a form of Jim Crow segregation and provide ultra cheap labour for greedy corporations who profit from slave labour via the prison system is a shocking reality for thousands of people. Reading this personal account of the effects of divided families, inhumanely low wages, slum landlords and no effective healthcare system really brought home to me how vital BLM is and how important it is that the people making a stand are not ignorantly dismissed as 'terrorists'. As a child, I was told that the Black Panthers were just violent terrorists 'like the IRA' and had no idea until I read a biography of Assata Shakur of the positive contributions Panthers made within black communities. Khan-Cullors family were recipients of essential food parcels, for example.

Khan-Cullors talks extensively about the need for healing as much as change, about the importance of truly equal access to education, art and self-care programmes, and that communities be allowed to exist for themselves without an oppressive police presence that insists on seeing (and overreacting to) wrongdoing in innocuous situations that would be ignored on white streets. Her demands, and those of Black Lives Matter, seem so basic that it's difficult to understand how they cannot be simply granted. I fervently hope that this decade will see real and lasting change.

Subjects

social justice
race
feminism
memoir