As other reviewers have said, yes, it could have been a blog post, but I like that it was broken down and you were "e3.5 stars. Super short easy read.
As other reviewers have said, yes, it could have been a blog post, but I like that it was broken down and you were "eased" into the idea. Though, I already knew I wanted to do this before I read the book, so I didn't need hand-holding and comforting. I did want the rules and guides, and I'll admit, the "allowance" of rule-breaking. The "Unruly" chapter was freeing to know, that 33 is just a number, and if 35 or 40 makes more sense, it's about the process and letting go, downsizing, and staying minimized. I am so looking forward to doing this, this weekend!...more
“For all its upheaval, the Civil War had left most blacks in the South no better off economically than they had been before. Sharecropping, slavery’s “For all its upheaval, the Civil War had left most blacks in the South no better off economically than they had been before. Sharecropping, slavery’s replacement, kept them in debt and still bound to whatever plantation they worked. But one thing had changed. The federal government had taken over the affairs of the South, during a period known as Reconstruction, and the newly freed men were able to exercise rights previously denied them. They could vote, marry, or go to school if there were one nearby, and the more ambitious among them could enroll in black colleges set up by northern philanthropists, open businesses, and run for office under the protection of northern troops….
But, by the mid-1870s, when the North withdrew its oversight in the face of southern hostility, whites in the South began to resurrect the caste system founded under slavery….
They began to undo the opportunities accorded freed slaves during Reconstruction and to refine the language of white supremacy. They would create a caste system based not on pedigree and title, as in Europe, but solely on race, and which, by law, disallowed any movement of the lowest caste into the mainstream.”
Y'all...this book about did me in. All I can say is that this was beautifully written, Wilkerson slowly drawing me in with Robert, George, and Ida Mae, starting when they were small children, babies even, and painting this vivid picture of their life, experiences, joy and pain, and their reasons (and there were more than one) for migrating from the South to the North or West. And how they each adapted to a new home that was both better and not better than what they left. ...more
"Rather than making white people’s reactions the linchpin that holds racial justice together, I am free to link arms with those who are already being "Rather than making white people’s reactions the linchpin that holds racial justice together, I am free to link arms with those who are already being transformed. Because at no point in America’s history did all white people come together to correct racial injustice."
Austin Channing Brown's book is extremely open, a personal account of her life from a young child to the adult bringing new life into the world.
I'm Still Here is a fast read, as if Channing Brown was in the room, conversing with you. Some of the situations she describes, was part of, experienced, made me cringe, made me cry, made me laugh.
She relates much of views on whiteness, white fragility, nice white people, and all the racism in between and around to her views on religion, Christianity in particular, and the church. As a white woman who considers herself an agnostic atheist, but was raised in a very white Christian church all the way through high school, I could relate, in my own way, to things Channing Brown saw, and experienced. Some of the words spoken to her by "nice white people" are words I heard by those in the church. It was just, at the time, I didn't know, or think, there was anything wrong with them.
Finally, if you haven't listened to Channing Brown speak, please do so. She is lovely and humerous and honestly, it is just like reading this book. As if you were having coffee with her, though she doesn't pull any punches! I'd check out her interview on Brene Brown's podcast, Unlocked.
A few of my favorite lines:
"White people desperately want to believe that only the lonely, isolated “whites only” club members are racist. This is why the word racist offends “nice white people” so deeply. It challenges their self-identification as good people. Sadly, most white people are more worried about being called racist than about whether or not their actions are in fact racist or harmful."
"Whiteness wants enough Blackness to affirm the goodness of whiteness, the progressiveness of whiteness, the openheartedness of whiteness. Whiteness likes a trickle of Blackness, but only that which can be controlled."...more
Second time around, listened to audiobook (read by Jason Reynolds) with the kids as we drove across the country! Even better the second time, because Second time around, listened to audiobook (read by Jason Reynolds) with the kids as we drove across the country! Even better the second time, because Jason has a beautiful, lyrical voice....more
Eh. Could have been half the length. Interesting, and highly disturbing. But for a topic which the author repeatedly tells the reader that there is liEh. Could have been half the length. Interesting, and highly disturbing. But for a topic which the author repeatedly tells the reader that there is limited to no documentation on, it drags on and on. It was hard to keep track of the characters and their purpose.
But it's so bizarre, it's hard to believe it's a part of our history. ...more
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