Reviews tagging 'Racism'

A Measure of Belonging: Writers of Color on the New American South by Cinelle Barnes

1 review

bookmaddie's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

As with any essay collection, this offers a glimpse into a variety of different images of what the American South is. While every essay dealt with different content, the question of belonging was a constant theme. Even if that belonging was fraught with tension, there was still a warmth and love for the South in many of these essays.
I found that really heartwarming, as someone who is from the South as well. 

However, I feel like there were only a few standout essays for me, and most I didn't connect with as much as I would have liked. There is a variety of writing styles here—some more journalistic or scholarly and some more narrative—and not everything worked for me. Even so, I'm really happy I read this, as it introduced me to some new-to-me voices. Every story was refreshing and I never knew what was going to be on the next page (the most fun thing about essay collections, imo!).

My favorite stories were:
Auntie - Minda Honey 

Displaysia - Natalia Sylvester 

Gum - Diana Cejas

Some quotes:
“We knew what difference a breeze made inside a cage, how much mobility mattered inside a loop you couldn’t figure out how to exit.” - Joy Priest in essay “I Feel Most Southern in the Hip-Hop of my Adolescence: On Black Southern Mobility, Intra-regionality & Internalized Misogyny” 

 

"I thought the shape of another state was what was missing in me." -Tiana Clark, Treacherous Joy: An Epistle to the South 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism