Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by asha bandele, Patrisse Khan-Cullors

13 reviews

jess_always_reading's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

An incredible book that details the horrors, hope, stress, love, trauma, and community of organizing against state violence and oppression. A beautiful memoir, reflection, story of hope, and call to action all in one. 11/10 recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Torture, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual violence

erinvasut's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Slavery, Grief, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Murder, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual assault, Death, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Misogyny, Child death, and Homophobia

mscalls's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Addiction, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Drug use, Grief, Racism, Abandonment, Torture, Transphobia, Homophobia, Medical content, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Death, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

thegirlfromthemoon's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Confinement, Violence, Police brutality, Racism, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Torture, Grief, and Murder

smblanc1793's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

If you are going to read one book this Black History Month, make it this one.

This is a book not only of black history, but of black present and black future. It is at times hopeful, at times heartbreaking, at times seething and screaming as it has every right to be. As reviews have pointed out, it is more the story of a person than the story of a movement, but what is the story of a movement if not the story of every person inside it? Every person forced to fight through tear gas and bullets and stand unflinching in the face of a tank? And in that ocean of stories, why not start with this one, which is written so beautifully that when you squeeze your eyes shut because the words on the page make you sick, you know it is the subject and not the prose that is vile beyond measure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Physical abuse, Violence, Racial slurs, and Police brutality

Moderate: Transphobia, Drug use, Homophobia, and Sexism

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Violence, and Mental illness

laurenleigh's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

I picked this one up for the “set in your hometown” prompt of the Free Black Women’s Library 2021 challenge. It is a very powerful, moving memoir for any reader, but I gained an extra level of meaning by also being from LA like Patrisse Khan-Cullors. I grew up in a different area about a decade later, but this was such an enlightening experience. It highlighted my extreme privileges in so many ways. I had good grocery stores nearby. Cops weren’t regularly patrolling my neighborhood. I had parks to play in. Hell, I had a backyard, even that is a privilege. There are so many harrowing moments in this memoir that reveal how our policing and criminal justice system were, and still are, completely and unfairly set up to criminalize Black people. One of the most shocking moments for me was when her brother was having a psychotic break, post-prison. When her family called paramedics to assist, they would do absolutely nothing when they discovered he had a record. They wouldn’t come to help, and they told her to call the cops. You know, the folks that traumatized him in the first place. I feel reinvigorated to deepen my commitment to prison reform and abolition movements, starting with some typing work for my fave, Black & Pink.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

kylieqrada's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

4.5 ⭐s. This book was TOUGH to read. And I mean tough. I had to put it down for long chunks of time because of the content. But I am really, really glad that I read it. Patrisse Khan-Cullors is one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement and a Queer, Black woman. She shares her story, assisted by asha bandele, and the reader comes to see all that led to the founding of BLM. It breaks your heart, it makes you MAD, and it opens your eyes even wider. I truly don't feel qualified to review this work of actual art. I highly, HIGHLY recommend this one. I want to put it in people's hands and be like just read this. If you don't get it yet, just read this. Docking 1/2 a star for fatphobic content. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

hagiasophia's review

informative medium-paced

 Powerful memoir by one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement. I listened to the audiobook, read by the author, which I enjoyed. While I have been aware of BLM as a movement since about 2014 or so, but I was not familiar with their origins, so I really enjoyed learning about how the group started. That being said, this is more a memoir of Khan-Cullors' life, and talks much more about her experiences growing up, her father and brother's interactions with police and incarceration and her personal relationships than it does about BLM. I would have liked more time spent describing how Khan-Cullors and the other two women who started BLM met and grew the organization and how they dealt with public reactions. I was also curious about her time in divinity school, which she barely even touched on and wonder how that has impacted her work in any way. However, she may also not go into detail on certain subjects in order to protect the identities of people involved. While this is a valuable contribution to the literature on the Black Lives Matter movement, it was a bit too short and you will want to read other books afterward to fill in the gaps. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, and Mental illness

Moderate: Homophobia, Drug abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Transphobia

poigraph's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Torture, and Violence