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A review by heynatheynat
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
5.0
This book is written both powerfully and poetically and at times this is uncomfortable, as it should be. This forced me as a white reader to evaluate my privilege. Although it discusses American history, there are so many parallels to history here in the UK.
This book is an absolute must-read and one that will leave me thinking for years to come.
****
From a leading voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of growing up black, Christian, and female that exposes how white America's love affair with diversity so often falls short of its ideals.
Austin Channing Brown's first encounter with a racialized America came at age 7 when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools and churches, Austin writes, "I had to learn what it means to love blackness," a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America's racial divide as a writer, speaker and expert who helps organizations practise genuine inclusion.
In a time when nearly all institution (schools, churches, universities, businesses) claims to value "diversity" in its mission statement, Austin writes in breathtaking detail about her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial justice. Her stories that bear witness to the complexity of America's social fabric--from Black Cleveland neighbourhoods to private schools in the middle-class suburbs, from prison walls to the boardrooms at majority-white organizations.
This book is an absolute must-read and one that will leave me thinking for years to come.
****
From a leading voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of growing up black, Christian, and female that exposes how white America's love affair with diversity so often falls short of its ideals.
Austin Channing Brown's first encounter with a racialized America came at age 7 when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools and churches, Austin writes, "I had to learn what it means to love blackness," a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America's racial divide as a writer, speaker and expert who helps organizations practise genuine inclusion.
In a time when nearly all institution (schools, churches, universities, businesses) claims to value "diversity" in its mission statement, Austin writes in breathtaking detail about her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial justice. Her stories that bear witness to the complexity of America's social fabric--from Black Cleveland neighbourhoods to private schools in the middle-class suburbs, from prison walls to the boardrooms at majority-white organizations.