Welcome to Litsy!

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr said “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."

& it is books like the tagged one that remind me that when it does bend towards justice, it bends because WE move it. Every activist, every protest, pushes that arc along.

It may look flat sometimes, it may look like it‘s curved back, but it is still moving forward.

#SundayFunday I hope you all are having the day you need, & remember to tag me.

A book that everyone should read!! #nonfiction #blm #memoir

Reading for school before a test. #nook

“They say Black Lives Matter is alienating, even as we continually stand the streets in the blood of Black children and people.”
this book breaks down so many important topics that need to be talked about, the criminalization of mental illness, police brutality, the school-to-prison pipeline, the War on Drugs, etc.
I would recommend everyone read this.

This book was phenomenal. It was painful, it was written beautifully; told in a way that only a Black Womxn can tell it. When I first picked it up, I was unaware it was the story of BLM. As a white cis womxn, I‘ll never know what it‘s like to experience the things she and so many others have lived. But I can imagine, I can listen, I can love; can help dismantle these harmful institutions and work for a more just, loving world for all peoplx.

“What is the impact of not being valued? How do you measure the loss of what a human being does not receive?”

This book made my heart hurt.

Thank you for sharing with me for #NYWD22 #NewYearWhoDis, @Singout

#Nonfiction2022
Prompt: I‘m a Survivor

#Challenge2021 #SuperSeptember

Day 6 #tbrpile

Patrice gives us an unflinching look into her life and the struggle for survival that her, her family and millions like her face every day. She goes deep into the long term effects the criminal justice/prison systems have on those it victimizes and their families that are often left to pick up the pieces. This should be recommended reading for anyone who thinks the term Black Lives Matter is offensive or that they are terrorists.

Taking a break from my obligated reading to stay educated.

I‘ll be using this for the anti racist choice for #Booked2021

1. When they call you a terrorist just really stuck with me. Also I have to add that Mariah Carey‘s bio was so fun on audio.
2. I haven‘t read enough of James Baldwin but I think I would call him a master.
3. I don‘t think I have one. I‘m not sure I‘ve read more than one book by a non-fiction author. 🤷🏻‍♀️It‘s more about the topic for me when I read nonfiction.
Thanks for the tag @mandarchy

This was a very moving book. Patrice Kahn-Cullors is an amazing person.

When I feel good, I like to recline outside with the dog in the backyard on a nice day and read while she runs around chasing wildlife.

I always participate in the #AnyWayYouReadathon and #20in4 readathons each month. It's a good way to make sure I meet my reading goal.

#ThoughtfulThursday @MoonWitch94 @kimmypete1

@Susanita @Gissy

This book is truly breathtaking and I hope every single person reads it in their lifetime. A beautifully heartbreaking, and tragically inspiring book.
“And if ever someone calls my child a terrorist...I will hold my child, any child, close to me and I will explain that terrorism is being stalked and surveilled simply because you are alive.”

Excellent memoir from Patrisse Khan-Cullors, illustrating how growing up as a Black child and teen gave her insights into systemic oppression that led her to co-found #BlackLivesMatter as an adult. She does a great job of interweaving experience and analysis, opening up her soul and personal relationships and examining intersectional oppressions. Painful and anger-inducing but essential.
#Nonfiction2021 #SomethingbyaPersonofColor

This was a tough and amazing book to listen to. It points out so many moments when our criminal justice and mental health systems could do better. When the police could do better. Really, when white people could do and be better, acknowledge our own privilege and help stop the systemic racism our country is built on.

How is it possible that the only response we have for poor people who are mentally ill is criminalization? How does this align with the notion of a democratic or free society to not take care of “the least of these?” More mentally ill people In our nations‘ prisons than in all our psychiatric hospitals combined? Human beings charged with all manner of terrible sounding crimes, like my brother has been? What kind of society do we live in?

What kind of society uses medicine as a weapon, keeps it from people needing to heal, all the while continuing to develop the drugs America‘s prisons use to execute people?

#currentlylistening to tagged book & really enjoying it. It‘s still firmly rooted in her personal story and family history. I also decided to finally try my Haze tea from The Black Leaf company ( #BlackOwned ). It‘s the prettiest blue and tastes delicious! Thank you so much @GirlMeetsBook !! I was a little hesitant to try it because I‘m a tea novice and was a bit intimidated by the loose leaf and the color🤦🏾‍♀️ Makes a great #BlitsySwap gift!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This memoir is powerful and inspiring and it left me sobbing in places. Patrisse Khan-Cullors writes about her family's struggle with mental health and addiction and the terrible impact that law enforcement made on members who were sick and needed care and not incarceration and torture. Her story resonated with me because mental illness and addiction runs strongly in my white family and their interactions with police were vastly different.⬇️

This powerful and evocative work brought me to tears. Some tears were of anger, some of horror, some of disbelief, & some were sad. The authors provide a narrative that made me, a white woman of privilege, ask myself “Where have I been all of my life? Why did I not know this?” Written by one of the founding members of Black Lives Matter, this should be on the shelf of every person who wants to champion true social change in this world. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Patrisse‘s story is fascinating, painful, and moving. I‘m glad she chose to share it. It really brought home to me some things that I was theoretically aware of but didn‘t really understand, like the way the war on drugs has destroyed Black communities. Reading it so soon after Hidden Valley Road really shows the stark differences between how the schizophrenic boys in that book and her mentally ill brother Monte were treated.

An excellent book. An especially good read for anyone curious or conflicted about #BLM or anyone who repeats AllLivesMatter but doesn't consider racism and white supremacy to be part of their identity. Cullors shares her experiences with racism, with losing family members to our diseased justice system, with organizing the BLM movement, and with being a queer black woman. #ownvoices #lgbtq #poc #TheRainbowShelf

A memoir, but also an intersectional commentary on systemic racism and mental illness.

There were two things that did bother me; the author‘s tendency to excuse abusive behavior due to mental illness and the author‘s defensiveness over loving (only two!) cis-het men.

It is possible to be compassionate AND call out abusive behavior.

And dear fellow queer/bisexual people: You are allowed to love who you love, you do not need to defend yourself.

Patrisse Khan-Cullors shares the story of growing up watching her family experience the discrimination, oppression, and violence aimed at black people in America. And she tells of helping to create the Black Lives Matter movement, and of the LGBT and female centered leadership upon which the movement was founded. It is a raw, real look at the brutal racism robbing black communities of dignity, hope, and their very lives. Highly recommend.

This book is just fantastic, but the truth of it all is so brutal and heartbreaking.

An enlightening #memoir of the #blacklivesmatter movement. I had no idea of the origin story behind the hashtag and the behind-the-scenes work being done by the author and her community. #antiracism work to be done, continuing to educate myself and learning more.

Heartbreaking quote

It's a beautiful night for a fire 🔥 #antiracismreading

And nothing has changed. Property is NOT more valuable than human life. Police need to be responsible for their actions. #blacklivesmatter

This was powerful and heartbreaking and so eye opening. I feel like every white person should read this memoir so we can gain some understanding (as much as we are capable of) of what the members of our black community have to experience every day. #blacklivesmatter

A little afternoon backyard reading. Well, one of us is reading....🐶
This book is powerful and so much more intimate than I expected going in. The story, not just of a movement, but of a life marked by strength, courage, and compassion.

In California there are more than 4,800 barriers to re-entry, from jobs, housing and food bans, to school financial aid bans and the list goes on. You can have a two-year sentence but it doesn‘t mean you‘re not doing life. Heart-wrenching.
we can be more than the worst of the hate...

Such a powerful and beautifully written memoir. Everyone should read it.

All my life I have tried to understand people and issues by reading. This is how I connect everything. The highlighted lines burned me.

I‘m working to educate myself, because I‘ve realized I‘m so much more ignorant than I ever imagined. This book...read it. Embrace it. Learn from it. Let it make you think and help you grow. #blacklivesmatter #sayhername

This wasn‘t an easy book to read even though it‘s short. One of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement tells her story, from childhood until right after the 2016 election. She and the two cofounders were inspired to start this movement after Trayvon Martin‘s killer was acquitted. There is repetition in this book, but I think it‘s purposeful to show the systemic nature of the challenges she has faced.

Finished in a few hours! I love a good memoir

A very important book to read. The author, who co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement,talks about her life growing up black, with a brother who is mentally ill and ends up in prison as a result.

I‘m not sure why this excerpt resonated so much,when there are so many other shocking facts and statistics in the book. I think it‘s because of the casualness and lack of accountability of the media, and the realisation how often this must happen.

For #pridemonth2020, I'm highlighting 30 openly LGBTQ+ authors. Patrisse Cullors is an artist, activist, and co-founder of the #BLM movement. #lgbtqvoices #lgbtq #blackvoices #lgbtqauthors #blackauthors #activism

Today‘s #Recommendsday for your #BLMReadingList is this fabulous book. I did not know, until I came across it in another book that #BLM was started by a group of woman & around the time I learned that there was a lot of pressure as people protested in Ferguson etc to have BLM labeled a terrorist group, so this was a timely read for me and still is now. Lots of facts I didn‘t know about how the movement was started and the opposition it faced!

This book is important! Written by the founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, Patrisse Khan-Cullors writes about her life- her experience growing up in a poor black community, the constant police presence, her experience with mental health and police involvement, and coming of age as an activist. She discusses abuse in prisons, murders and assault by police officers, and tells the stories that ignited this movement.

This incredible memoir by the founders of the #blacklivesmatter movement is FREE on kindle at the moment I just discovered! It‘s definitely free on UK amazon and I think it is for American accounts as well. It‘s such an essential read at the moment and one of the best memoirs I‘ve ever read.

1. In a hammock

2. Mexican take out

3. When They Call You A Terrorist

4. 2 cats and 1 dog

#friyayintro @4thhouseontheleft @howjessreads

It took me four days to get through this 6 1/2 hour audiobook, not because it was bad, but because it was such a powerful, heartbreaking, maddening memoir. This is not only Patrisse‘s story, it‘s the origin story of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Highly recommended, incredibly relevant and important, but be prepared to give yourself space to read/listen. It‘s not easy to take in and get through.

I started this on Monday. It‘s such a hard read. I was sobbing Tuesday, couldn‘t bring myself to listen yesterday, and started back up today. I‘m 60% done and I‘m in tears again. The torture scenes are so horrifying. This has to stop. #DefundThePolice #BlackLivesMatter