I’m Still Here 5⭐️/5

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

My first nonfiction read of 2022!

Much of this book left me breathless. Austin Channing Brown’s concise memoir explores how race and her experience as a Black woman intersects with larger themes of humanity, dignity, the affirming of Blackness, the evangelical church, and where institutional racism persists.

It almost makes me regret not having read this with a group to unpack so much of it, but it seems like a book that merits a reread every so often. It’s short (less than 200 pages), but packs a distinct punch. Austin Channing Brown is a master memoirist: telling the truth in a way that draws you in and breaks your heart right open.

She does talk about her experience as a Black woman in the Christian church, but I wouldn’t say this book is aimed particularly at Christians. However, there is a slight slant towards how race and white christianity intersect, but I think it adds to the depth of her experiences (where are we most vulnerable or in need of community than at Church? Where is there often so much division?)

Her interlude after chapter five gave me goosebumps, and her letter to her son at the end undid me. I enjoyed her writing immensely, it often reminded me of the unflinching lyricism of Ta-Nehisi Coates and the bluntness of Glennon Doyle. 

Highly recommend picking this one up or getting the audiobook! (She narrates it herself!)

There were many quotes that stuck with me, leaving them here:

“Our only chance at dismantling racial injustice is being more curious about its origins than we are worried about our comfort.”

“This is the shadow of hope. Knowing that we may never see the realization of our dreams, and yet still showing up.”

“Anger is not inherently destructive. My anger can be a force for good. My anger can be creative and imaginative, seeing a better world that doesn’t yet exist. It can fuel a righteous movement toward justice and freedom.”