I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness

From a powerful new voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of growing up Black, Christian, and female in middle-class white America.

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, organizations, 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 practice genuine inclusion.

In a time when nearly all institutions (schools, churches, universities, businesses) claim to value "diversity" in their mission statements, I'm Still Here is a powerful account of how and why our actions so often fall short of our words. Austin writes in breathtaking detail about her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial justice, in stories that bear witness to the complexity of America's social fabric--from Black Cleveland neighborhoods to private schools in the middle-class suburbs, from prison walls to the boardrooms at majority-white organizations.

For readers who have engaged with America's legacy on race through the writing of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michael Eric Dyson, I'm Still Here is an illuminating look at how white, middle-class, Evangelicalism has participated in an era of rising racial hostility, inviting the reader to confront apathy, recognize God's ongoing work in the world, and discover how blackness--if we let it--can save us all.

Title : I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
Edition Language : English
ISBN : 9781524760854
Format Type :

    I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness Reviews

  • Shayla Mays

    In the same way that not everyone was ready and could handle, Between the World and Me, this is another that some will have a hard time with. It was not meant to comfort white people. It's written to ...

  • Tiffany

    Update on the second read-through. Turns out I gave that first copy away to my student, a senior black student, my advisee, who's "so done" (for good reason) with the institution where I work--an inst...

  • Rincey

    Yeah, I'm going to need my own copy of this book so I can re-read it and mark it up. So many good truths in here.Watch me discuss this book in my July wrap up: https://youtu.be/8kaQcaNn9uw...

  • Raven

    I read this book with the hope that Ms Brown would illuminate what actual justice or equality would look like. It was largely a memoir and a good one. I went school in the 70s and 80s so my experience...

  • Leigh Kramer

    If you're at all familiar with Austin Channing Brown, you know she is a gifted communicator as both a writer and speaker. I had high hopes for her first book and I was hooked from the first page. I ha...

  • Brandice

    I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness is Austin Channing Brown’s story of growing up in a predominately white world. She talks about her childhood and church, her family, her...

  • Holly

    3.5 starsThis was short, but impactful. I consider myself, like probably most white people, to not be a racist. However this book opened my eyes a little more to the fact that in some ways I prioritiz...

  • Jenna

    "Even when the world doesn’t believe that Black bodies are capable of love. Even when it doesn’t believe that I survive on intimacy, that I need other beings for love. Even when I would prefer to ...

  • Raymond

    "This book is my story about growing up in a Black girl's body.""I am not a priest for the white soul.""Our only chance at dismantling racial injustice is being more curious about its origins than we ...

  • April

    This is a fantastic book and a must read for anyone who identifies with any of the following:-is white-is a person of color -is Christian-does anti racist work -wants to do anti racist work -anyone an...