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All the White Friends I Couldn't Keep
All the White Friends I Couldn't Keep: Hope--and Hard Pills to Swallow--About Fighting for Black Lives | Andre Henry
4 posts | 3 read | 1 to read
A leading voice for social justice reveals how he stopped arguing with white people who deny the ongoing legacy of racismand offers a proven path forward for Black people and people of color based on the history of nonviolent struggle. A moving personal journey that lends practical insight for expanding and strengthening the global antiracist movement.Patrisse Khan-Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, bestselling author of When They Call You a Terrorist When the rallying cry Black Lives Matter was heard across the world in 2013, Andre Henry was one of the millions for whom the movement caused a political awakening and a rupture in some of his closest relationships with white people. As he began using his artistic gifts to share his experiences and perspective, Henry was aggrieved to discover that many white Americanspeople he called friends and familywere more interested in debating whether racism existed or whether Henry was being polite enough in the way he used his voice. In this personal and thought-provoking book, Henry explores how the historical divides between Black people and non-Black people are expressed through our most mundane interactions, and why this struggle wont be resolved through civil discourse, diversity hires, interracial relationships, or education. What we need is a revolution, one that moves beyond symbolic progress to disrupt systems of racial violence and inequality in tangible, creative ways. Sharing stories from his own path to activismfrom studying at seminary to becoming a student of nonviolent social change, from working as a praise leader to singing about social justiceand connecting those experiences to lessons from successful nonviolent struggles in America and around the world, Andre Henry calls on Black people and people of color to divest from whiteness and its false promises, trust what their lived experiences tell them, and practice hope as a discipline as they work for lasting change.
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review
JenniferEgnor
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This is such an important and powerful read. It covers what I have read in many other books but in more detail, more personal experiences and emotional, spiritual responses from the author. He makes the point of using non-violence (in many forms) as resistance, not trying to win over racists (not just Nazis, but well meaning, nice white people) but banding together to fight systemic racism and oppression. He criticizes white Christianity, and⬇️

JenniferEgnor rightfully so. He talks about how racism is in all of us, discusses historical leaders, and the need for rest to avoid burnout. There is only way to fight this, and that‘s all of us, together. Here, now. As long as it takes, until every chain is broken. 3d
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JenniferEgnor
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Stone Mountain has a giant depiction of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and Confederate president Jefferson Davis on horseback. It was commissioned by Klan sympathizers who‘d initially hoped to include a parade of Klansmen in the carving. At 190 feet across and 90 feet tall, it‘s the largest Confederate monument in the country. The modern Ku Klux Klan first set fire to a cross on that very rock.
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JenniferEgnor I ask the sympathizers, the apologists, the well meaning-‘nice‘ white folks: if the kkk had been able to get this to look how they wanted it to, would you still defend it? If the carving showed what these men did to Black people, would you defend it? (edited) 6d
Bookwomble Where's a stick of dynamite when you want one‽ 5d
JenniferEgnor @Bookwomble yesssss!!! 🧨 💥 5d
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blurb
Sydneypaige
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This book is an exploration of and meditation on an activist‘s life as he navigates being Black in the US. It wrestles with religion, found family, friendship, identity as an activist, and finding one‘s own voice and place in creating a liberated world. Any and all work offered to the world to help find a way forward into a better world has so much value.

review
SW-T
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Pickpick

I wasn‘t sure what to expect when I checked this one out of the library, but I ended up glad I got it. A thoughtful exploration of how Andre Henry decided to stop arguing with white people who denied racism and it‘s legacy. Just day to day interactions and their implications. Not protest rallies and parades, but holiday gatherings, workplace interactions, and other daily activities. He reconsidered his connections to both white and black friends.