letsgolesbians's reviews
2144 reviews

Black Disability Politics by Sami Schalk

challenging informative reflective

5.0

sami schalk says at the beginning of the book that this is written for Black people, specifically Black disabled people, and the rest of us are welcome to sit and listen. as she reminds us throughout the book, listening to the people with the most marginalizations and those most oppressed by the state about liberation will help liberate the rest of us.

schalk is a fat queer Black disabled woman weaving together teaching, activism, and scholarship in Black disability politics. schalk examines "how Black people have engaged with disability as a political issue through exploration and analysis of the work of the Black panther party, the national Black women's health project, and 21st century Black disabled cultural workers" and recognizing the work the Black community has done for disability politics while not always calling it disability politics or centering disability. this work has often been left out of disability conversations and its erasure has contributed to much of the activism surrounding disability to be focused on white disabled people. i think this book is a great learning opportunity; not only is the framework of Black disabilty politics an important one, but i also learned a lot about the Black panther party and found particular interest in how the national Black women's health project worked to inform people of and protect people from HIV/AIDS.

some of the things schalk talked about regarding Black disability politics reminded me of what i've learned about harm reduction and addiction from indigenous people and were good reminders for me not to look at people through such a white, western lens (e.g. not relying on medical and legal frameworks, definitions, and diagnoses). if you're looking for a nonfiction book to read for pride, i recommend this book, even though it's not specifically centered on queerness. imani barbarin reads the audiobook, and i'm grateful thatdarnchat

CWs: ableism; HIV/AIDS; racism (general systemic, as well as medical and environmental)

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Content Warnings

The Tent Generations: Palestinian Poems by Mohammed Sawaie

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad

5.0

i realized the palestinian poetry i’ve read has been from ~2005 through now and focused on the western diaspora. the tent generations is a collection of 20th century poets, including people who survived the nakba and remained inside palestine after israel’s creation, their kids, palestinians in gaza, and palestinians in the west bank. poems were written by women and men (from what i read, all poets identified as one of the binary genders) from different educational backgrounds.

themes include yearning for freedom, a demand for equality with other citizens of the state, missing palestinians in other places, hope, and a connection to other struggles. poems look at massacres like kufr qasim, where in 1956 israeli border guards massacred 49 palestinian farm workers on their return home from their fields because of a curfew that had been imposed that night, of which the farmers were not aware.

there’s an intro section that covers the “social and cultural life of those palestinians who remained in israel in 1948” including a brief history of poetry. the arab tradition of poetry recitation and listening to the medium in a communal setting was further utilized when access to print materials decreased because of poverty and border issues and literacy was low. poetic festivals, or mahrajans, became literacy and political demonstrations.

grateful that the lapl had an ecopy of this!

cws: death; genocide; grief; violence

photo review here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7k0UrQxMwh/?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==

Content Warnings

This Is Why They Hate Us by Aaron H. Aceves

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

Plantains and Our Becoming: Poems by Melania Luisa Marte

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective

5.0

absolutely one of my favorite poetry collections i’ve ever read. like the lands and fruits melania luisa marte writes about, this book is bursting and ripe and full, the words a celebration of being afro latina and of the dominican republic and of women and womanhood and survival. i’ve watched my video of marte reading abuelita’s garden so many times it’s become a new favorite song.

i highly recommend treating yourself to this collection and reading it in the sun and savoring the words. before reading her last poem at la times festival of books, marte told us to beware of any women whose feminism only includes women who look like them because they are not to be trusted and ended with “free palestine.” marte is a voice to listen to not just for her creativity, but because her feminism and love extend to all of us who need liberation.

cws: breast feeding; colonization; death of a parent; immigration; misogyny; rape

photo review here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7aX9cIPIeu/?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==

Content Warnings