I'm Still Here

Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness

By: Austin Channing Brown

Narrated by: Austin Channing Brown

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • From a leading voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of growing up Black, Christian, and female that exposes how white America’s love affair with “diversity” so often falls short of its ideals.

“Austin Channing Brown introduces herself as a master memoirist. This book will break open hearts and minds.”—Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed

Austin Channing Brown’s first encounter with a racialized America came at age seven, 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 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 helping organizations practice genuine inclusion.

In a time when nearly every institution (schools, churches, universities, businesses) claims to value diversity in its mission statement, Austin writes in breathtaking detail about her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial justice. Her stories 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 listeners 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.

©2018 Austin Channing Brown (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Powerful . . . Brown calls on readers to live their professed ideals rather than simply state them.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Takes readers on a journey through the racial divide in a way we've truly never seen before. Powerful, haunting, and absolutely impossible to put down, [Brown's] account of what it's like to grow up black, middle-class, and female in modern America is not to be missed.”—PopSugar

“A deeply personal celebration of blackness that simultaneously sheds new light on racial injustice and inequality while offering hope for a better future.”—Shondaland

A must read for “good” white people

This book will break your heart if you haven’t been broken by racial injustice already and it will break it again if you have. This is essential reading for all of us well-meaning “good” white people.

Powerful and on point.

Austin is able to succinctly yet vividly describe realities and emotions going on in our world that will take me weeks to unpack in my journal. Thank you for writing this book.

Stunning

A stunning wake up call for white America. Thank You Austin Channing Brown for this intimate look into what is like to live in a World made for whiteness.

Thank you Austin Channing Brown!

Incredibly transparent and powerful! It's always much more meaningful when an author reads her own work. That's especially poignant in this one.

Essential

Essential reading for white people. Austen is a pleasure to listen to screen while she speaks hard truths.

nice read

narratpr.was great i prefer when they read it anyway so we get the poimt they are trying to make. waiting fpr another release

Excellent listen

This is the most apt expression of the experience of living in a black body in America that I have ever read!

Amazing

This book was affirming in so many ways. I think if people listen with the intent of listening and learning you will realize that this book is for everyone. Its for the black woman who lives through this everyday but definitely for the “good white people” who think they are ‘here’ for us! It’s beautifully written, assertive, and honest about the black experience in white america. It celebrates our resilience and dignity in a way that is palpable for all audiences but so real for us living through this every day. Lastly, it’s unapologetic and I’m so here for it! Thank you Austin!

Mandatory Read!

If you are a black woman in America this is a must read. If you know and/or work with black women in America this is a must read.

Keep hope alive

I had so many roller coaster thoughts during this book. It was needed but it was hard to face reality. I felt as if I were in the authors shoes one too many times. This book makes you think and makes you recognize we all have a hoo e on how to deal with life! Let’s make the choice to make the world a better place one person at a time!!