What do you think?
Rate this book
We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World
A brilliant and rich gathering of voices on the American experience of this past year and beyond, from Indigenous writers and writers of color from Minnesota
In this significant collection, Indigenous writers and writers of color bear witness to one of the most unsettling years in the history of the United States. Essays and poems vividly reflect and comment on the traumas we endured in 2020, beginning with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, deepened by the blatant murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers and the uprisings that immersed our city into the epicenter of passionate, worldwide demands for justice. In inspired and incisive writing these contributors speak unvarnished truths not only to the original and pernicious racism threaded through the American experience but also to the deeply personal, in essays about family, loss, food culture, economic security, and mental health. Their call and response is united here to rise and be heard. We Are Meant to Rise lifts up the astonishing variety of BIPOC writers in Minnesota. From authors with international reputations to newly emerging voices, it features people from many cultures, including Indigenous Dakota and Anishinaabe, African American, Hmong, Somali, Afghani, Lebanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Puerto Rican, Colombian, Mexican, transracial adoptees, mixed race, and LGBTQ+ perspectives. Most of the contributors have participated in More Than a Single Story, a popular and insightful conversation series in Minneapolis that features Indigenous and people of color speaking on what most concerns their communities. We Are Meant to Rise meets the events of the day, the year, the centuries before, again and again, with powerful testament to the intrinsic and unique value of the human voice. Suleiman Adan, Mary Moore Easter, Louise Erdrich, Anika Fajardo, Safy-Hallan Farah, Said Farah, Sherrie Fernandez-Williams, Pamela R. Fletcher Bush, Shannon Gibney, Kathryn Haddad, Tish Jones, Ezekiel Joubert III, Douglas Kearney, Ed Bok Lee, Ricardo Levins Morales, Arleta Little, Resmaa Menakem, Tess Montgomery, Ahmad Qais Munhazim, Melissa Olson, Alexs Pate, Bao Phi, Mona Susan Power, Samantha Sencer-Mura, Said Shaiye, Erin Sharkey, Sun Yung Shin, Michael Torres, Diane Wilson, Kao Kalia Yang, and Kevin Yang.
In this significant collection, Indigenous writers and writers of color bear witness to one of the most unsettling years in the history of the United States. Essays and poems vividly reflect and comment on the traumas we endured in 2020, beginning with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, deepened by the blatant murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers and the uprisings that immersed our city into the epicenter of passionate, worldwide demands for justice. In inspired and incisive writing these contributors speak unvarnished truths not only to the original and pernicious racism threaded through the American experience but also to the deeply personal, in essays about family, loss, food culture, economic security, and mental health. Their call and response is united here to rise and be heard. We Are Meant to Rise lifts up the astonishing variety of BIPOC writers in Minnesota. From authors with international reputations to newly emerging voices, it features people from many cultures, including Indigenous Dakota and Anishinaabe, African American, Hmong, Somali, Afghani, Lebanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Puerto Rican, Colombian, Mexican, transracial adoptees, mixed race, and LGBTQ+ perspectives. Most of the contributors have participated in More Than a Single Story, a popular and insightful conversation series in Minneapolis that features Indigenous and people of color speaking on what most concerns their communities. We Are Meant to Rise meets the events of the day, the year, the centuries before, again and again, with powerful testament to the intrinsic and unique value of the human voice. Suleiman Adan, Mary Moore Easter, Louise Erdrich, Anika Fajardo, Safy-Hallan Farah, Said Farah, Sherrie Fernandez-Williams, Pamela R. Fletcher Bush, Shannon Gibney, Kathryn Haddad, Tish Jones, Ezekiel Joubert III, Douglas Kearney, Ed Bok Lee, Ricardo Levins Morales, Arleta Little, Resmaa Menakem, Tess Montgomery, Ahmad Qais Munhazim, Melissa Olson, Alexs Pate, Bao Phi, Mona Susan Power, Samantha Sencer-Mura, Said Shaiye, Erin Sharkey, Sun Yung Shin, Michael Torres, Diane Wilson, Kao Kalia Yang, and Kevin Yang.
224 pages, Paperback
Published November 23, 2021
13 people are currently reading
1368 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn Holbrook
36 books26 followersCarolyn Holbrook is a writer, educator, and longtime advocate for the healing power of the arts. She is the author of an essay collection, Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify (University of MN Press, 2020), a chapbook, Earth Angels (Spout Press 2020), and is co-author with Arleta Little of MN civil rights icon, Dr. Josie R. Johnson’s memoir, Hope In the Struggle (University of MN Press 2019). Her personal essays have been published widely, most recently in A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota (MN Historical Society Press 2016) and Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota (MN Historical Society Press 2015). She is the recipient of three Minnesota State Arts Board grants (2015, 2018, 2020) and a MRAC Next Step grant (2019). In 2016, she was awarded a 50 over 50 award from AARP/Pollen Midwest.
Holbrook was the first person of color to win the Minnesota Book Awards Kay Sexton Award (2010). She is founder and artistic/executive director of More Than a Single Story for which she won a MN Women’s Press Changemaker award in 2015, and was founder and director of SASE: The Write Place (1993-2006). She teaches creative writing at the Loft Literary Center and other community venues, and at Hamline University, where she won the Exemplary Teacher award in 2014.
Holbrook was the first person of color to win the Minnesota Book Awards Kay Sexton Award (2010). She is founder and artistic/executive director of More Than a Single Story for which she won a MN Women’s Press Changemaker award in 2015, and was founder and director of SASE: The Write Place (1993-2006). She teaches creative writing at the Loft Literary Center and other community venues, and at Hamline University, where she won the Exemplary Teacher award in 2014.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
November 14, 2021
If looking for a book that includes essays on racial justice with some focus on the events from following the death of George Floyd from current and former Minneapolis residents, then this is the book for you. For me, it turned out it was a bit too much.
Besides an intro and conclusion, there was no narrative thread connecting the essays so each could really be read separately. They were not grouped in any specific fashion. I think it might have been helpful if they were grouped in a way to just process the information better. Perhaps by essay style or focus? Some stories focused on the past. Some focused on the present, and there were some that tried to look to the future. Some preached taking action. Other's were more reflective. Some were served with a helping of irony.
I want to commend contributors of this collection, as each POV had a unique personal insight delivered with honesty, and that was the greatest value, as a reader, I gleaned from it. That was a value that only those contributors could give, and I deeply appreciate that gift on a basic level. If I were not reading this with a commitment to give a review, I would have taken much longer to get through it. However, this is not much of a review, but the best I can do for the moment. Perhaps I will revisit at some future time. This collection of essays is exactly what it claims to be, which does not make it an easy read but worthwhile if you have a mind to read it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review this book. Views are my own.
Besides an intro and conclusion, there was no narrative thread connecting the essays so each could really be read separately. They were not grouped in any specific fashion. I think it might have been helpful if they were grouped in a way to just process the information better. Perhaps by essay style or focus? Some stories focused on the past. Some focused on the present, and there were some that tried to look to the future. Some preached taking action. Other's were more reflective. Some were served with a helping of irony.
I want to commend contributors of this collection, as each POV had a unique personal insight delivered with honesty, and that was the greatest value, as a reader, I gleaned from it. That was a value that only those contributors could give, and I deeply appreciate that gift on a basic level. If I were not reading this with a commitment to give a review, I would have taken much longer to get through it. However, this is not much of a review, but the best I can do for the moment. Perhaps I will revisit at some future time. This collection of essays is exactly what it claims to be, which does not make it an easy read but worthwhile if you have a mind to read it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review this book. Views are my own.
November 6, 2022
I loved this book even though it was assigned for my college Written Communication class. I was able to have a zoom meeting with Carolyn Holbrook and she is an incredibly intelligent lady. Her wisdom is obvious in the way she talked to me as a student but also the way she wrote to me as a reader. I was also able to talk with some of the other writers of this book. Im very happy that I was assigned this book because of its modern but always relevant information. Its repatative about what matters<3
September 1, 2023
A varied collection that snaps a moment in time in Minneapolis.
December 28, 2021
In We Are Meant To Rise , Minnesota indigenous writers and writers of color reflect on and react to the year 2020: the year that began the COVID pandemic, a year ripped apart by the brutal police murder of George Floyd, a year of isolation and uprising.
Carolyn Holbrook, one of the editors of this anthology, is also the founder of More Than A Single Story. She explains that the name "is loosely based on Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's well-known TED Talk, 'The Danger of a Single Story,' which warns against fostering stereotypes by treating one story of a people as their only story." No danger of that in this volume! Some of the thirty contributors are new to me, some I have read and admired for years. Each has a unique voice and story. Some resonate readily with me, some challenge with new insights, and a few seem too abstract for my understanding. Overall, the wealth of stories, poetry, and perspectives leaves me filled with gratitude.
Since 2016, and especially since the January 6 insurrection, the continuing and accelerating manifestations of racism, attacks on voting rights, and threats to democracy, that question of national identity looms ever larger. Attempts to rewrite our history and to outlaw the teaching of history in schools highlight the racist and xenophobic quest to define our national identity as white and European and Christian.
David Mura, the second editor of this anthology, writes in his introduction about the question of national identity and history:
"From America's inception, the confrontation between white settlers and Native Americans, between white slave owners and their Black slaves, have engendered questions of identity, of who we are as a nation. And now, for many, each day in America, a stranger walks into our village, or we are strangers walking into someone else's village."
Reading these words, I remember the hysterical and entirely invented rants about Sharia law in Minneapolis and "no-go areas": neighborhoods where I regularly went in pre-pandemic days, unrecognizable in the racist ravings of the rancid right. I recall the visit of one particular pair of provocateurs, and their "we're under siege" internet broadcast from a street corner blocks away from my house—and kitty-corner from one of the oldest, wealthiest, and whitest, golf club in the state.
We Are Meant To Rise offers a different vision of past and present, unflinching in its gaze on our national and local sins but ultimately affirming hope and possibility. After reading the whole book, I return again to the promise Mura's introduction:
"But our present-day encounters with our fellow Americans can involve a very different process. We can look at the stranger as a fellow human being, a fellow traveler, a fellow American. We can choose to learn from the stranger, learn a different language, a different culture, a different history. And we can comfort ourselves by the fact that this process has always been occurring in America. And in so many cases, such encounters and the exchanges they have catalyzed, have only made us stronger, more resilient, more creative and innovative, more capable of making connection with the rest of the world outside America—that is, if we let that stranger into our village, into our nation, and indeed, into our hearts."
Carolyn Holbrook, one of the editors of this anthology, is also the founder of More Than A Single Story. She explains that the name "is loosely based on Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's well-known TED Talk, 'The Danger of a Single Story,' which warns against fostering stereotypes by treating one story of a people as their only story." No danger of that in this volume! Some of the thirty contributors are new to me, some I have read and admired for years. Each has a unique voice and story. Some resonate readily with me, some challenge with new insights, and a few seem too abstract for my understanding. Overall, the wealth of stories, poetry, and perspectives leaves me filled with gratitude.
Since 2016, and especially since the January 6 insurrection, the continuing and accelerating manifestations of racism, attacks on voting rights, and threats to democracy, that question of national identity looms ever larger. Attempts to rewrite our history and to outlaw the teaching of history in schools highlight the racist and xenophobic quest to define our national identity as white and European and Christian.
David Mura, the second editor of this anthology, writes in his introduction about the question of national identity and history:
"From America's inception, the confrontation between white settlers and Native Americans, between white slave owners and their Black slaves, have engendered questions of identity, of who we are as a nation. And now, for many, each day in America, a stranger walks into our village, or we are strangers walking into someone else's village."
Reading these words, I remember the hysterical and entirely invented rants about Sharia law in Minneapolis and "no-go areas": neighborhoods where I regularly went in pre-pandemic days, unrecognizable in the racist ravings of the rancid right. I recall the visit of one particular pair of provocateurs, and their "we're under siege" internet broadcast from a street corner blocks away from my house—and kitty-corner from one of the oldest, wealthiest, and whitest, golf club in the state.
We Are Meant To Rise offers a different vision of past and present, unflinching in its gaze on our national and local sins but ultimately affirming hope and possibility. After reading the whole book, I return again to the promise Mura's introduction:
"But our present-day encounters with our fellow Americans can involve a very different process. We can look at the stranger as a fellow human being, a fellow traveler, a fellow American. We can choose to learn from the stranger, learn a different language, a different culture, a different history. And we can comfort ourselves by the fact that this process has always been occurring in America. And in so many cases, such encounters and the exchanges they have catalyzed, have only made us stronger, more resilient, more creative and innovative, more capable of making connection with the rest of the world outside America—that is, if we let that stranger into our village, into our nation, and indeed, into our hearts."
October 25, 2021
At the dawn of summer 2020, with the world spinning from the Covid 19 pandemic, Minneapolis went into a nose dive after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. In the weeks and months that followed, Minneapolis became the epicenter of worldwide demands for justice. In a compelling new collection, WE ARE MEANT TO RISE, edited by Carolyn Holbrook and David Mura, Indigenous writers and writers of color bear witness to one of the most unsettling years in the history of the United States.
Marcie Rendon, Anishinabe author and citizen of the White Earth Nation, ends her essay describing the seven clans of the Anishinabe, fish, marten, bear, deer, crane, loon, bird, eagle, and wolf – each clan responsible for a different role – the bear clan serving as both police (protectors) and healers: “Imagine a world,” she writes, “where the police (protectors) and healers are one.”
Kao Kalia Lang, Hmong author, tells of a time when she “cleaned” her older sister Dawb’s room, selling off her beloved CDs for pennies. Admonishing her after the fact, her father says, “If you can’t get along with each other, how are you going to get along with the world?” He taught her that a person’s goodness starts in a family, then extends to a community, and grows out from there.
Shannon Gibney, African American author, quotes Baldwin “Try to imagine how you would feel if you woke up one morning to find the sun shining and all the stars aflame . . . any upheaval in the universe is terrifying because it so profoundly attacks one’s sense of one’s own reality.” Jamar Clark, Philando Castile, George Floyd – all of them – Gibney writes, like Baldwin’s stars aflame, their voices shaking heaven and earth to their foundation.
WE ARE MEANT TO RISE was born of Carolyn Holbrook’s “More Than a Single Story,” a series of panel discussions and public conversations that she created to offer a platform for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color writers and arts activists. David Mura, co-editor, writes that the anthology is offered as an encouragement for each of us, no matter our ethnicity, to speak out, tell our story, and own our power.
WE ARE MEANT TO RISE is a testimony to the strength, power, and resilience of a community, and inspires all of humanity to rise up higher to serve a greater good.
I recommend WE ARE MEANT TO RISE for readers interested in political and community action, for activists and artists and people of all races and ethnicities.
This is Lin Salisbury with Superior Reviews. Listen to my author interviews and read all my reviews on www.superiorreads.blog and at on WTIP 90.7 Grand Marais Radio and www.wtip.org.
Marcie Rendon, Anishinabe author and citizen of the White Earth Nation, ends her essay describing the seven clans of the Anishinabe, fish, marten, bear, deer, crane, loon, bird, eagle, and wolf – each clan responsible for a different role – the bear clan serving as both police (protectors) and healers: “Imagine a world,” she writes, “where the police (protectors) and healers are one.”
Kao Kalia Lang, Hmong author, tells of a time when she “cleaned” her older sister Dawb’s room, selling off her beloved CDs for pennies. Admonishing her after the fact, her father says, “If you can’t get along with each other, how are you going to get along with the world?” He taught her that a person’s goodness starts in a family, then extends to a community, and grows out from there.
Shannon Gibney, African American author, quotes Baldwin “Try to imagine how you would feel if you woke up one morning to find the sun shining and all the stars aflame . . . any upheaval in the universe is terrifying because it so profoundly attacks one’s sense of one’s own reality.” Jamar Clark, Philando Castile, George Floyd – all of them – Gibney writes, like Baldwin’s stars aflame, their voices shaking heaven and earth to their foundation.
WE ARE MEANT TO RISE was born of Carolyn Holbrook’s “More Than a Single Story,” a series of panel discussions and public conversations that she created to offer a platform for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color writers and arts activists. David Mura, co-editor, writes that the anthology is offered as an encouragement for each of us, no matter our ethnicity, to speak out, tell our story, and own our power.
WE ARE MEANT TO RISE is a testimony to the strength, power, and resilience of a community, and inspires all of humanity to rise up higher to serve a greater good.
I recommend WE ARE MEANT TO RISE for readers interested in political and community action, for activists and artists and people of all races and ethnicities.
This is Lin Salisbury with Superior Reviews. Listen to my author interviews and read all my reviews on www.superiorreads.blog and at on WTIP 90.7 Grand Marais Radio and www.wtip.org.
January 31, 2022
In 2020, Minneapolis became the epicenter of the racial reckoning that erupted from the brutal killing of George Floyd at the hands of police. The global uprising that demanded accountability for Floyd’s death and the murders of countless other unarmed Black people drew a multi-generational and cross-cultural coalition. Harnessing revolutionary fervor from the Twin Cities creative spring, editors Carolyn Holbrook and David Mura assembled more than 30 essays and poems from writers, activists, community leaders, scholars and others in “We are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World.” The writings featured in the collection keep alive the hope for true transformation.
Stories in “We are Meant to Rise” show the rich diversity of black, indigenous, immigrant and other people of color in Minnesota. Holbrook, founder and director of More than a Single Story, created space for community building in an effort to bring people together and understand each other. The book acts as a time capsule of reflections about being Black, brown, indigenous & immigrant in a city that resembles much of America. There are poignant stories of immigration from the points of view of various communities, including Hmong, Somali, Korean, Lebanese, among others. Many stories share the narrative of survival, of healing from trauma, and emerging intact from the crushing weight of generational wounds. Each featured voice – from award-winning authors Resmaa Menakem and Louise Eldrich to fresh voices Suleiman Adan and Erin Sharkey – tells an authentic story and offers a unique lens to overcoming the burden of systemic racism as part of the American experience.
While the book features Minnesota-based writers, readers from all over would recognize the similar tensions and struggle about who gets to claim and define an American identity and whose realities are validated. Writers offer their journey toward realization and understanding of showing how people navigate everyday encounters with differences, while also bearing witness to inequities in power and access.
“We are Meant to Rise” is a thoughtfully curated volume, as each story deserves a pause and applause. One cannot simply jump from one to another without fully internalizing the depth of the lesson that had been shared. I highly recommend this book for anyone who feels compelled to act against racism and white supremacy, by taking the requisite first step of deeply understanding the complexities of race relations in the United States.
Stories in “We are Meant to Rise” show the rich diversity of black, indigenous, immigrant and other people of color in Minnesota. Holbrook, founder and director of More than a Single Story, created space for community building in an effort to bring people together and understand each other. The book acts as a time capsule of reflections about being Black, brown, indigenous & immigrant in a city that resembles much of America. There are poignant stories of immigration from the points of view of various communities, including Hmong, Somali, Korean, Lebanese, among others. Many stories share the narrative of survival, of healing from trauma, and emerging intact from the crushing weight of generational wounds. Each featured voice – from award-winning authors Resmaa Menakem and Louise Eldrich to fresh voices Suleiman Adan and Erin Sharkey – tells an authentic story and offers a unique lens to overcoming the burden of systemic racism as part of the American experience.
While the book features Minnesota-based writers, readers from all over would recognize the similar tensions and struggle about who gets to claim and define an American identity and whose realities are validated. Writers offer their journey toward realization and understanding of showing how people navigate everyday encounters with differences, while also bearing witness to inequities in power and access.
“We are Meant to Rise” is a thoughtfully curated volume, as each story deserves a pause and applause. One cannot simply jump from one to another without fully internalizing the depth of the lesson that had been shared. I highly recommend this book for anyone who feels compelled to act against racism and white supremacy, by taking the requisite first step of deeply understanding the complexities of race relations in the United States.
February 20, 2022
I’m rating this book with five stars not because every single essay is perfect, but because I think this book shares important ideas which deserve to be circulated within the larger community.
This is published by the University of Minnesota Press. It is a collection of essays and poetry in response to the events of the year 2020. Obvious topics are George Floyd’s murder and the pandemic. But sometimes the responses reflect on past events as memories are sparked by the wild year 2020.
(It’s a good companion piece to an earlier collection, A Good Time for the Truth, published by the Minnesota Historical Society.)
Contributors are people of color and LGBTQ people. Not everything resonated with me (perhaps it will with you), but most of it did.
Especially memorable for me:
Resmaa Menakem, “The Trauma Virus”
Menakem is developing a theory that the earliest slaveholders created a trauma virus which persists today. It’s purpose was to solidify their power and to repress any challenge to that power. Another name is “white body supremacy.”
The footnotes on p. 96 refer to a study published in 2014 by Kerry Ressler and Brian Dias. Others too. Olga Khazan’s article from Atlantic Monthly “ Inherited Trauma Shapes Your Health” from 2018. In these various studies, adult male mice were trained to associate the pleasant scent of cherry blossoms with an electric shock. The adult males bred with females who did not associate scent with shock. The babies freaked out immediately the first time they were sprayed with the scent. This is the author’s point, that trauma is carried through genes.
Diane Wilson, “We Are All Summoned”
The power of mothers and nature
David Mura, “Covid-19 and Asian-Americans”
This is published by the University of Minnesota Press. It is a collection of essays and poetry in response to the events of the year 2020. Obvious topics are George Floyd’s murder and the pandemic. But sometimes the responses reflect on past events as memories are sparked by the wild year 2020.
(It’s a good companion piece to an earlier collection, A Good Time for the Truth, published by the Minnesota Historical Society.)
Contributors are people of color and LGBTQ people. Not everything resonated with me (perhaps it will with you), but most of it did.
Especially memorable for me:
Resmaa Menakem, “The Trauma Virus”
Menakem is developing a theory that the earliest slaveholders created a trauma virus which persists today. It’s purpose was to solidify their power and to repress any challenge to that power. Another name is “white body supremacy.”
The footnotes on p. 96 refer to a study published in 2014 by Kerry Ressler and Brian Dias. Others too. Olga Khazan’s article from Atlantic Monthly “ Inherited Trauma Shapes Your Health” from 2018. In these various studies, adult male mice were trained to associate the pleasant scent of cherry blossoms with an electric shock. The adult males bred with females who did not associate scent with shock. The babies freaked out immediately the first time they were sprayed with the scent. This is the author’s point, that trauma is carried through genes.
Diane Wilson, “We Are All Summoned”
The power of mothers and nature
David Mura, “Covid-19 and Asian-Americans”
March 1, 2022
Never has a book felt simultaneously so familiar and yet so remote for me. This collection of authors, poets, playwrights, and essayists of color who have some sort of connection to Minneapolis delves into the various events and movements that surrounded the early months of the COVID pandemic and the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a police officer. These authors from my own community write about places I've been to, streets I've driven on, and events I've participated in. Yet their experiences as people of color in a city that continues to grapple with racist policies and prejudice from multiple directions describe an experience that is wholly different from my own and it was eye-opening and fascinating to hear their perspective.
In reading this book I often found my own biases challenged and my mind racing to recollect where I was during the moments described by the writers. Some of the authors include fascinating history lessons from our state like Louise Erdich's section about the fight against tribal termination policies in the 60s and 70s. Others include deeply personal stories about growing up as an immigrant in St. Paul or as a person of color in a mostly white suburb. I jotted down several authors names to see if I can track down some of their other writings.
Not all of the essays are winners - a few came across sounding like those long Facebook posts everyone was sharing in June 2020. However, the book as a whole is a worthwhile read, especially for people in Minnesota who noticed that something changed in our state in 2020 and want to understand more.
In reading this book I often found my own biases challenged and my mind racing to recollect where I was during the moments described by the writers. Some of the authors include fascinating history lessons from our state like Louise Erdich's section about the fight against tribal termination policies in the 60s and 70s. Others include deeply personal stories about growing up as an immigrant in St. Paul or as a person of color in a mostly white suburb. I jotted down several authors names to see if I can track down some of their other writings.
Not all of the essays are winners - a few came across sounding like those long Facebook posts everyone was sharing in June 2020. However, the book as a whole is a worthwhile read, especially for people in Minnesota who noticed that something changed in our state in 2020 and want to understand more.
December 20, 2021
I received an advance reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review.
We Are Meant to Rise is an inspiring collection of essays contributed by people of color with ties to Minneapolis, Minnesota. The essays cover many of the challenges faced by the US in 2020, including police brutality and protests that occurred following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, as well as the disparities and heartbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The essays give us a glimpse of where we’re at as a nation, where we’re letting one another down, and where there are opportunities for growth, community, and solidarity. Until we learn about one another’s experiences and attempt to fully recognize our common struggles as well as differential treatment and opportunity, we will be unable to chart a course away from white supremacy and toward a fair and just society.
I recommend this book as one source of perspectives and experiences that can be used for personal growth and applied to community building and social justice work.
We Are Meant to Rise is an inspiring collection of essays contributed by people of color with ties to Minneapolis, Minnesota. The essays cover many of the challenges faced by the US in 2020, including police brutality and protests that occurred following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, as well as the disparities and heartbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The essays give us a glimpse of where we’re at as a nation, where we’re letting one another down, and where there are opportunities for growth, community, and solidarity. Until we learn about one another’s experiences and attempt to fully recognize our common struggles as well as differential treatment and opportunity, we will be unable to chart a course away from white supremacy and toward a fair and just society.
I recommend this book as one source of perspectives and experiences that can be used for personal growth and applied to community building and social justice work.
October 12, 2022
Reading this compilation of essays primarily by MN authors, two years after George Floyd was murdered in my hometown, brings back the raw grief of those days. When we all cried out for justice and change. And I look at what has happened since and while I see some tiny inches of progress, there certainly are thousands of miles to go. And we have hope for our future that we not accept a return to the past ways of doing things.
Each author brings their own perspective -- and each of to be savored and contemplated. This is not a novel to finish in a day. So much wisdom shared, so many life experiences offered. A couple felt a bit incongruous, but I'm sure the editors included them for a reason I just didn't quite grasp.
I don't feel capable to sum it up properly. Each essay was so individual. But, if you have found your cry for justice and equity fading to a whimper, this collection will help revive it.
I also have added several of these authors' other books to my list.
Each author brings their own perspective -- and each of to be savored and contemplated. This is not a novel to finish in a day. So much wisdom shared, so many life experiences offered. A couple felt a bit incongruous, but I'm sure the editors included them for a reason I just didn't quite grasp.
I don't feel capable to sum it up properly. Each essay was so individual. But, if you have found your cry for justice and equity fading to a whimper, this collection will help revive it.
I also have added several of these authors' other books to my list.
February 25, 2023
I started and stopped this book, not because I wasn’t interested- but because I borrowed it on Libby and it wasn’t available in either an audio or Kindle version- so I had to read it on my phone. With my rather poor eyesight, it took so much effort to read- and the content was so difficult and important- that I could only read a rather small portion each time- I had to return it and put a hold on it for later readings-
However- it was definitely worth the effort- I personally know several of these talented authors and have met a few others, so I was definitely committed to reading all of it. I’m glad I did. Compelling and important.
However- it was definitely worth the effort- I personally know several of these talented authors and have met a few others, so I was definitely committed to reading all of it. I’m glad I did. Compelling and important.
December 4, 2021
It's not just in Minnesota. It's not just about being Black in America. It's not just about being Indigenous in America. It's also about being LGBTQIA in America, being a refugee in America, and about the personal difficulties of the isolation due to the pandemic. It is a collection of essays written by individuals who have been objectified and have suffered because of a mass mindset that rejected their value. And each and every one of us needs to read it.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from University of Minnesota Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from University of Minnesota Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
March 23, 2022
This collection of stories are written by people local to me (MN) but I don't think that the audience should be limited to that. These are stories everyone can and should read. Creative Nonfiction is a great genre to learn about people different from ourselves. And also to learn about ourself - reading some of these stories taught me so much.
I was also able to attend a couple readings for this book and honestly, I think an audiobook with each contributor reading their piece would be wonderful. Somehow hearing it out loud brought more to the stories.
I was also able to attend a couple readings for this book and honestly, I think an audiobook with each contributor reading their piece would be wonderful. Somehow hearing it out loud brought more to the stories.
August 27, 2022
I didn’t feel that these stories were connected in any way, and some, not connected to the unrest following George Floyd’s death amid a historic pandemic, like the book’s description led me to expect. I enjoyed “You are Your Next Best Thing” by Tamara Burke and Brene Brown more, though those stories were specifically by Black writers and not with a pandemic backdrop. I did get something out if this book but expected more. 🤷♀️
January 30, 2022
Book selling is a strange thing. The book jacket leads one to expect a book focused on Minneapolis in 2020. The content is so much deeper, wider in geography and time. I expected the diverse voices and the high caliber writing but I am still blown away by the quality and the prism of perspective. So much better than I thought it would be. And my expectations were high. When does that happen?
September 11, 2022
Truly powerful pieces that highlighted a very dark and tragic time for the world. I can’t even begin to explain how many of these beautifully curated works of art spoke to me. I felt and remembered all of the feelings of angst, sadness, and mostly anger from that time. I had to take breaks periodically while reading this book, but I thoroughly enjoyed this collection.
August 5, 2025
A well written snap shot into the feelings of people connected to Minneapolis and the unrest after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. The authors / editors do a good job in weaving together different viewpoints and life experiences in a way that keeps the book feeling fresh and relevant story after story.
June 7, 2022
My rating is more of a reflection of personal preference than book quality. Many of the stories were 5-star, and I love the focus of the book. However, plenty of the stories and poetry fell flat, which kept it from being 5 stars overall.
November 20, 2022
A collection of essays from Minneapolis authors. The points of view of a variety of ethnic groups; African-American, Hmong, Latina, Native America. They speak of their childhood, the Covid lockdowns, the George Floyd riots.
May 11, 2024
Amazing. Eye-opening. Inspiring. Motivating. All of it! I was very moved and found myself re-reading, then grabbing a pen to underline, ‘emphasize’, and make notes in the margins as I devoured the essays and poems. Wow, a must read. I was completely captivated and yearn to do more work.
March 31, 2025
Written during the pandemic and after George Floyd’s death you can feel the rawness, sadness and outrage from the contributors yet the strength and hope in protests and community. Now five years later Trump is back and the sadness and outrage are back but without the hope.
December 25, 2021
Beautiful important
February 12, 2022
A must read for anyone who needs a better understanding of how Minneapolis has suffered, survived and attempted to move forward through the pandemic and murder of George Floyd.
And that's everyone.
And that's everyone.
November 11, 2022
Solid collection of essays. Good read for understanding different perspectives.
November 26, 2022
This is a difficult, but important book. I am glad I read it.
March 28, 2023
Rich and varied voices of the multicultural and multiracial literary community in Minneapolis speak of their experiences and their hopes for the future.
April 6, 2023
Diverse and evocative voices reminding us all of the place we lived in 2020 and beyond.
October 22, 2022
Varied
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews