This book is FIERCE. I learned a lot and reflected a lot as I read. (I was worried there might be too much religion/church emphasis, but there was not.) Highly recommended for anti-racist reading.

Alrighty then!!!! This book is an eye-opener and will hopefully make one look at things a bit diffrently. Strong subject, strong writing. A must read for all. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on my review.

Important book. Not preach but straight forward. With a “white male name” Austin carved her own place. Resilient and strong I learned a lot from this read

This is a powerful book! I'M STILL HERE: BLACK DIGNITY IN A WORLD MADE FOR WHITENESS by Austin Channing Brown is about how her determined quest for identity, understanding and justice shows a way forward for us all.
Austin Channing Brown writes about her life growing up to be a black woman in the USA.
As a black baby girl her parents gave her the name Austin Channing Brown so that when she became old enough to apply for jobs, the potential employers would see the masculine name and grant her an interview on the grounds of her education and experience. Otherwise her application and resume would most likely be automatically weeded from the pile, as employers prefer giving high paying and high status jobs to white males.
The author gives the reader a glimpse of the racial discrimination and injustice she has been subjected to. Whenever her husband or father leave home she is concerned for their safety.
I highly recommend that you read this page-turning idea-driven memoir about racial discrimination and injustice.
**Special thanks to Austin Channing Brown for writing this book. Thanks to Convergent Books, Crown Publishing Group, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this book, which enabled me to read it and write a review. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

This was such a poignant and important essay collection. As a Black, Christian occupying white Christian organizations, a lot of what she talked about throughout this collection really resonated with me. Austin had such an eloquent way that said how she was feeling, without placing blame. I have so many people I want to get this into their hands.

Austin Channing Brown is one of my favorite follows on twitter: I appreciate her perspective so much and have been eager to get her words into my hands in book-length format. I'm Still Here was worth the wait. The book opens with a story from the library, but it's not a warm and fuzzy one. Austin reveals that her parents named her Austin so that future employers would believe she was a white man, thus opening doors that would typically be closed to a black woman. She writes extensively about how white, middle-class Christians, though well-intentioned, perpetuate racial tensions—and provides guidance on what genuinely effective perspectives and behaviors could actually look like. A great read, important and timely.

A worthy read; recommendable, for me, to a sort of youngish adult (like between 17-20) that is eager, or not, to understand or be exposed to a multitude of perspectives. I'm not a huge memoir person, and not a Christian, so I struggled a bit here and there; there wasn't a lot of revelation for me (a Black woman roughly the same age as Ms. Brown) or suck-in-your- breath writing BUT I don't think I'm the target audience. If I was creating a curriculum or reading list on the modern American experience I'd definitely include Ms. Brown's work.

Smart and powerful! This little book is so thoughtful. I'll definitely be looking out for future work by Brown, who was unfamiliar to me before this title.

Austin Channing Brown shares her truth what it is like for her to grow up black in a world made for whiteness. As a white reader, you need to be open to her truth or you may find it offensive. White fragility is real folks. Systemic racism is real folks. Discrimination is still happening. This is an eye opening account of what is still happening in our world today. When you are ready to learn about the perspectives of others outside your own, pick up I'm Still Here, by Austin Channing Brown. Then read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Both have helped me gain understanding of the racial injustices that POC faces on a daily basis.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book opens with the statement: “White people are exhausting.”

If we dare, we listen to Austin Channing Brown's powerful voice in her insightful and poignant book.

“In too many churches and organizations, listening to the hurt and pain of people of color is the end of the road, rather than the beginning.. . .
Too often, dialogue functions as a stall tactic, allowing white people to believe they’ve done something heroic when the real work is yet to come.”

Sometimes it hurts to hear her speak. She tells stories that are gut-wrenching about racial inequality. She speaks truths that we don’t want to swallow.

“In every previous classroom, I had been responsible for decoding teachers’ references to white, middle-class experiences. ‘It’s like when you’re sailing’ . . . or ‘You know how when you’re skiing, you have to’ . . . My white teachers had an unspoken commitment to the belief that we are all the same, a default setting that masked for them how often white culture bled into the curriculum."

But our discomfort shouldn’t stop us from listening. It is holy work.

“Our only chance at dismantling racial injustice is being more curious about its origins than we are worried about our comfort. It’s not a comfortable conversation for any of us. It is risky and messy. It is haunting work to recall the sins of our past. But is this not the work we have been called to anyway? Is this not the work of the Holy Spirit to illuminate truth and inspire transformation? It’s haunting. But it’s also holy.”

And just listening is not enough.

Austin relays a story about her field trip as a student visiting a history museum in the south. They saw the “happy slaves” who sang in the fields. Back on the bus afterwards, conversations grew heated between the black students and white students.

The next stop was at a lynching exhibit. Again, emotion was heavy when the students climbed back on the bus. Tensions were climbing high as white students defended their family histories and black students expressed how it felt seeing the photos of lynchings.

Finally, a white girl stood to speak. Instead of talking about not being responsible for the past, she said this:

“I don’t know what to do with what I’ve learned,” she said. “I can’t fix your pain, and I can’t take it away, but I can see it. “Doing nothing is no longer an option for me.”

Austin talks about white people who use her as a confessional. They want her to tell them “it’s okay” and make them feel better about what they’ve said or done, a “self-indulgent desire for relief.”

But her comeback is a challenge instead: “So what are you going to do differently?”

My thanks to Net Galley for the review copy of this book.

Austin Channing Brown rocked my world with this book. She took all the things I knew for sure and gave real life stories that made this knowledge take shape in a new way. If you are a human being you need to read this book. It doesn't matter what your life, work or faith looks likes, this is a book that is necessary for every people to wrestle through.
She is funny, practical, authentic and BRILLIANT. I will from now and forever more read every word she releases into the world.

Excellent and challenging book that's part memoir and part discourse about race in America. I loved the writing and the "voice" of the whole book, even when it left me feeling uncomfortable and ashamed.

I think readers will find what they are looking for. If a reader approaches this book feeling like white folks are always under attack for being white, he/she will likely feel that after reading this book. If readers are looking for a resource to help them look for/consider/examine their own racial biases and challenge their thinking, they will find that instead. That is what I was looking for, and I found it and am grateful for the reading experience. Highly recommend.

There were tense moments of anger and frustration, but given the topic of the book, this fits. My favorite parts of this book were the times the author settled in to telling her story, sharing about her cultural experiences. Could have used a little more calls to action, but overall, a good, informative read.

I began fallowing Austin Channing Brown on social media in late 2016 when my eyes were opened to a side of America that I had thought was dead, gone, and over. Being a middle class white woman I grew up clueless to what some of my friends lives truly entailed, but reading I’m Still Here has put into context comments and actions that I had never understood growing up. With compassion, wisdom and ,yes, anger too Austin lays out a way of life that is vital, beautiful, complex, painful, and frightening. A life and community that I will never truly know but now have a better understanding of. Her descriptions made real a tight wire existence I have never known. Her writing flows naturally like a friend sitting the reader down and saying “Look, I know you don’t understand so let me tell you about my life.” It takes a strong heart to open up ones painful experiences to others and she has done so without bitterness or hate. We read to learn and grow, to seek out understanding outside our own experience and I Thank Austin Channing Brown for the gift of I’m Still Here.

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 had intended to only read the first few chapters and before I knew it, I chucked my plans for the day and wrapped myself up in the pages of Austin's story.

By the time I finished reading, I was even more in awe of Austin. I'm Still Here is truly phenomenal.

Austin shares how even her very name challenges people's assumptions. People expect to a white man when they see the name Austin; they don't always know what to do with the Black woman before them. She grew up and has worked in majority-white schools, organizations, and churches. And with those majority-white spaces come stereotypes, biases, and prejudices.

Austin shares her trajectory from believing she was the white culture whisperer after college to seeing how white supremacy infected programs supposedly dedicated to racial reconciliation.

"The role of the bridge builder sounds appealing until it becomes clear how often the bridge is your broken back." p. 42


In chapter 5, titled Whiteness At Work, Austin details the microaggressions she experienced in her average workday at a Christian organization. It was staggering to see them listed out and know this was just an average day. One of many. And then to see how the organization had no interest in changing when Austin pointed out the biases present, despite its supposed commitment to diversity in the workplace.

It is little wonder why Austin finds white people so exhausting. I can only imagine the bone-deep tiredness that comes after a lifetime of existing as a Black woman in primarily white spaces.

White readers will need to pay special attention to the sections exploring the difference between white fragility and taking full ownership of facing your own racism. If you are white, you have internalized racism, even if you don't see it. This is what it is to live in a society stacked in your favor from the moment you are born and this is why it's important for us to confront our privilege and interrogate our biases.

More importantly, we cannot—we must not—rely on People Of Color to help us do that. As Austin notes, she is "not the priest for the white soul" (p. 65.)

I was very moved by Interlude: Letter To My Son. I was also moved when Austin shared about her fears that crop up whenever her husband or dad travels. She worries they'll be pulled over and won't make it home. It's horrifying that this is not an unrealistic fear, that there's nothing we can say in reassurance. It's a profound reminder of why we need to keep fighting for justice and the eradication of white supremacy at every level.

There are tough truths here but there is also joy as Austin reflects on the gifts the Black church has given her and what she loves about being a Black woman. I loved reading about her memories of her childhood and time with her family, as well as her love for books and the library.

Each chapter builds upon the one before it in a way that is masterful. This mastery becomes especially clear in the final two chapters. The last chapter is a reflection on hope and hopelessness and it is precisely what I needed to read for so many reasons.

"This is the shadow of hope. Knowing that we may never see the realization of our dreams, and yet still showing up." p. 105


Then I read the final paragraph and Austin brought it all home and my only thought was, "holy shit." It was that powerful. I read it again and then again and let her words sink in. The whole book builds toward that moment and it is absolutely incredible getting there. Highly recommended.

This book. I couldn't put it down. It really grabbed my attention and gave me much food for thought. If you only read one book about racism, this is it. It's clear, concise, passionate, and given a chance, it will unapologetically change you forever. It belongs on every bookshelf. One of the many things I loved about this (and trust me, there's lots to love) was that even before I had finished it I was tweeting for recommendations for important books on the same subject. The author quotes some important works so I know what I'll be searching for in the very near future. Is the book likely to cause some discomfort? Absolutely but then change is never comfortable and this book definitely calls for change. There are so many quotes I highlighted in this e-book advance reading copy and I dearly want to repeat some but I'm going to wait until release day and do a longer review when I check the quotes against the finished book

Brown’s book is so important. Austin relates her personal experiences combatting whiteness in her childhood and professional development. This book makes so many good points for anyone reading this. Those who are white can learn about situations where we once thought we were helping where we actually weren’t. Those who are black can finally see their experiences in print. Pick this one up on its release date on May 15, 2018.

Austin Channing Brown's book is going to be a great book for starting difficult discussions externally, and also for having some important internal dialogues. Wonderful.

As a white woman, books like Brown's help me learn and understand more about the realities of life as a black person in the United States today. While I recognize that I can never truly fully understand what Austin Brown goes through on a daily basis, her clear and emotional writing can help me be more open to hearing the stories of people who are not like me.

This was a really amazing set of essays focused on the role of race in society and the persistence of inequality in the workplace. Brown draws on her own personal experience to discuss how white people continue to benefit from their whiteness and continue to fail to see and take responsibility for their own racist assumptions about non-whites.