We Are Meant to Rise
Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World
Carolyn Holbrook and David Mura, Editors
DOWNLOAD: DISCUSSION GUIDE
LISTEN: A LIVE CONVERSATION WITH CAROLYN HOLBROOK, DAVID MURA, DOUGLAS KEARNEY, MELISSA OLSON, SAID SHAIYE, AND KAO KALIA YANG (HOSTED BY NEXT CHAPTER BOOKSELLERS)
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
Here Indigenous writers and writers of color bear witness to one of the most unsettling years in U.S. history. Essays and poems vividly reflect the traumas we endured in 2020, beginning with the COVID-19 pandemic, deepened by the blatant murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers and the uprisings that immersed our city into the epicenter of worldwide demands for justice.
"A powerful and passionate take on a fraught moment." —Publishers Weekly
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.
Contributors: Suleiman Adan, Mary Moore Easter, Louise Erdrich, Anika Fajardo, Safy-Hallan 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, Marcie Rendon, Samantha Sencer-Mura, Said Shaiye, Erin Sharkey, Sun Yung Shin, Michael Torres, Diane Wilson, Kao Kalia Yang, and Kevin Yang.
$18.95 paper ISBN 978-1-5179-1221-5
224 pages, 5 3/8 x 8 1/4, November 2021
Carolyn Holbrook is the founder and director of More Than a Single Story. She is author of the essay collection Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify (Minnesota, 2020), winner of a Minnesota Book Award, and coauthor of Dr. Josie R. Johnson’s memoir Hope in the Struggle (Minnesota, 2019). She teaches creative writing at Hamline University, the Loft Literary Center, and other community venues.
David Mura’s most recent book is A Stranger’s Journey: Race, Identity, and Narrative Craft in Writing. He is author of two memoirs, Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei, which won the Oakland PEN Josephine Miles Book Award and was a New York Times Notable Book, and Where the Body Meets Memory.
Diversity is our strength. Each new voice who becomes part of America is our strength. The writers in this anthology provide us with individualized portraits of who we are, and in doing so they can help us to know each other, our neighbors, our fellow citizens. These writers prove we are indeed more than a single story.
David Mura, from the Introduction
A powerful and passionate take on a fraught moment.
Publishers Weekly
Contents
Introduction: Call and Response
David Mura
About More Than a Single Story
Carolyn Holbrook
Pandemic Love
Ed Bok Lee
Juice
Alexs Pate
George Floyd Was Killed in My Neighborhood
Safy-Hallan Farah
إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ Queer Death in Exile
Ahmad Qais Munhazim
With Birthday Girl Blindfolded, Star Piñata Considers His Regrets and Offers a Last Request
Michael Torres
Battlegrounds and Building Grounds
Kao Kalia Yang
Summer 1964
Pamela R. Fletcher Bush
The Courage of Holding Together, the Courage to Fall Apart
Mona Susan Power
Long Live the Fatherless Children
Anika Fajardo
Land Acknowledgment Statement of a Native Virginian
Mary Moore Easter
Financial Trauma
Tess Montgomery
Cross Pollination
Kathryn Haddad
Breath: A Meditation in Uprising
Erin Sharkey
Dear Editor
Douglas Kearney
What Does It All Mean
Tish Jones
The Trauma Virus
Resmaa Menakem
How Will They Take Us Away / How Will We Stand
Bao Phi
Healers Are Protectors / Protectors Are Healers
Marcie Rendon
The Pachuco Himself Considers the Audacity of Language
Michael Torres
Covid-19 and Asian Americans
David Mura
Little Brown Briefcase
Suleiman Adan
We Are All Summoned
Diane Wilson
A Tangent to a Story about the Smith & Wesson .38, or, Attempts to Be Fully Assimilated into the White American Project Have Failed Miserably, in the Form of a Self-Questionnaire
신 선 영 辛善英 Sun Yung Shin
Today in Minneapolis
Samantha Sencer-Mura
Let Me Tell You a Story
Melissa Olson
Here Before
Sherrie Fernandez-Williams
Truth, Reconciliation, and Four More Meditations on Human Freedom
Arleta Little
Didion Dreams
Said Shaiye
A Time for Healing
Carolyn Holbrook
Speaking into Existence
Kevin Yang
The Weight
Ezekiel Joubert III
Four Genies
Ricardo Levins Morales
All the Stars Aflame
Shannon Gibney
Humility, Sincerity, Banana Oil
Louise Erdrich
Acknowledgments
Contributors
About This Book
Related Publications
Related News & Events
Carolyn Holbrook on Island of Discarded Women podcast
The Circle: If you want stark clarity and unbridled truth, read these essays
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 on Island of Discarded Women podcast
Special guest Carolyn shares with Sue her journey from incarcerated teen to celebrated literary arts advocate. Brittany offers up a mistaken door that led to healing. Silvia recounts a phone number that changed her life. And musical guest Ivory Doublette sings the original “We Are One” with Zippy Laske and Tim Carrow.
The Circle: If you want stark clarity and unbridled truth, read these essays
The book stared back. I opened it, started to read and could not put it down. Dear reader, if you like hearing the words of language masters, if you seek hope, or want to walk in the shoes of another, if you want stark clarity and unbridled truth, read these essays.
Post Bulletin: "Three books from the University of Minnesota Press serve varied interests"
Memories, mystery and museum histories: three books from the University of Minnesota Press serve varied interests.
Insight News: "In these written words for social justice there is strength"
Where white supremacy and systemic racism would seek to silence our voices, the shared experiences of these BIPOC authors demand to be heard. In these written words for social justice there is strength. There is resilience. There is power.
Colors of Influence Blog: "Each story deserves a pause and applause"
Review of Carolyn Holbrook and David Mura, We Are Meant to Rise, in Colors of Influence blog.
Hennepin County Library: What We Loved in 2021
Staff recommend their favorite adult nonfiction books that they read this year.
Carolyn Holbrook and David Mura, who are writers, co-editors of the anthology and long-time activists in promotion of diversity, will be joined by contributors for a live panel discussion via Zoom at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13.