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Overview
Are We Free Yet? The Black Queer Guide to Divorcing America is simultaneously a personal reflection and a collective examination of our relationship to liberation and oppression.
In it, Tina Strawn, host of the Speaking of Racism podcast and Instagram platform of the same name, shares her intimate experiences of queerness and Blackness, heartbreak and loss, foreign and home, as she navigates and finds freedom.
Alongside Tina's personal journey through a year of challenging transitions, Are We Free Yet? offers an interactive guide to four pillars of activism: joy, liberation, pleasure, and connection.
From the role of cannabis to the importance of embracing our grief, this book offers a critical take on all it means to be an activist, offering deep reflection and discussions on race, social change, sex, and healing.
Divorce expert (divorced from a husband, a wife, and a country) and author Tina Strawn will challenge readers to:
- Question what freedom means and looks like in their lives.
- Consider what leaving the country could look like for them.
- See themselves (their preferences, personality traits, and biases) in their activism.
- Deeply investigate what it means to them to be an American and to love or not love "your" country.
About the Author: Tina Strawn is a joy and liberation advocate, activist, author, and the owner and host of the Speaking of Racism (IG: @speakingofracism) podcast. The heart of her work is leading Legacy Trips (IG: @legacytrips), immersive antiracism experiences where participants visit historical locations such as Montgomery and Selma, AL, and utilize spiritual practices as tools to affect personal and collective change. Tina has three adult children, an ex-husband, an ex-wife, and an ex-country. She has been a full-time minimalist nomad since February 2020. Tina travels the globe speaking, writing, teaching, and exploring where on the planet she can feel safe and free in her/their queer, Black, woman-identifying body.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781955905114 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Row House Publishing |
| Publication date: | 01/17/2023 |
| Sold by: | SIMON & SCHUSTER |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 268 |
| File size: | 6 MB |
About the Author
Table of Contents
The Guide to the Guide xv
Part I Grief and Healing
1 The United Shades of Black Grief 3
2 The Threat of Black Death 5
3 Just Mercy 10
4 Activist Timeline 12
5 It Began in Shorter, Alabama 13
6 Get Therapy 16
Artifact: Excerpt from "Honoring the Ori: Mindfulness Meditation at the Intersection of Black Women's Spirituality and Sexualities"
7 Black Suffering 21
8 False Allyship 23
9 One Nation under Black Trauma 26
Artifact: Emmett Till Antilynching Act
10 A Black American Horror Story from Texas 31
11 Find Stillness Every Day through Breath 34
12 Reaching the (Housing) Limit of Racialized Trauma 37
Artifact: "Healing Racial Trauma with Dr. Candice Nicole Hargons"
13 Heartbreak Is a Gray Grief for Activists 44
A Poem on Separation and Surviving
14 Reparations and Black Bereavement Time 48
Artifact: Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act
15 Grief Is Intergenerational 54
16 Grieving Is the Starting Point to Getting Free 58
17 Find Movement Every Day 60
18 Sit with Your Anger 62
A Poem about Kindness and Anger
19 Run Away 65
20 Make Space to Grieve 67
21 From Broken Hearts to Divorces 68
A Poem about Serenity
22 Gather Your Spiritual Practices 71
Artifact: The Eight Limbs of Yoga
23 Reclaim Your Time 74
Artifact: Grieving and Healing Playlist
Part II Peace and Pleasure
24 The Envelope in the Door 79
25 Unpack Your Relationship with Anti-Blackness 81
26 Unpack Your Relationship with Capitalism 83
27 Unpack Your Relationship with Credit 86
28 Learn about Rent Strikes 89
29 Create Radical Strategies for Your Own Personal Liberation 91
30 Let Go: Aparigraha 93
31 Nomad AF 95
32 Finding Peace in Pain 97
33 Protect Your Peace at All Costs 100
34 Unplug from the Virtual and Digital Chaos 102
35 Make Peace with Your Past 103
36 Get Outside 106
37 WPP (White People's Problem) 107
38 Team Blaxit 109
39 Black Americans Who Moved Abroad 111
40 Welcome to Jamrock 114
A Poem about Privilege, Passports, and Wedding Rings
41 Unpack Your Relationship with Patriarchy 118
42 Learn about Misogynoir and Intersectionality 120
43 Build Your Community 121
44 Get Queer AF 123
45 Breaking Out of Cis-heteronormativity 126
A Poem about Sexual (R)Evolution
46 Unpack Your Relationship with Sexual Pleasure 130
47 Have Interstellar Sex 131
48 Increase Your Pleasure Capacity: Have More Orgasms 133
A Poem about Coconuts and Beaches
49 Pleasure Power Principles 140
50 Take a Nap 142
Artifact: Peace and Pleasure Playlist
Part III Celebration and Joy
51 A Brief History of Black Celebration 147
52 Find Your Voice 148
Artifact: "Lift Every Voice and Sing"
53 Eat 150
Artifact: Ingredients from a Jamaican Menu
54 Yoga Meals 153
55 Comments Overheard While Eating in Costa Rica 155
56 Soul Food Stories 156
Artifact: Variations on Beans and Rice
57 The War on Drugs 159
Artifact: Three Acts That Weaponized Weed against Black Americans
58 Cannabis as Liberation 162
59 Get High 165
60 Draw Your Pleasure Treasure Map 167
Artifact: Weed Playlist
61 Get into Your Body 169
62 Dance 171
63 Honor All the Parts of Yourself, Then and Now 172
64 Forgiveness 174
A Poem about Dust
65 Rename Yourself 176
66 Be Gracious 178
67 Find Restorative "Poetic" Justice 179
68 Queer Black Sheep 181
Artifact: Queer Morning Blessings
69 Follow Your Joy 184
70 My Solo Poly Honeymoon 185
71 The Pleasure and Politics of Polyamory 189
72 Take Risks 192
A Poem about Risk
73 Create Your Own Constitution of Joy 194
Artifact: AWFY Joy and Celebration Playlist
Part IV Activism and Liberation
74 The Case for Divorcing America 199
75 Meeting Stacey Abrams 200
76 Evaluate Your Relationship with the Democratic Party 203
77 To Vote or Not to Vote 205
78 Losing the Black Woman's Vote 208
79 Grumpy Old White Men 211
80 Satan or Lucifer 213
81 Science, History, Medicine, and Time 215
82 Radical Theory #1 217
83 Unvaccinated Black Lives Matter Too 219
84 If I Die of COVID-19 (or Any Other Natural Black Disaster) 221
A Poem about Fear
85 Loving Erica 224
86 One Love 226
A Poem about Last Night
87 Losing Erica 229
Artifact: Last Text Messages from Erica
A Poem about Jamaica
88 Alive 234
89 Being a Liberation Activist 236
90 Write Your Own Declaration of Liberation 238
91 White People for Black Lives: Educate Yourself 240
92 White People, Take Action 242
93 I Am Not Your Resource 244
94 The Liberation of Mutual Aid 245
95 Poor People Shit 248
96 Never Stop Listening to and Learning from Black Women 251
Artifact: Excerpts from the Combahee River Collective Statement
97 Closure 254
98 Saying Goodbye 257
99 Dear America 259
100 What Hope 261
Artifact: Activism and Liberation Playlist
Acknowledgments 263
References for "Honoring the Ori: Mindfulness Meditation at the Intersection of Black Women's Spirituality and Sexualities" by Natalie Malone and Candice N. Hargons 265
Tina's Bibliography 267
About the Author 269