We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance

Description

Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour shares her intimate coming-of-age story of how growing up Muslim American, feminist, and empowered moved her to become a globally recognized and celebrated activist on behalf of marginalized communities across the country. It was a chilly spring morning in Brooklyn when a nineteen-year-old Linda Sarsour stared at her reflection, dressed in a hijab for the first time. A reflection that showed her as the woman she was growing to be—unapologetic in her faith and her activism. A young Palestinian Muslim American woman not yet twenty, discovering her innate sense of justice in the aftermath of 9/11. Now, most heralded for her award-wining leadership with the Women’s March on Washington, We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders presents a moving and resilient story of love, justice, and family. From the Brooklyn bodega her father owned where Linda learned the real meaning of intersectionality to protesting in the streets of Washington, DC, Linda’s story as a woman, daughter of immigrants, wife, mother, and friend is a moving portrayal of what it means to find one’s voice and use it for the good of others. We follow Linda as she uncovers the secrets of successful organizing, combats an infiltration by the NYPD, on to her decades of fighting for racial, economic, gender, and social justice; and, what propelled her to become one of the most recognized activists in the nation. We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders is a powerful and motivational journey that will inspire readers to take action and reaffirms that we are not here to be bystanders. Harry Belafonte writes of Linda, “While we may not have made it to the Promise Land, my peers and I, my brothers and sisters in liberation can rest easy that the future is in the hands of leaders like Linda Sarsour. I have often said to Linda that she embodies the principle and purpose of another great Muslim leader, brother Malcolm X.” This is her story.