When They Call You a Terrorist Main Ideas

Racism and Empowerment

A major focus of Patrisse Khan-Cullors’s memoir is the way her life has been shaped by systemic racial prejudice. Racism appears in both overt and subtle ways. Overt racism is manifested in the police treating her brothers, Paul and Monte, as dangerous criminals and torturing Monte, despite the brothers’ nonviolent natures. It is manifested in Patrisse’s arrest for marijuana possession at age 12, despite many of her white peers smoking with impunity. It is manifested in all the murders of innocent Black people by police.

Less obvious instances of racism are evident in the way minority communities are designed, such as how Patrisse’s childhood neighborhood lacks a proper grocery store, and the way health care is “weaponized” against the poor. America, according to Khan-Cullors, is a country that despite officially undoing racist Jim Crow laws, unofficially has maintained the system, rewriting the laws without rewriting the white supremacy undergirding them. Khan-Cullors shows how in a racist country the experiences of Black and white Americans are totally different, at one point commenting that Black Americans know their circumstances “should” be different but are unsure what a better world would look like. She offers examples of this better world, namely one in which love and compassion rather than violence or money resolve conflicts.

On the reverse side of racism is empowerment, or fostering a wholesome, nurturing Black consciousness. Khan-Cullors believes that empowerment is the original purpose of Black Lives Matter, spelling out that Black lives “mean something.” During her childhood and adolescence, Patrisse felt humiliated and powerless watching her brother Monte’s mistreatment and being aware of her family’s poverty. Thus, empowerment, as the opposite of degradation and humiliation, is the first step in overcoming racial injustice. However, the memoir makes clear that empowerment alone will not remedy all of racism’s ills. As she argues, for as hard as organizations like Black Lives Matter work, their opponents are working equally hard to maintain the systems of oppression. Empowerment as reflected in the memoir include Patrisse’s joy when she and her fellow marchers compel affluent white people to join them in a moment of silence for Trayvon Martin. It is reflected when she, her family, and friends manage, without police involvement, to save her brother Monte from self-destruction and a return to prison. When describing her change from childhood to adulthood, she comments that she has “chosen dignity and power” rather than succumbing to the hopelessness that would make her accept injustice and hardship as facts of life. By contrast, her father, Gabriel, continues to blame himself and feel shame for his misfortunes as if they were his and only his responsibility.

Intersectionality

Although the primary focus of Patrisse Khan-Cullors’s memoir is the struggle for dignity for Black lives in general, the author is also careful to highlight the different aspects of her and others’ identities that deserve respect. As a queer Black woman, Patrisse is simultaneously a member of multiple communities that face different and overlapping marginalization. One of the great challenges she faces in her attempts to help her brother and her father is that apart from suffering the damages of racism, they are also in the hold of patriarchy, which makes them undervalue or distrust women. They and other male figures in the memoir suffer from an inability to communicate emotions or accept help from others. Even Mark Anthony, who is sensitive and communicative, at multiple points pushes Patrisse away because he fears being vulnerable with a woman. Additionally, when describing the goals of Black Lives Matter, she emphasizes that it should be a “woman-affirming space free from sexism, misogyny, and male-centeredness.”

Khan-Cullors also explores the dangers queer women face with the example of her cousin Naomi, who is shockingly beaten by her mother in front of her track team after coming out as queer. Other intersectional issues highlighted as concerns include the affirmation of the rights of disabled people, ageism (discrimination based on age), and the protection of trans people. In fact, Khan-Cullors credits trans activists as being one of the driving forces of Black Lives Matter. Intersectionality is best summarized in the memoir by a line in the guiding principles of Black Lives Matter: “Acknowledging, respecting, and celebrating differences.” It is made clear that it is not sufficient to overcome only racism if other systems of oppression or intolerance are allowed to continue.

Community

Throughout When They Call You a Terrorist, Patrisse Khan-Cullors shows examples of mutual aid or communities working together to overcome injustices and hardships. Different kinds of communities are depicted in the memoir, from traditional communities like neighborhoods and families to nontraditional, hybridized communities like the support team Patrisse creates to help her brother’s transition from prison life. Communities are important because they allow accomplishments that would be impossible for individuals. Patrisse and her family are poor throughout the memoir, but by pooling resources, the communities she creates can help each other and themselves.

After Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans, she witnesses how the local communities take care of each other and declares “nothing could break a community united, a community guided by love.” Communities band together, but they also suffer together. For example, Monte joined a local “gang” of young men who wanted to band together to protect themselves, but instead they ended up suffering greater harassment from the police. On the other hand, much of Patrisse’s personal growth comes from the support and love she feels from her queer-affirming community at Cleveland High, which her cousin describes as their “tribe.”

Conversely, if communities can come together, they can also break apart. Often they are only as strong as whatever force or personality binds them. A good example is the Brignac clan. While Gabriel is a free man and involved with his family, the Brignacs enjoy a festive and close-knit community, organizing baseball tournaments and parties. However, when Gabriel is imprisoned, the baseball games end, and the family drifts apart, with Patrisse finding herself suddenly cut off from the community she has come to love. Later in the memoir, many of Patrisse’s communities are fostered through activism and through the internet. The internet allows her to connect with and form strong bonds with organizers in other states and even other countries. One of these organizers is Future, whom she ends up marrying.