You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience

I am a black woman who just celebrated 70 years on this planet in this so-called United States of America. This book touched me in such a visceral way, I knew something was amiss but never realized it was called trauma that I was experiencing. I was feeling the exhaustion of being not speaking my truth. Thank you for this gift.

Generous truth-telling, beauty - compelling relevance. Don't miss this one. A very important read for all of us - now - and as we move forward. A gift of a book, a rare gift.

I am a HUGE fan of Brene Brown and a Black woman, so when I heard about this book, I was thrilled. I did not read the description carefully. This book is a collection of essays. It is not typical of Brene Brown's work. I hoped for research about the experience of Black people. I hoped for Brene Brown's sharp attention to the data accompanied by her ability to narrow to the marrow. Instead I got essays. The essays described painful personal experiences and I commend each and every contributor for sharing his/her/their story. Thank you. It was crazy brave. It just wasn't the work I expected from Brene Brown. It felt hollow and like a commercial expoit instead of a genuine, hard earned, data driven effort. I can't imagine the effort it takes to create the revolutionary and absorbing books that Brene Brown has produced. Still I hope one day she will honor people of color with a book of the same caliber as her others. It would be such a gift.

This book is written to give voice to the experiences of Black people. Too often, they may be only be seen at those who are impacted most directly by racism. That is a part of their identity, and they also live lives of blessing and strength and challenge.This book is a collection of essays from writers, artists, educators, activists and others. They speak in the first person, in Tarana Burke's words, to "give our humanity breathing room."You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience, edited by Tarana Burke and Brene Brown.From the introduction by the editors:Brene: I kept thinking about bell hook's concept of lovelessness and how she talks about lovelessness as the root of white supremacy and the patriarchy and all forms of oppression. And that the answer to lovelessness is love. I've read bell hooks for thirty years, but these essays and the process of co-creating with you taught me what love in the face of lovelessness really feels like. The marrow of it. When you say, "I don't trust any antiracism work that doesn't embrace and see our humanity," I can feel the call for love. I get it so fully right now. It's like you're telling us that if you don't see the heart and the love and the humanity and the joy of the Black experience -- of Black humanity -- then the anti-racism work is bankrupt.Tarana: Exactly. It's just like knowing something intellectually but not feeling it, and this is feeling work. It's heart work as much as it is head work. Those two things have to be in tandem. And I love that we have the ability to make this offering to Black folks who have felt stifled in this moment and overwhelmed and have not had space.This is not a book to be rushed through. It is a book to breathe into, to weep with, to celebrate. I invite you to savor it, even if, like me, a white woman, you feel a bit like a peeping tom.

Such an amazing Anthology edited by two powerful and empowering women, showing us that, once again, the lived experiences of Black women & men will lay the foundation for healing for all of us. Shame is at the root of so much of our suffering and while sitting in it feels impossibly hard, these narratives show us how to do it. Thank you for knocking me on my ass to get down to the next layer of healing and work to dismantle oppressive systems in this country and the world (and for an introduction to the discussion of respectability politics- shout out to Tanya Denise Fields for that!).

This book is an important compliment to Brene Browns work. Black vulnerability is different from white vulnerability and deserves to be a unique focus. The essays were good and it would be good to have a scholar!y discussion about the issue too.

Finally have a book that speaks on the black experience as a whole. Although each of us have had different experiences, our culture and ancestral history, struggle and sins against us as a people remain the same. The stories in this book will leave you breathless, yet wanting to read more.

Oh my. This was not what I was expecting but so what I needed. The essays written in this book are written from places of vulnerability, strength, courage, and transparency. Wow. Highly recommend!

The book arrived in immaculate condition and I could have finished it with a few days.True to its description, it is an anthology of the experiences of Black Americans which as a Black Brit I couldn’t wholly relate to but there were definite parallels. Reading other people’s experiences of race is so eye opening.

Thank you, brilliant!

Not yet finished but so interesting, inspiring and thought provoking

Sadly, I felt really disappointed reading the essays. I felt they lacked healing and empathy. However, the Prentis Hemphill one I really enjoyed thoroughly. I also liked the Brene Brown interview—some healing things for me there about trauma.