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A review by fareehareads
Still True: The Evolution of an Unexpected Journalist by Reagan E.J. Jackson
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Thank you to Hinton Publishing for second me advanced copy of this title set to release March 26th.
While I've never been a heavy non fiction reader, Reagan Jackson's work intersects journalism with memoir writing in this compelling series of essays. The book is split into 5 sections and each one contains a variety of essays that Jackson has published over a long career as a journalist. The topics range from the individual Black experience in Rainier Beach, Seattle, to a global perspective of Black people throughout the world through the lens of a Black feminist journalist, activist, and writer.
I was not familiar with Jackson's work prior to this collection, but reading through her work on and off throughout the month of December and well into January, I felt a connection to these stories and the overarching conversation around journalistic intent, representation, and subjectivity.
The topic of journalism and storytelling has become center stage in my mind as ongoing genocides reverberate through our current news & media circles. Some of these essays really cover the amount of effort, sacrifice, and exhaustion comes out of being a Black journalist in a white supremacist country and how communities of color often face the brunt of media bias and lack of critical and subjective journalism.
I think my favorite essays were in the second portion titled The Struggle *blacklivesmatter which cover a lot of 2020 and the work Jackson did at the time to create space for Black healing at a time where pain and suffering in Black communities across this country were plastered over every single media outlet possible. The essay The Necessity of Black Joy definitely is a standout piece. The conversation around radical joy and healing spaces specifically by and for Black people was controversial and led to contention. In Jackson's won words, "...the idea of taking a few hours to gather together with other black people, not to discuss race, not to bitch about white people, but to simply disengage and dance and laugh and remember our own humanity is truly powerful.".
I could actually go on and on about this collection for a long time and I may revisit this review and add more thoughts later on, but for now I'll say that I absolutely recommend this collection.
While I've never been a heavy non fiction reader, Reagan Jackson's work intersects journalism with memoir writing in this compelling series of essays. The book is split into 5 sections and each one contains a variety of essays that Jackson has published over a long career as a journalist. The topics range from the individual Black experience in Rainier Beach, Seattle, to a global perspective of Black people throughout the world through the lens of a Black feminist journalist, activist, and writer.
I was not familiar with Jackson's work prior to this collection, but reading through her work on and off throughout the month of December and well into January, I felt a connection to these stories and the overarching conversation around journalistic intent, representation, and subjectivity.
The topic of journalism and storytelling has become center stage in my mind as ongoing genocides reverberate through our current news & media circles. Some of these essays really cover the amount of effort, sacrifice, and exhaustion comes out of being a Black journalist in a white supremacist country and how communities of color often face the brunt of media bias and lack of critical and subjective journalism.
I think my favorite essays were in the second portion titled The Struggle *blacklivesmatter which cover a lot of 2020 and the work Jackson did at the time to create space for Black healing at a time where pain and suffering in Black communities across this country were plastered over every single media outlet possible. The essay The Necessity of Black Joy definitely is a standout piece. The conversation around radical joy and healing spaces specifically by and for Black people was controversial and led to contention. In Jackson's won words, "...the idea of taking a few hours to gather together with other black people, not to discuss race, not to bitch about white people, but to simply disengage and dance and laugh and remember our own humanity is truly powerful.".
I could actually go on and on about this collection for a long time and I may revisit this review and add more thoughts later on, but for now I'll say that I absolutely recommend this collection.