We Are Meant to Rise

Carolyn Holbrook is the founder and director of More Than a Single Story. She is author of the essay collection Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify (Minnesota, 2020), winner of a Minnesota Book Award, and coauthor of Dr. Josie R. Johnson’s memoir Hope in the Struggle (Minnesota, 2019). She teaches creative writing at Hamline University, the Loft Literary Center, and other community venues. David Mura’s most recent book is A Stranger’s Journey: Race, Identity, and Narrative Craft in Writing. He is author of two memoirs, Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei, which won the Oakland PEN Josephine Miles Book Award and was a New York Times Notable Book, and Where the Body Meets Memory.

"Diversity is our strength. Each new voice who becomes part of America is our strength. The writers in this anthology provide us with individualized portraits of who we are, and in doing so they can help us to know each other, our neighbors, our fellow citizens. These writers prove we are indeed more than a single story."-David Mura, from the Introduction"A powerful and passionate take on a fraught moment."-Publishers Weekly"This collection is diverse, enraging, heartbreaking, impassioned and this month’s #RequiredReading."-Ms. Magazine"The book acts as a time capsule of reflections of being Black, brown, indigenous & immigrant in a city that resembles much of America. There are poignant stories of immigration from the points of view of various communities, including Hmong, Somali, Korean, Lebanese, among others. Many stories share the narrative of survival, of healing from trauma, and emerging intact from the crushing weight of generational wounds. "-Colors of Influence"We Are Meant to Rise offers a different vision of past and present, unflinching in its gaze on our national and local sins but ultimately affirming hope and possibility."-Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder "These words are sacred parts of each author, shared with the world as a generous gift to those willing to accept it... The reward for the reader is a connection and a deeper understanding of our neighbors and our friends."-Rochester Post Bulletin

• ContentsIntroduction: Call and ResponseDavid MuraAbout More Than a Single StoryCarolyn HolbrookPandemic LoveEd Bok LeeJuiceAlexs PateGeorge Floyd Was Killed in My NeighborhoodSafy-Hallan Farahإِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ Queer Death in ExileAhmad Qais MunhazimWith Birthday Girl Blindfolded, Star PiÑata Considers His Regrets and Offers a Last RequestMichael TorresBattlegrounds and Building GroundsKao Kalia YangSummer 1964Pamela R. Fletcher BushThe Courage to Hold Together, the Courage to Fall ApartMona Susan PowerLong Live the Fatherless ChildrenAnika FajardoLand Acknowledgement Statement of a Native VirginianMary Moore EasterFinancial TraumaTess MontgomeryCross PollinationKathryn HaddadBreath: A Meditation in UprisingErin SharkeyDear EditorDouglas KearneyWhat Does it All MeanTish JonesThe Trauma VirusResmaa MenakemHow Will They Take Us Away/How Will We StandBao PhiHealers Are Protectors/Protectors Are HealersMarcie RendonThe Pachuco Himself Considers the Audacity of LanguageMichael TorresLittle Brown BriefcaseSuleiman AdanWe Are All SummonedDiane WilsonA Tangent to a Story about the Smith & Wesson .38, or, Attempts to Be Fully Assimilated into the White American Project Have Failed Miserably, in the Form of a Self-Questionnaire신 선 영 辛善英 Sun Yung ShinToday in MinneapolisSamantha Sencer-MuraLet Me Tell You a StoryMelissa OlsonHere BeforeSherrie Fernandez-WilliamsTruth, Reconciliation, and Four More Meditations on Human FreedomArleta LittleDidion DreamsSaid ShaiyeSpeaking Into ExistenceKevin YangThe WeightEzekiel JoubertFour GeniesRicardo Levins MoralesAll the Stars AflameShannon GibneyHumility, Sincerity, Banana OilLouise ErdrichAcknowledgmentsContributors