Asha Bandele – författare

How did a beautiful, talented college student fall in love with a man serving twenty-to-life for murder? Why did she marry him? At a time when one in four black men is caught in the web of the criminal justice system, Asha Bandele shatters the myths of prisoner's wives and tells a story of the beauty of love even in the ugliest of circumstances. Whether she is describing her restricted but romantic courtship with Rashid, when letters were like dates, or riding the bus upstate with the other wives and girlfriends, Bandele creates haunting images and reflections so powerful and unique that they beg to be reread and savoured. At the same time that she recalls the ups and downs that accompany a relationship that is constantly scutinized by guards and surveillance cameras, she confronts the secrets and sadness in her past and comes to terms with hersilf as an African-American woman and a prisoner's wife. A gifted poet, Asha Bandele has written an extraordinarily candid book that resonates with poetic language and abundant insight.

This beautifully and sparely written tale explores the fragile complexity of the mother- daughter bond and the heart wrenching legacy of silence between generations. Aya is a black college girl from Brooklyn with a promising future and a difficult relationship with her mother, Miriam. One night Aya is shot by a white policeman in a brutal case of mistaken identity. Holding vigil by her daughter's bed Miriam revisits painful memories of her past. She realises that there is much to grieve, but also much to gain as she discovers the redemptive powers of hope

From one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement comes a poetic memoir and reflection on humanity. Necessary and timely, Patrisse Cullors’ story asks us to remember that protest in the interest of the most vulnerable comes from love. Leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement have been called terrorists, a threat to America. But in truth, they are loving women whose life experiences have led them to seek justice for those victimised by the powerful. In this meaningful, empowering account of survival, strength, and resilience, Patrisse Cullors and asha bandele seek to change the culture that declares innocent black life expendable.

A memoir of a man and a movement, here is a defining and never-before-shared contribution to the story of Black PowerFreedom Fighter is the searing, urgent story of an elder statesman of Black political activism—whose story has never been fully told until now.A recently freed political prisoner who served a thirty-three-year sentence, Sekou Odinga is the co-founder of the New York Black Panther Party chapter and the person responsible for liberating fellow Black revolutionary Assata Shakur from prison in 1973, allowing her to escape to Cuba—where she still lives.Written in collaboration with celebrated author asha bandele, Freedom Fighter explores Odinga’s political awakening, his years in struggle as a member of the Black Panther Party in the United States and Algeria, his role in the Black Liberation Army, and his decade living underground as a soldier fighting to end America’s war against Black people—before his capture, torture, and imprisonment by the U.S. government. Odinga’s story excavates some of the most important Black-led organizing and political strategies of our lifetime, which laid the foundation for radical Black organizing, advocacy, and culture for decades to come. For listeners of the Mother Country Radicals podcast and readers of Albert Woodfox’s National Book Award finalist Solitary, this biography of a man and a movement is required reading for all who seek to truly understand the modern age of Black struggle.

Following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, three women - Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Khan-Cullors - came together to form an active response to the systemic racism causing the deaths of so many African-Americans. They simply said: Black Lives Matter; and for that, they were labelled terrorists.In this empowering account of survival, strength and resilience, Patrisse Khan-Cullors and award-winning author and journalist asha bandele recount the personal story that led Patrisse to become a founder of Black Lives Matter, seeking to end the culture that declares Black life expendable. Like the era-defining movement she helped create, this rallying cry demands you do not look away.With foreword by Angela Davis.