I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness

Brown is an author and media producer who creates content centered on the experiences of Black women. Born in Toledo, Ohio, Brown was raised in a predominantly-White middle class suburb and attended majority-White schools through high school. Around the age of 10, she began attending a Black church with her father and stepmother, and her work bears the profound influence of her identity as a Christian.

Early on in her professional career, Brown worked for a series of nonprofit ministries, many of which devoted their energies to issues of housing and homelessness. Her time in this predominantly White sector presented numerous challenges, and her struggles to maintain her dignity and Black identity in this environment make up much of the first half of I’m Still Here. Brown also chronicles her struggles to reconcile certain teachings amplified by her church that run counter to her dogged pursuit of racial justice. Many of these contradictions emerge following the death of her cousin Dalin, a man sentenced to 10 years in prison on nonviolent drug charges: “I had to reject the notion that my cousin’s life was somehow less valuable because he did not meet the ‘Christian criteria’ of innocence and perfection” (145).

Brown concludes that it is impossible for her to hope for a better future, given the systemic and individual racism she encounters daily.