Nonfiction Review: We are Not Here to Be Bystanders by Linda Sarsour

Title: We are Not Here to Be Bystanders

Author: Linda Sarsour

Year published: 2020

Category: Adult nonfiction (memoir)

Pages: 272 pages

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Location: (my 2025 Google Reading map): USA (NY, DC, AZ, PA)

Summary: On a chilly spring morning in Brooklyn, nineteen-year-old Linda Sarsour stared at her reflection, dressed in a hijab for the first time. She saw in the mirror the woman she was growing to be—a young Muslim American woman unapologetic in her faith and her activism, who would discover her innate sense of justice in the aftermath of 9/11. Now heralded for her award-winning leadership of the Women’s March on Washington, Sarsour offers a “moving memoir [that] is a testament to the power of love in action” (Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow).

From the Brooklyn bodega her father owned, where Linda learned the real meaning of intersectionality, to protests in the streets of Washington, DC, Linda’s experience as a daughter of Palestinian immigrants is a moving portrayal of what it means to find one’s voice and use it for the good of others. We follow Linda as she learns the tenets of successful community organizing, and through decades of fighting for racial, economic, gender, and social justice, as she becomes one of the most recognized activists in the nation. We also see her honoring her grandmother’s dying wish, protecting her children, building resilient friendships, and mentoring others even as she loses her first mentor in a tragic accident. Throughout, she inspires you to take action as she reaffirms that we are not here to be bystanders.

Review: Anyone who can organize a march of people that was as successful as the one in 2016 has got to be interesting and this book supports that. It is not lost on me that I read this the week of Trump's second innauguration.

Linda Sarsour is a committed, passionate, organized, caring, and thoughtful woman. Her memoir does more than talk about her activism. The reader learns about her family's journey to the US, what it was like to grow up Palestinian American in New York (Brooklyn), how the 9/11 attacks affected her community (and is still affecting them), what it's like to have the FBI keep tabs on you and your family, what motivates her to do the work she does, and more.

The author's concern and compassion for her community and those beyond it are huge. She not only works to ensure her people are taken care of (think immigration issues, healthcare, education, etc.), but she includes all those in the wider NYC area, regardless of their ethnicity, identity, etc. And that is true no matter where she goes. Not only that, but her heart is all-welcoming. As people threaten her life and say truly horrible things to and about her, she approaches them with love, understanding, and compassion and tries to include them in the conversation.

Challenges for which this counts: