Everyday Something Has Tried to Kill Me and Has Failed: Notes from Periracial America

"What does periracial mean? It’s a word I made upwhile casting about for a way to capture both the chronic nature of structuralinjustice and inequity of America and my own weariness. A way to label lifeunder that particular tooth in the zipper of interlocking systems of oppressionbell hooks called “imperialist white supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy.”(What a lot to resist. No wonder we’re sotired!) To capture the endless cycle of progress and backlash which hasshaped my one small life here in America during the end of the 20th century andthe beginning of the 21st. To counter the idea—now largely abandoned butinnocently believed for most of my adult life by white Americans on both endsof the political spectrum— that America has ever been post-racial. To suggest that I suspect, at this sad rate, we never willbe."—Kim McLarin, on the meaning of Periracial

Imbued with unapologetic, raw and unflinching honesty, the essays in Everyday Something Has Tried to Kill Me And Has Failed boldly address the the joys and hardships of being an older Black women in contemporary, "periracial" America. Award-winning author Kim McLarin utilizes deeply personal experiences, such as learning to ride a motorcycle, shoot a gun and taking care of an elderly parent, along with those with a broader political context—how she was targeted by a rightwing organization dedicated to attacking faculty who write or teach about racial injustice—to illuminate the pain and power of aging Black women. In the process, McLarin shines a light on a group that is often invisible. Powerfully speaking truth to power, Everyday Something Has Tried to Kill Me And Has Failed is an important contribution to the ongoing dialogue about race, aging and feminism.