Books like Nejma

Nayyirah Waheed is brilliant, as always. Before I recommend this book, I would like to point out that her work is intended for POC (people of color). She has been subjected to quite a bit of appropriation lately, and whitewashing her words to fit a broader context is unacceptable. She is okay with non-POCs reading and appreciating, but please do your research on white privilege and appropriation before picking up this very important book.These are Waheed's own words on the subject:"appreciate. from afar. from behind the boundary. it is that simple. people of colors' cultures. realities. lives. histories. are sacred. and rife with boundaries. as all sacred things are. decentralize and simply appreciate. the assertion that i do not want non POC engaging with my work is false. engagement is fine. it is the defining of what engagement means. which becomes the issue. what i do not want is non POC appropriating my work. my culture. my experiences. my heritage. my people. and i will not allow salt. or nejma. or for any of my work. to be whitewashed. exploited. exoticized. or to become an educational manual on who we are. these are my boundaries. if anyone is unclear. i wrote salt. and nejma. i write. for the health. the breath. the bone. and the flower. of people of color. and so i simply assert that my work be appreciated and respected and honored as someone else’s truth. when you engage a POC work. the first thought should be about what it means to that POC. what it might mean to their communities. their cultures. their histories. that should be processed. first. the work in the context of themselves and their world. then. and only then. can your next thoughts be informed properly. then. and only then. when your being. comes into the interplay. from behind the boundary of this person first. and you second. can your perspective be honest. and aligned correctly. decentralizing. involves removing yourself from the center. and appreciating someone else’s reality. someone else's art. as it is. for what it is. leaving alone what you can not touch. or access. and not engaging for what it can give you. what you can take from it. how you can alter it to serve you. but engaging as an honoring and appreciating. of accepting it. for exactly what it is. exactly as it is. exactly who it is. "That being said, I am a WOC and find profound healing in her work. She speaks to a part of me that has been quiet (silenced) for a long time.