When They Call You a Terrorist

by

Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on When They Call You a Terrorist makes teaching easy.
Naomi is Patrisse’s cousin who attended Cleveland High School at the same time as Patrisse and came out as queer before Patrisse did. Naomi was a beautiful and charismatic track star, well-loved by all of their peers. She was also masculine-presenting and identified as a “stud.” Though Naomi was comfortable with her identity (and openly dated an older girl), her mother was homophobic and abused Naomi after she came out, including beating her in front of her team at track practice and forcing her to transfer schools. In this way, Naomi’s experience was Patrisse’s first exposure to violent homophobia.

Naomi Quotes in When They Call You a Terrorist

The When They Call You a Terrorist quotes below are all either spoken by Naomi or refer to Naomi. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Black Lives Matter Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

Naomi is enrolled in another school, in another town. She is separated from her friends, loses her coach, and is exiled from the community that had loved and supported her since she was ten years old. And we who love Naomi, we who love her and are Queer, whether we are out or not, will learn in the harshest of ways that this is what it means to be young and Queer: You can do nothing wrong whatsoever, you can just be alive and yourself, and that is enough to have the whole of your life smashed to the ground and swept away.

Related Characters: Patrisse Khan-Cullors (speaker), Naomi
Page Number: 77
Explanation and Analysis:
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When They Call You a Terrorist PDF

Naomi Quotes in When They Call You a Terrorist

The When They Call You a Terrorist quotes below are all either spoken by Naomi or refer to Naomi. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Black Lives Matter Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

Naomi is enrolled in another school, in another town. She is separated from her friends, loses her coach, and is exiled from the community that had loved and supported her since she was ten years old. And we who love Naomi, we who love her and are Queer, whether we are out or not, will learn in the harshest of ways that this is what it means to be young and Queer: You can do nothing wrong whatsoever, you can just be alive and yourself, and that is enough to have the whole of your life smashed to the ground and swept away.

Related Characters: Patrisse Khan-Cullors (speaker), Naomi
Page Number: 77
Explanation and Analysis: