See No Stranger

1.

wonder.

In the beginning, there was wonder. Out in the country, far from city lights, the night air was clear enough to gaze into the long shimmering galaxy that stretched across the sky. I would stand in the field behind our house and talk to the stars like they were my friends, just like I talked to the cows over the fence or the horses across the road. Once, while playing in a stream, I saw a butterfly dancing over the water and put out my finger and asked it to come to me ­and the butterfly came. It perched on my finger for a long time, long enough for me to peer closer at its wings and praise it before it flew away. Back then, there was no question: The earth under me, the stars above me, the animals around me, were all part of me. And wonder was my first orientation to them all, the thing that connected me to them: You are a part of me I do not yet know.

I grew up on forty acres in Clovis, California, where the land stretched on all sides of us like an open palm. We were surrounded by peach orchards, orange trees, eucalyptus groves, strawberry fields, and olive trees that my father s father had planted along our dirt road. My family had farmed this land for nearly a century. My little brother and I would run through the fields, play in muddy ditches, and drink at the water pump in front of the two-­room wooden cabin my father was born in. In the summers, my mother and I would walk the orchards collecting fruit in our shirts, stepping over apricots that had fallen to the ground and spoiled because the fruit was that plentiful. In the winters, when the tule fog rolled into the valley, my father would pull me up onto our tractor and I would sit at his side like a princess as we disked the fields until the sky darkened over the Sierra Nevada mountains. We belonged to the land.

At night, my grandfather, my mother s father, would tuck me into bed. With his hand on my forehead, stroking my hair, he recited his favorite prayer, the shabad

Valarie Kaur is a civil rights activist, lawyer, filmmaker, innovator, and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project. She has won national acclaim for her story-based advocacy, helping to win policy change on issues ranging from hate crimes to digital freedom. Her speeches have reached millions worldwide and inspired a movement to reclaim love as a force for justice. A daughter of Sikh farmers in California, she earned degrees from Stanford University, Harvard Divinity School, and Yale Law School and holds an honorary doctorate. She lives in a multigenerational home in Los Angeles with her husband, son, and daughter.

Inspirational, radical, fierce . . . a reliable moral compass guided by revolutionary love. Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

Valarie Kaur is a prophetic voice of our generation. Her wisdom ignites and inspires me, lighting the way through the darkness. This book will do the same for you. America Ferrera, actress, activist, organizer

Tested and tempered by suffering, but rising up with hope and joy, Kaur shows us how to love others, opponents, and ourselves in ways that will bring us closer to the Beloved Community. This book will change your life. Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak

Valarie Kaur is a visionary worker for justice and this book is her radiant offering. Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues

Valarie Kaur is a revolutionary for justice who shows us how to labor for the world we dream. In my darkest moments, I remember my Sikh sister s call to breathe and push! Her wisdom inspires us to build movements and seek the change that love demands. Rev. William J. Barber, II, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

This is the book we have been waiting for. It calls us up and calls us into the hard and necessary work to heal our wounds and reimagine the world. Van Jones, CEO of REFORM Alliance and CNN host

This book and the woman who gave birth to it have so much to offer the struggle for peace and justice as we move into a most complex and crucial century. Open up your heart as you open these pages and let yourself be inspired and invigorated by the way Ms. Kaur breaks it down. Ani DiFranco

In a world ravaged by anger and hatred, Valarie Kaur offers a vision of Revolutionary Love, not as platitude or panacea, but rather as a powerful weapon against intolerance and injustice. It may well be our only hope for peace and understanding in these