Knowing your roots is important. While there is so much rich history of the LGBTQ civil rights movement to be read, Cleve Jones's first hand account of his activism in San Francisco is awe-inspiring. For anyone who has watched Emile Hirsch portray Jones in the movie "Milk," "When We Rise" is a stand out testament to just how much of an impact Jones had on this movement. Cover to cover, these are the stories that must be read by our brothers and sisters in arms.

At one point, Jones writes, "For our new movement, for our emerging little communities, we needed legends, shared histories of our people's struggles that would help unite a people so separated y distances and division." Jones was speaking of Harvey Milk; but after this, Jones will forever be a legend, a history that I will be proud and fervent in sharing.