An engaging record of how Black pain and endurance can lead to Black excellence.
How the Black American experience nurtures abilities that lead to career success.
Sanders, a writer, director, and actor, assembles a cast of African American “high achievers” to demonstrate how power can be derived from the “trauma and suffering” involved in navigating Whiteness in the U.S. Illuminating the “magic” he has acquired as a Black man in America—abilities “that cannot be taught or bought”—the author augments his personal narrative with interviews with successful Black executives, journalists, activists, and others who also share their magic. Deray McKesson, one of the early leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement, is buoyed by a “conviction in his belief that Black people deserve equality as a human right,” a belief he developed attending school in Baltimore County as a child and watching the pronounced racial inequality around him (“the first time I understood both Blackness and whiteness as cultural elements and not simply as skin tones”). Other relevant topics include Black duality, “to be palatable and included, especially in corporate worlds” and the trauma associated with hearing colleagues or even friends use the N-word. For example, Grayson Brown, vice president of finance and strategy at a tech startup, discusses how he was expelled from college after defending himself against a fraternity brother’s use of the racial slur. The varied origin stories of the contributors are fascinating and informative. Sanders concludes that surviving Blackness in this world summons “presence of mind, empathy, independent thinking, conviction, comfort in isolation, work ethic, resourcefulness, bravery, focus, leadership, perseverance, community, detachment, charisma, problem solving, and faith.” Even that magic won’t make racial inequity disappear—and the past four years, especially, have demonstrated the persistence of both White hostility and fragility—but these conversations offer fruitful avenues to pursue.
An engaging record of how Black pain and endurance can lead to Black excellence.Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-982104-22-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
Everything about Sabathia is larger than life, yet he tells his story with honesty and humility.
One of the best pitchers of his generation—and often the only Black man on his team—shares an extraordinary life in baseball.
A high school star in several sports, Sabathia was being furiously recruited by both colleges and professional teams when the death of his grandmother, whose Social Security checks supported the family, meant that he couldn't go to college even with a full scholarship. He recounts how he learned he had been drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the first round over the PA system at his high school. In 2001, after three seasons in the minor leagues, Sabathia became the youngest player in MLB (age 20). His career took off from there, and in 2008, he signed with the New York Yankees for seven years and $161 million, at the time the largest contract ever for a pitcher. With the help of Vanity Fair contributor Smith, Sabathia tells the entertaining story of his 19 seasons on and off the field. The first 14 ran in tandem with a poorly hidden alcohol problem and a propensity for destructive bar brawls. His high school sweetheart, Amber, who became his wife and the mother of his children, did her best to help him manage his repressed fury and grief about the deaths of two beloved cousins and his father, but Sabathia pursued drinking with the same "till the end" mentality as everything else. Finally, a series of disasters led to a month of rehab in 2015. Leading a sober life was necessary, but it did not tame Sabathia's trademark feistiness. He continued to fiercely rile his opponents and foment the fighting spirit in his teammates until debilitating injuries to his knees and pitching arm led to his retirement in 2019. This book represents an excellent launching point for Jay-Z’s new imprint, Roc Lit 101.
Everything about Sabathia is larger than life, yet he tells his story with honesty and humility.Pub Date: July 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-13375-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roc Lit 101
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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