DEAR BLACK GIRLS

A two-time WNBA MVP turns her life experiences into advice.

Before she was a five-time WNBA All-Star, the No. 1 overall draft pick, an Olympic gold medalist, and a national champion with the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, Wilson felt like a misfit. At her predominantly white private school in Columbia, SC, she struggled against not only her classmates’ racism, but also undiagnosed dyslexia—a learning disability at odds with her dream of becoming an author. Years later, the COVID-19 pandemic led to depression and anxiety. Throughout these experiences, Wilson witnessed how her racial and gender identities complicated and compounded her struggles. “Eventually,” she writes, “the world steps in and reminds you: You have a body. You are Black. You are a woman. Whether you like it or not, that’s the first thing people see.” She continues later: “Your mission, Black girls, is to accept that reality. Don’t hide from it….But you can accept this reality without letting it steal your joy,” an exhortation that perfectly encapsulates Wilson’s frank but indomitable spirit. Perhaps the most poignant example of this is Wilson’s reaction to seeing a statue of herself erected outside the arena on the University of South Carolina campus: Her accomplishments were immortalized by the very institution that had prohibited her Black father from playing basketball for them—and which had prohibited her Black grandmother from even setting foot on the grounds. The author’s refusal to “sugar coat” the oppression that Black people feel is matched only by her faith in readers’ abilities to best the centuries-old obstacles America continues to shove in their way. Wilson fills this joyful, profound, and tender book with a slew of stories, most of which are artfully narrated and perfectly pitched. Most impressive is her narrative voice, which is humorous, conversational, lyrical, and unique.

A Black basketball superstar delivers an eloquent and insightful work.