👶👶👶👶: Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future, by Brandi Collins-Dexter

What an insightful, informative, and engaging book. I can't tell you the number of "aha moments" I had while reading this book. @brandingbrandi did an exemplary job of presenting facts that allow readers to step outside their own political understanding while showing the reality of black voters and their circumstances.

"𝑩𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒐𝒖𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒏-𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂."

Although I am constantly learning and open to new information when it comes to the black experience in our nation, I learned that I STILL have preconceived notions about black voters. Prior to reading this book, I just could NOT comprehend the likes of those such as Kanye West and Candace Owens. Enter Ms. Collins-Dexter, & I get it now.

"𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚: 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒖𝒔."

And boy, do we get those stories delivered incorrectly all too often. I appreciate the author's willingness to be real with us; if readers can be open to this book's wealth of information about a social circle outside our own, we will be all the better for it.

Many thanks to @celadonbooks for this #gifted review copy!

Read 3/22/23