Black American Refugee Audiobook Libro.fm

Description

Named most anticipated book of February by Marie Claire Essence and AV Club

extraordinary and representativeNPR

Drayton explores the ramifications of racism that span generations global white supremacy and the pitfalls of American cultureShondaland

After following her mother to the US at a young age to pursue economic opportunities one woman must come to terms with the ways in which systematic racism and resultant trauma keep the American Dream inaccessible to Black people

In the early 90s young Tiffanie Drayton and her siblings left Trinidad and Tobago to join their mother in New Jersey where shed been making her way as a domestic worker eager to give her children a shot at the American Dream At first life in the US was idyllic But chasing good school districts with affordable housing left Tiffanie and her family constantly uprootedmoving from Texas to Florida then back to New Jersey As Tiffanie came of age in the suburbs she began to ask questions about the binary Black and white American world Why were the Black neighborhoods she lived in crimeridden and the multicultural ones safe Why were there so few Black students in advanced classes at school if there were any advanced classes at all Why was it so hard for Black families to achieve stability Why were Black girls treated as something other than worthy

Ultimately exhausted by the pursuit of a better life in America twentyyear old Tiffanie returns to Tobago She is suddenly able to enjoy the simple freedom of being Black without fear and imagines a different future for her own children But then COVID19 and widely publicized instances of police brutality bring America front and center again This time as an outsider supported by a new community Tiffanie grieves and rages for Black Americans in a way she couldnt when she was one

An expansion of her New York Times piece of the same name Black American Refugee examines in depth the intersection of her personal experiences and the broader culture and historical ramifications of American racism and global white supremacy Through thoughtful introspection and candidness Tiffanie unravels the complex workings of the people in her life including herself centering Black womanhood and illuminating the toll a lifetime of racism can take Must Black people search beyond the shores of the land of the free to realize emancipation Or will the voices that propel Americas new reckoning welcome all dreamers and dreams to this land