My Mother, Barack Obama, and the USA

About a month ago, I received an advanced review copy of Kevin Powell’s My Mother, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and the Last Stand of the Angry White Man.  It’s a long title for a book that’s only 281 pages long.  I think I won it in a contest.

For a book like this, it’s probably important to know a little bit about my political thoughts, because it might shape my perception of this book.  I’m a conservative libertarian.  While I think that Donald Trump’s policies have been a mixed bag, as a person, I think that he is an adulterous, racist, sexist, compulsively-lying braggart; I don’t like him as a person at all, and didn’t vote for him (I voted for Darrell Castle).

I didn’t know how I would feel about this book when I entered the contest to win it; however, I believe in listening to the opinions of others.  How are you going to learn if you live in a bubble and only read books by people that agree with you?  Nevertheless, I did find this to be an enjoyable book, even though I don’t agree with him on several issues.

This book is a collection of essays written by Kevin Powell over a period of several years.  It covers a variety of topics, including racism, sexism, music, and sports.  Evidently, Mr. Powell is a former cast member of The Real World, as well as a staff member of Vibe magazine.  I didn’t know that when I started the book, but I guess some people may recognize him from those sources.

I found this book an interesting view into another person’s thoughts.  I’ve never been the victim of sexual harassment before, but his mother has, and he speaks about her experiences, and about the experiences that he had, growing up and thinking that sexual harassment and domination was a normal thing.  His thoughts on racism from the perspective of a black man growing up in the ghetto was also interesting (my husband is also black and grew up in a poor neighborhood with a single mother as well, but his experiences were quite different).  His essays on music brought back memories.

I rated this book more highly on Goodreads than I did Harbor Me, which I reviewed last week.  They both cover similar topics, but I think that My Mother, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and the Last Stand of the Angry White Man did a better job covering the subjects than Harbor Me did.  Of course, this is a collection of essays, while Woodson’s Book is a fictional Middle Grade book, but I think that this book just seemed to work better.

Powell’s unique perspective did cause me to see things from a different perspective.  Although I don’t agree with him on everything, I can understand how he feels about the political situation that the United States finds itself in today.  I felt for his mother, who was abandoned by her baby’s daddy years ago, and never really found love in her life.  As I read about his mom and how he one day discovered how old she had gotten, I had to call my mom (I talked to my parents for over an hour this evening).

More than anything, I could imagine the cycle of despair that his family had grown up in, and I imagine how things like that continue to this day.  There are families where the kids grow up without a parent, and they are told that they are worth less for one reason or another.  I see how people might take someone’s ignorant or malicious comments personally.  I don’t know how we end this cycle, because children growing up under these difficult circumstances can sometimes grow up to become angry adults whose children have the same kind of childhood, but I do know that we can do our best to treat everybody with respect, and do our part to try not to contribute to the hate in the world.

At any rate, Powell’s book was good.  If you’re looking for a book that could potentially challenge your opinions, you might want to take a look at it.

This book is scheduled to be released on September 4th, but you can pre-order it now.