The astonishing journey of a bright, utterly displaced boy, from the short-lived African nation of Biafra, to Jamaica, to the harshest streets of Los Angelesāa searing memoir that adds fascinating depth to the coming-to-America story
The first time Chude-Sokei realizes that he is āfirst son of the first sonā of a renowned leader of the bygone African nation is in Uncle Daddy and Big Auntieās strict religious household in Jamaica, where he lives with other abandoned children. A visiting African has just fallen to his knees to shake him by the shoulders: āIs this the boy? Is this him?ā
Chude-Sokeiās immersion in the politics of race and belonging across the landscape of the African diaspora takes a turn when his traumatized mother, who has her own extraordinary history as the onetime āJackie O of Biafra,ā finally sends for him to come live with her. In Inglewood, Los Angeles, on the eve of gangsta rap and the LA riots, itās as if heās fallen to Earth. In this world, anything alienādefinitely Chude-Sokeiās secret obsession with science fiction and David Bowieāis a danger, and his yearning to become a Black American gets deeply, sometimes absurdly, complicated. Ultimately, it is a boisterous pan-African family of honorary aunts, uncles, and cousins that becomes his secret society, teaching him the redemptive skill of navigating not just Blackness, but Blacknesses, in his America.