A Love Letter To Black People by Brian McClellan 
Release date: 2009 / 222 pages
Synopsis (from back cover): “A Love Letter to Black People: Audaciously Hopeful Thoughts on Race and Success by author and award-winning motivational speaker Brian McClellan is a book sure to challenge and inspire those who have this type of deep affection for the Black community but also deep concerns for its future. In so many ways, Black people are a people in peril, a people in need of love. Despite the fact that the most successful Blacks have never been more successful, in so many ways the Black community is struggling more than ever to succeed. [This work]explores the unique way high achieving African Americans view race and success and why, for the love of the Black community, all Black people must apply these lessons.”
First lines: “Ignore the evidence. If I know one thing about the pursuit of success, it is this.”
Review: I can’t stress enough how much I enjoyed this work. I was intrigued by the title initially — I will soon have an African American niece (quite literally since she was born in Ethiopia!) so the complex and compelling issue of race has a particularly personal component for me, even though I am a White woman living in Minnesota and tend to blend in wherever I go.
I also taught at a public high school for fifteen years on the edge of St. Paul and welcomed many students of many colors into my classroom, but was dismayed by how many of the African American males struggled. Even the Hmong students, many of whom were grappling with language issues, seemed to have escaped the defeated attitude I so often saw with my Black males.
So, although I realized I may not have been the intended audience for this work, I was too curious and interested to pass up the offer to read and review it. I soon realized that I indeed was not the reader McClellan was specifically writing for — but found his writing and ideas to be compelling and inspiring from the introduction to the conclusion. I set aside 50 pages a day for reading and was consistently disappointed when my 50 pages were complete, and I had to turn to other concerns of my day.
In the Introduction, McClellan asserts a few ideas that become motifs throughout this work:
“The people who achieve the greatest success, regardless of race, trust one set of eyes above all others, the eyes in their minds. With these eyes, they see nothing but abundance, greatness upon greatness, and no obstacles that cannot be overcome…
Our legacy is special because our ancestors ignored the evidence, evidence much more daunting than ours. Our history of surviving and thriving despite this daunting evidence should be a source of universal pride and inspiration among Black people. However, we Black people do not always see it that way…
I believe… wildly successful Blacks view being Black in a different way, a special way, which allows them to excel despite being fully aware of the evidence. These successful Black people have discovered the balance between being ‘color-blind,’ dangerously unaware of the perils they face due to their race, and ‘color-blinded,’ so hyper-aware of the perils that this awareness prevents all achievements.” (18-19)
So, how do successful YSBs (Young Successful Blacks) escape this perilous distinction between “color-blind” and “color-blinded”? McClellan’s primary finding was that YSBs are able to avoid the trap of rage. He discussed how a number of standard-bearers (MLK, Jackie Robinson, Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, Oprah) somehow are able to refrain from reacting in anger, even when this emotion is most justified. Instead, YSBs find a way to act out of love — for themselves as well as others — and refuse to allow others to control them by not succumbing to rage.
He challenges Blacks in the following way:
“We must start to conquer the final frontier in our battle for equality. This final frontier is not enacting a new law or terminating a long standing discriminatory practice. The final frontier is changing our own attitudes toward race and success. The final battle is to free our minds so the next generation may live free.”
And he then examines and interviews YSBs who have managed to do this in their own lives, in large part because they are able to avoid what he terms “The Race Bait”:
”Successful Black people, the ones who are able to avoid the race bait, all have one trait in common. They are self-confident enough to focus upon ‘doing right’ rather than ‘being right.’ they are self-confident enough not to be defined by the small issues. They take the quickest route to enduring success by putitng that success above instant gratification. They will suffer the condescending boss temporarily because they are planning to be the boss…”
I strongly recommend this book to anyone — of any race — whether as an interesting sociological study or an inspiring handbook for success.
If you would be interested in winning a free copy, simply leave me a comment below!
Fascinating! I would love to read this book and then pass it on to others.
Ah, love does conquer all! Sounds like a terrific book–I love the definition of ‘color blinded’. It describes perfectly what I’ve often thought was the case.
This book is coming out at a good time. Black History Month is always observed in our schools. Students do research and write about Black authors, Black scientists, Black athletes, Black entertainers, and other Black people of note.
So glad to see interest in this work! It really is very well done… Thought-provoking and inspiring, too!
Thanks for the comments and interest!
You won, Deb!! I’ll email you soon to get your mailing address… Congratulations!
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