Book Club Meeting: Not a Genuine Black Man (public event)

Join the Social Wave Book Club as we take on the Silicon Valley Reads 2009 book selection, Not a Genuine Black Man: My Life as an Outsider by Brian Copeland.

In the summer of 1972, when Brian Copeland was eight, his family moved from Oakland to San Leandro, hoping for a better life. At the time, San Leandro was 99.99% white and the suburban community was not welcoming to African Americans. It was a time that Brian spent his adult years trying to forget, until one day an anonymous letter arrived, addressed to him at the radio station where he worked, that forced him to reevaluate his childhood: "As an African American, I am disgusted every time I hear your voice because YOU are not a genuine black man!"

A poignant, hilarious, and disarming memoir about growing up black in an all-white suburb, Not a Genuine Black Man is also a powerful contemplation on the meaning of race, and a thoughtful examination of how our surroundings make us who we are.