Family Affair: What It Means To Be African American Today
by Gil Robertson

“Family Affair is about who we are and how our past has shaped us. It reflects the prism of the individual
and collective black experience in contemporary America, which is just as varied and colorful as the different shades of our skin. Being black in America is not a one size fits all idea.”
—Terrie Williams, author off Black Pain

Original essays from Carolyn Kilpatrick, Isaac Hayes, Beverly Johnson, Max Siegel, Cathy Hughes, Bishop Paul S. Morton, Reverend Otis Moss, Ruby Dee, Thurbert Baker and others underscore a new era in American life

Veteran lifestyle journalist/editor Gil Robertson is back with a new anthology that explores ’identity’ within the African American community in the new millennium. His new book, Family Affair: What It Means to Be African American Today - the follow up to his bestselling 2006 anthology Not in My Family: AIDS in the African American Community cleaves thought the physical, social, political and historical characteristics that have come to define the African-American community and offers up a multitude of perspectives on how to embrace a more positive future. Through personal stories and essays by contributors representing various elements of the black community, the book delves into an identity that’s been thrown off course due to a number of external and internal factors. Family Affair is divided into five sections representing the key features that influence the African American identity: Family, Culture, Relationships, Community and Self. Each section features religious leaders, institutional leaders, elected officials, and celebrities from the worlds of music, film and broadcasting ’ as well as plenty of ordinary people with extraordinary stories. Family Affair offers revelations and insights on topics that the majority of African American only talk about in secret. The goal: to stimulate dialogue that supports reflection, healing and understanding.

Family Affair is the most up-to-the-moment book yet on the

Essay highlights from Family Affair: What It Means to Be African American Today

Soul music legend Isaac Hayes:
“I eventually dropped out of school out of plain embarrassment. It was very difficult to do, because I really liked school and I loved to learn. I always liked reading and unlike the kids of today, it was anything but an interruption of what I wanted to do. It was what I wanted to do. But the shoes that I wore bore cardboard in their bottoms to cover up gaping holes. It wasn’t long before the girls noticed and my self-consciousness outgrew my desire to attend classes. I didn’t have any clothes and in an odd sort of way, I literally couldn’t afford to go to school. What saved me, ironically, was music. My music teachers took a special interest in me, as I’d taken a special interest in music. It was always my salvation. Even when I was picking cotton in Covington, music was an escape from the scorching sun and the laborious tasks I was up against. I’d sing a song or hum a tune and imagine myself in another place "maybe a juke joint" and all the pain would go away. It was a temporary fix, but it worked every time. But this time, the pain was too deep. It hurt too much.”

TV One CEO Cathy Hughes:
“In order to protect our history and legacy, we have to take ownership of it. It’s our images, our news, our chronological story, and our inheritance. We cannot expect other groups, be it intentionally or unintentionally, to accurately describe, portray and empower us. We need to document, preserve and build our own stories, from our own perspectives. A lot of the omission from history books that we classify as racism is actually just ignorance on the part of the writers who do not understand our culture ’ so it’s just easier for them not to tell the story at all. Completely eliminating us from certain accounts and concentrating on their own is often just plain lack of knowledge. Self-preservation is the first law of nature, so every culture looks out for their ’own’ first. That’s what we should be about, but whenever Black people practice it, there seems to always be a cry of alarm. Perhaps guilt is the reason for that concern.”