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Cover of America Made Me a Black Man: A Memoir

America Made Me a Black Man: A Memoir

by Boyah J. Farah

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A searing memoir of American racism from a Somalian-American who survived hardships in his birth country only to experience firsthand the dehumanization of Blacks in his adopted land, the United States. "No one told me about America." Born in Somalia and raised in a valley among nomads, Boyah Farah grew up with a code of male bravado that helped him survive deprivation, disease, and civil war. Arriving in America, he believed that the code that had saved him would help him succeed in this new country. But instead of safety and freedom, Boyah found systemic racism, police brutality, and intense prejudice in all areas of life, including the workplace. He learned firsthand not only what it meant to be an African in America, but what it means to be African American.…

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"When Boyah J. Farah arrived in the United States as a teenager, he expected the country to be paradise. And for a while it was; when he rode his bike down the quiet streets of his Boston suburb, past smiling neighbors with their perfectly manicured lawns, he felt like he was in a sort of heaven. But try as he might to hold on to that image, the reality of American racism eventually began to surface cracks in Farah’s fantasy. This memoir tells the story of what Blackness has meant to Farah, from his childhood in Somalia to his coming-of-age in the Northeast, to the moment as an adult he decided to return to Somalia after decades spent away."
NPR Books We Love — 2022 · apps.npr.org