There is nothing like the joy I felt when the proof copy showed up on my doorstep today. I was elated to see the book I had written with my name written on the cover and spine and my photo on the back. It was the first time I would see and hold what I had worked on for the past year with my publisher, book cover designer and myself. It was heavier than I thought it would be and the physical and metaphorical weight of it, brought me to tears. I felt the same sense of pride holding my book as I did when I held my children for the first time with this lingering weird sense of knowing that no one else has yet held this book in its full form besides me and perhaps a few Amazon workers who printed it, put it into a box and sent it off to my doorstep.
My first book, Remington, Remington: A Tale of Two Cities, is a book I started writing in 2020. I put it down and picked it up many times over the years and finally decided to try to get it published in 2023. The writing part was easy compared to the process of navigating the publishing process. While I was writing, I felt like the characters would not let me go. I would see them in the grocery store, driving through my neighborhood, at work, at my kid’s football games and nearly everywhere I went which served as confirmation for me to continue telling their stories.
Being Black in white spaces is a skill I learned to navigate and perfect over the years as I often found myself to be the “only” black person in very white spaces in school, work, community, church and in my neighborhood. In developing the multi-generational characters for my first novel, Remington, Remington: A Tale of Two Cities, I found that their experiences were consistently reflected in mine. Often the writing process would flow so seamlessly, it was as if I was telling my own story. While some of the experiences did happen to me or people that I know, it’s important to note that people of color are not a monolith. We all come from various life experiences, faith traditions, family practices and carry the generational scars of our ancestors. So this is just one story of a wealthy black family living in an American suburb and the impact that systemic racism has on their lives.
The main reason I wanted to write and share the story of the fictional Templeton family is because the black experience in stories, movies, TV shows and books is so often laden with the story of the down and out- the drug dealer, the prisoner, the out of work and out of luck family struggling to survive. (If you have not seen the movie American Fiction- finish what you’re doing and then go see it). While those things can be true, there is a black experience I grew up with and live in that is vastly different from what we see portrayed. I don’t recall my parents ever being unemployed or not having enough money for food. I don’t recall a time when we didn’t have money to travel every summer as a family. I don’t recall ever living anywhere other than a home my parents owned. My parents were educators and their friends were educators, administrators or professionals who worked for Fortune 500 companies at the executive level.
There was constant talk about the importance of education and getting good grades and being prepared for college. Bringing the story of the Templeton’s to life was so important to me because we rarely get to see the lives of what I consider to be a normal black family living in a suburban town navigating the complexities of suburban life where they are often surrounded by people who do not look like them and some who are uncomfortable with their very presence. When you can sometimes go days without seeing someone who looks like you in the place you call home, it can be exhausting. The painful thing about systemic racism is that those unaffected (actually benefiting from it) cannot see it without a carefully trained eye and heart. With that many assumption are made about the experience of black people living in America’s suburbs.
My hope is that you will enjoy this story of the Templeton’s as they navigate Remington and keep an open mind about the real lived experiences of people living in your own community who may not look like you. I hope it will prompt you to want to get a better understanding of the impacts of systemic racism and the fact that it is not limited to just the inner city. I love talking about systemic racism and encourage you to check out my Events page for upcoming events where we can openly discuss making this world a better place for all.
Happy Reading
Michelle Bannister Williams