Staff Pick
Prince Shakur’s riveting memoir about coming of age, coming out, and standing up to systematic oppression is a moving examination of the many ways we fail each other, and the strength required to recognize it and move forward. Recommended By Keith M., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
After immigrating from Jamaica to the United States, Prince Shakur's family is rocked by the murder of Prince's biological father in 1995. Behind the murder is a sordid family truth, scripted in the lines of a diary by an outlawed uncle hell-bent on avenging the murder of Prince's father. As Shakur begins to unravel his family's secrets, he must navigate the strenuous terrain of coming to terms with one's inner self while confronting the steeped complexities of the Afro-diaspora.
When They Tell You to Be Good charts Shakur's political coming of age from closeted queer kid in a Jamaican family to radicalized adult traveler, writer, and anarchist in Obama and Trump's America. Shakur journeys from France to the Philippines, South Korea, and elsewhere to discover the depths of the Black experience, and engages in deep political questions while participating in movements like Black Lives Matter and Standing Rock. By the end, Shakur reckons with his identity, his family's immigration, and the intergenerational impacts of patriarchal and colonial violence.
Examining a tangled web of race, trauma, and memory, When They Tell You to Be Good shines a light on what we all must ask of ourselves — to be more than what America envisions for the oppressed — as Shakur compels readers to take a closer, deeper look at the political world of young, Black, queer, and radical millennials today.
Review
“A story that combines so much — sociocultural criticism, religion, and politics while centering on the microcosm of one Jamaican family and the aftermath of two male relatives' untimely deaths…Commands a tension and doesn't release you well after the last sentence.” Morgan Jerkins, New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America
Review
“A scorching, nonlinear journey through a Black man's search for self.” Kirkus Reviews
Review
“Electric….moving….captivating….A searing account of self-discovery in the face of structural oppression” Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Prince Shakur is a queer, Jamaican-American freelance journalist, cultural essayist, and grassroots organizer with a BA in Creative Writing from Ohio University. His words have been featured in Teen Vogue, Catapult, Level, Electric Lit, and more. In addition, Shakur is the proud writer in residence at Sangam House, Twelve Arts, The Studios of Key West, and La Maison Baldwin.