What I Know For Sure

What I Know For Sure by Tavis Smiley as told to David Ritz is subtitled: My Story of Growing Up in America. It seems to me to be more of a personal memoir of Smiley's road to stardom, than trials and tribulations of growing up black in the United States, although national current events are sprinkled throughout the tale. Smiley was born the year I was a junior in high school. Children may hear the latest news headlines, but process it differently than teens and older adults, such as the murders of Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy.

What I Know For Sure has nothing to do with homelessness, except perhaps for the time Smiley was 3 months behind on rent, jobless and being evicted. He declined an offer from a friend who had been very kind to him during his job search/money-less period. The friend said living with him was better than living on the streets.

Part of a quote from the book: "...false accusations leave deep psychological wounds that take years to heal, if indeed they ever do heal." In Smiley's case a false accusation lead to a brutal beating with extension cord by his father. He and his sister were hospitalized for two weeks and moved to foster care housing. That betrayal of a child's trust of parents caused him much pain.

My own false accusation was much less severe, but as an adult whenever anyone falsely accused me, that childhood memory would return ~ or I do relate to Smiley's (Ritz's) words.