Summary

"The Hood Doesn't Hate Smart People" - There is a tendency in some feminist books to say that the hood punishes people for being smart but it was not at all Mikki's experience. There is a myth of exceptionalism attached to people who succeed academically after a childhood in poverty. We need to be wary of the damaging narrative that success for marginalized people means leaving their community behind as it was somehow inadequate or incompatible with their success. Mikki then writes about her family history. She is the descendant of enslaved people; within her immediate family, education is highly valued. There is often a racist assumption that Black Americans are not taking advantage of opportunity, with no understanding of the impact of generational and systemic racism on those communities. No community...