Yes, I Am, Who I Am
Writer and activist Michael Owens is a recent transplant to Oklahoma City whose new book, Yes, I Am, Who I Am, is a fascinating and provocative examination of the past, present, and future complexities of Black identity.
Owens grew up in a segregated community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but his experiences in a predominantly White, Catholic high school gave him a unique perspective on issues of racial identity and their effects on Americans’ worldviews. During his career in the United States Navy, Owens was named the USS Los Alamos’s “Sailor of the Year” in 1990 and also served as an instructor at the Great Lakes Training Station. Owens later completed a Master’s degree in Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the same college where his father worked as a custodian for many years.
Owens’s book has been described by one critic as “part history, part memoir, part reflection,” and ”ultimately a hope-filled summons to Blacks to embrace and claim their full identities as Americans.” His critical examination of the term “African American” is a particularly thought-provoking element of the book, which also presents solutions to the challenges all Americans face to, as another commentator describes it, “become who you are.”
This compelling YouTube video is an excellent introduction to the book’s themes and the broader question of “what it means to be Black in America.”
Michael Owens will be appearing at Full Circle Bookstore this Saturday, February 21, to discuss and sign copies of Yes, I Am, Who I Am from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
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