No Ashes in the Fire

Very compelling auto-biography of a Black man growing up in Camden, New Jersey. Read by Darnell himself, his telling of his own stories in his own words and voice (Audible) bring you closer to his humanity. He bares his soul, in complete honesty and openness. Eye-opening perspectives brought out of the darkness and into the light.

Appreciated sharing in his story and his honesty and vulnerability around how churches treat black queer people and how he sought to change that mentality in himself and then others. His families love was a great through line, but I wish the narrative was arranged either linearly or by themes rather than jumping around in time. I would have like some more in depth examining of how his self-learning informed and then changed his work and his relationships, but maybe that's for a future book. Recommended read, good pairing with Michael Eric Dyson's Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching and Patrice Khan-Cullors When They Call You a Terrorist.