Damon Young – What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker

Left Bank Books welcomes Very Smart Brothas co-founder Damon Young, who will sign and discuss his new memoir-in-essays, “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker,” with We Live Here producer Alona Sistrunk!

This event is free and open to the public, but proof of purchase of “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker” from Left Bank Books will be required to enter the signing line.

For Damon Young, existing while Black is an extreme sport. The act of possessing black skin while searching for space to breathe in America is enough to induce a ceaseless state of angst where questions such as “How should I react here, as a professional black person?” and “Will this white person’s potato salad kill me?” are forever relevant. Young chronicles his efforts to survive while battling and making sense of the various neuroses his country has given him. “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker” is a hilarious and honest debut that is both a celebration of the idiosyncrasies and distinctions of Blackness and a critique of white supremacy and how we define masculinity.

From singing the house down as lead in a negro spiritual-inspired musical, to investigating alleged voting rights violations at the Department of Justice, to blogging about the politics of hair in the black community, to protesting for civil rights at the nation’s capital and on the streets of Ferguson, Alona Sistrunk has traveled a winding road to self-discovery. But, through it all, being unapologetically Black has never led her astray. Today, the St. Louis native still lives at the intersection of creativity and advocacy. She recently served as associate producer of “We Live Here,” an award-winning podcast about race and class in St. Louis. In 2017, Alona was elected to serve as trustee of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri board. She is a proud 2018 St. Louis American Young Leader award recipient and a 2017 New Leaders Council fellow.