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It Was All a Dream: A New Generation Confronts the Broken Promise to Black America

Reniqua Allen

Finish date: July 31, 2019

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Jul 29, 2019 Destanye B. rated it liked it

I really was into this book. Understanding the black millennial and our viewpoints of how to accomplish the "American Dream" was interesting. A lot of the topics hit home for me and the chapters were as if they were tuning into my life. However, the end of the book did not grasp my attention like the beginning of the book.

We Out (Thr Reverse Migration)
Learning about Shermanland and tying that with the Freedman's Bank shows that America does owe black people restitution. Some of our white count I really was into this book. Understanding the black millennial and our viewpoints of how to accomplish the "American Dream" was interesting. A lot of the topics hit home for me and the chapters were as if they were tuning into my life. However, the end of the book did not grasp my attention like the beginning of the book.

We Out (Thr Reverse Migration)
Learning about Shermanland and tying that with the Freedman's Bank shows that America does owe black people restitution. Some of our white counterparts are still living off of the things that were built on the back of black folks.
Don't Double Down On Stupid (Student Debt)
This was a whole word. How we thought the American Dreama and upward mobility is education so we get ourselves in a drastic amount of debt. Getting student loans was something my mom had to do so she didn't blink an eye to get me to do it, but really understanding that what you're getting into and how black mobility doesn't really lie in education.
Survival (The Informal Economy)
This was just an interesting chapter, especially by not just talking about the more known ways people have survived (drug dealing, stripping) but also venturing into modern-day sex workers and modern-day prostitution.
Blue Collars (The Working Class)
Thought this was interesting as my grandparents are farmers and come from farming and how that's lost in this day and age. I remember my grandpa would go fishing and come back and give extras to our other family and then they would share their greens or what grew from their garden. We don't have that barter system anymore as millennials. We aren't growing and we aren't looking into the work of our blue-collared black folks.
Painted Walls + Temples (Housing)
I couldn't even think of buying a house, getting an apartment is hard enough. Gentrification, redlining, all of these things make buying and settling hard. It's smarter to buy property and rent it out with apps like Air BnB and Peerspace to make a dollar.
Luck (Black Professionals)
Everything in this chapter spoke to my soul. Fortunately, I don't have to support anyone but myself, but the struggle being a black person in corporate America is extremely hard.
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Fame (Black Hollywood)
Still in Love (Relationships)
Breathe (Politics and Activism)

Are the chapters I started to lose interest in. Event though Breathe was interesting it came too late in the book for me to be really invested. I was bummed that on the relationship section she talked to black women who were in some type of turmoil relationship and not just single black professional black women who were finding it hard in the dating world.

All in all, I think the book was phenomenal. Can definitely go on the shelf and might be picked up again as the years go by to see if we've changed at all. ...more

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