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A review by ridgewaygirl
My Vanishing Country: A Memoir by Bakari Sellers
3.0
Bakari Sellers grew up in Denmark, a small town outside of Orangeburg, South Carolina. His father is Cleveland Sellers, a contemporary of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Stokely Carmichael, who was targeted by the authorities during and after the Orangeburg Massacre and who struggled to find employment because of the record he had as a result, until he received a full pardon 25 years later. Bakari Sellers grew up around Civil Rights leaders but also around people who were struggling to get by in Denmark. This is his memoir in which he describes how Denmark has slowly lost it's vibrancy as the local hospital is closed and the infrastructure crumbles.
This is very much a memoir written by a politician with an eye to winning elections. There's more than a hint of hagiography in Sellers's account of his own life and experiences. But when his focus turns from himself, the memoir comes to life, and the best chapter by far is his account of the Orangeburg Massacre and his father's story. This is also a deep dive into politics specific to South Carolina and to Black culture in The Palmetto State, which may be of limited interest to people less interested in local politics or the history of South Carolina.
This is very much a memoir written by a politician with an eye to winning elections. There's more than a hint of hagiography in Sellers's account of his own life and experiences. But when his focus turns from himself, the memoir comes to life, and the best chapter by far is his account of the Orangeburg Massacre and his father's story. This is also a deep dive into politics specific to South Carolina and to Black culture in The Palmetto State, which may be of limited interest to people less interested in local politics or the history of South Carolina.