7-10 Split: My Journey as America’s Whitest Blackest Kid

Reflecting on America’s civil rights era, Bennett, cofounder and CEO of Bennett Global Entertainment, relives his coming-of-age years as a military brat traveling abroad and stateside in this understated, restrained memoir. The Bennett family, with his father in the U.S. Air Force, lives on a series of bases in Spain, Maine, Florida, and Colorado. The military bubble somewhat protects them from the challenges of Jim Crow. Bennett writes boldly of intense confusion in his racial identity, alienation within his black community, and unease among his white classmates in every new location. “Was I a white kid in black skin, or a black kid with white sensibilities?” Bennett writes. “Or did any of it matter?” When his battle-fatigued father returns from Vietnam with an alcoholism problem, the family tries to adjust to his erratic behavior, his conduct pushing each member to an emotional breaking point, but they never succumb to his failings. Mastering self-doubt, cultural inertia, and parental miscues, Bennett asserts in his quiet, unforgettable way that persistence and courage will always triumph. (BookLife)