A note about ANOTHER CHANCE from author Marilynn Griffith

As the child of an African father and an African-American mother, it hasn’t always been easy to honor, or to even understand, both sides of my family heritage. I often joke about kids in my elementary years whispering, “She’s half-African! Don’t mess with her!” I didn’t understand why they thought that meant something bad. I had thought before coming to school that it meant something good. I quickly learned that my fellow students expected me to swing across the room like Tarzan without notice. Frustrated, sometimes I did just that.

Over the years, I’ve met a lot of people like me—African-American, but still trying to understand the hyphen. We wander in and out of African associations, chided because we don’t know the language or we’ve never been “home.” We clamor for relationships with all things African, usually including food and clothes. And then one day, we accept what we have and ask God to fill in the gaps.

In many ways, this book does just that. Though Mr. Sanon is from Ivory Coast, through his explanations about his own culture I have gained much understanding about Africa as a whole and my father’s background as well. I hope that many schools and parents will share this with their children so that we can all understand Africa—and ourselves—better.

By Marilynn Griffith