My Vanishing Country, A Memoir By Bakari Sellers

Quick Synopsis: Bakari Sellers begins his life’s story with a detailed description of his hometown, Denmark, South Carolina. Denmark is a small, rural town, nestled on a main thoroughfare to Charleston, SC. While it may have once been a thriving transportation hub due to its proximity to Augusta, Columbia, and Charleston, it is no longer so. It is now one of the most economically disadvantaged towns in South Carolina, but it does have two HBCUs: Denmark Technical College and Voorhees College. Bakari’s father was the President of Voorhees College. After this deeply personal look at Denmark, Bakari explains his dad’s experience of the Orangeburg Massacre and how it greatly shaped their family, his deep and long-lasting friendship with Pop, a young man from a different neighborhood but with the same dreams for a good life, and getting into Morehouse with his other friend, Jarrod. From there, Bakari explains his love for Morehouse and how that led into his desire to run for office and taught him how to win. Bakari also explains his attempt to run for a state-wide office against now Governor, Henry McMaster, his emotional turmoil after the shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, convincing President Obama to campaign in his district, and more personally, the way he met his wife and daughter, and her fraught delivery of twin babies. He devotes the last chapter to the state of racial relations and racial politics today. He gives a space for a discussion of the differences between President Obama and President Trump, police brutality, and the thick, seemingly uncrossable lines of the division racial politics has created today.

Why I Like It: I live only 30 minutes or less from Denmark, South Carolina. I drove through it 3-4 times a week when I was studying at South Carolina State University, and I have a deep place in my heart for these small towns that produce wonderful, passionate, and empathetic leaders. I believe the experience Bakari Sellers had growing up in Denmark, SC was what made him so unique and electable, and I appreciated the book because Bakari Sellers realized that, too. He knew that without his attachment to Denmark, he wouldn’t be as understanding or considerate. He wouldn’t understand the world the way he does not, and he wouldn’t know how important it is to be a “Voice for the Voiceless.” I also appreciate his honesty in the book. Sellers never sugar coats the fact that he lost his state-wide election, but he doesn’t sit there either. He lost, learned, and moved on. He is honest about his friend’s shortcomings and his own, he creates a path for deep understanding when he writes about his wife not just wanting, but needing a Black OBGYN, and he is honest about his political stance and ideas, and most importantly—he never once apologizes for them.

Why You Might Like It: You might enjoy this book if you are looking for just a really good story about a young man who had a vision for better things, and knew that he needed to run for office in order to bring those to fruition. Or, if you are from a rural town yourself, you might be interested in reading how Bakari Sellers used his small-town style to propel him to elected office and onto a national stage. Sellers knew he had a different vision—one that involved a hospital and better schools—for his community, but he also recognized the battle he was fighting. In South Carolina, we have many Republican politicians. We are known as a “red state,” and the Democrats we do have in office seem to have been there for decades and decades. They are great leaders, but there is no denying that their incumbency helps them maintain office. This book is a different view of a South Carolina politician—one who is young, liberal, and Black. We also don’t often hear polticians being honest or open about their electoral loss. Sellers is, and he takes the time to emphasize that giving his voice a microphone is just as important as being elected to office. That honesty is simply not a perspective we often get to hear.

Publishing Information: The copy of My Vanishing Country that I read and is pictured on this website was written by Bakari Sellers and published by Amistad of Harper Collins Publishers in 2020. It was copyrighted in 2020.