I've Been Meaning to Tell You

March 4, 2019
Novelist Chariandy (Brother) addresses this slim volume to his daughter on the occasion of her 13th birthday, exploring their family’s racial and ethnic makeup and the challenges inherent in growing up as a person of color in a white-dominated culture. He weaves together their often similar experiences growing up, recalling his daughter standing up for her brother after he was called the N word at school, alongside his own memories of being underestimated by teachers and taunted by classmates (with whom he empathizes rather than maligning). Alongside this thread is one of resilience and joy. Chariandy recalls the incredible perseverance of his Trinidadian parents, a black woman and an Indian man, who immigrated to Canada in the 1960s and built a beautiful life. He also traces the history of colonialism and forced labor in Trinidad to explore the plight of his ancestors on his father’s side and considers the strange dissonance of visiting one’s familial country of origin as a tourist. Chariandy hopes for his daughter that she will “demand not only justice, but joy; that you should see... the vulnerability and the creativity and the enduring beauty of others.” This is a beautiful meditation on what it means to be among a racial minority, and a blueprint honoring one’s heritage.

It's difficult for any parent to discuss the unpleasantness of the world with a child, and harder still when those aspects include racial politics and prejudice that directly impacts both their lives. Novelist Chariandy (Brother; Soucouyant), the son of black and South Asian Trinidadian migrants, makes an elegant foray into that struggle in this letter to his 13-year-old daughter. A memoir of the author's own racial past as well as a meditation on his daughter's present and future, this brief but powerful read conveys the effects of bigotry on people and place and the difficulties of navigating personal identity. Chariandy's lyrical prose heightens and never masks the sharp punch of racism or the fragility of a father's hope for his children. VERDICT Slim but not slight, this touching read will be valuable for all parents, especially families with multiracial children, as well as those interested in viewing the politics of race and racial identity through a personal lens.--Kathleen McCallister, William & Mary Libs., Williamsburg, VA

February 1, 2019
A Canadian novelist addresses his 13-year-old daughter on the complexities of race, bloodlines, history, and privilege.In his nonfiction debut, Chariandy (English/Simon Fraser Univ.; Brother, 2017, etc.) shares his reflections with his daughter at a particularly pivotal time in her life. After the election of Donald Trump, she had plenty of questions and concerns. Though their native Canada prides itself on being better than the United States on issues of tolerance, shortly after the U.S. election, a murderer "entered a mosque in Quebec City and executed six people who were at their prayers." The author's parents were reluctant to share the stories that he feels he must tell his daughter, along with his own. They had been brought to Trinidad as indentured servants and had initially been denied entrance into Canada. Chariandy was born and raised in Toronto, but he never felt accepted or understood as "simply Canadian," in the way that his Caucasian wife and her patrician family had been for generations. They had met in graduate school, studying literature, where they discovered "a shared passion for broadening, through reading, the cultural and geographic boundaries of what we each knew. This shared passion sustains our relationship, despite what are some rather stark differences in our backgrounds and upbringings." The author's daughter likes being known as a tomboy, and much of her fashion sense and attitude come from living along the west coast in Vancouver. They have never really discussed how to categorize her or why. "For some of my relatives, you are Black; for others you are Indian," he writes. "And as a girl of African, South Asian, and European heritage, some may consider you still another identity, that of being 'mixed.' " Beyond question, this slim volume shows how much she is loved and how concerned her father is for the challenges that await her, some of them the same that he faced.Chariandy's perspective challenges conventional notions that Canada is tolerant where the U.S. isn't and that we have entered an era beyond race and discrimination.

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