As a boy growing up outside DC, Jawando, who went by his Nigerian name, Yemi, was shunted from school to school, never quite fitting in. He was a Black kid with a divorced white mother, a frayed relationship with his biological father, and teachers who scolded him for being disruptive in class and on the playground. Here he looks back on the relationships with an extraordinary series of mentors that enabled him to thrive. Without the influence of these men, Jawando knows he would not be who he is today: a civil rights and education policy attorney, a civic leader, a husband, and a father
