Overview

Going Against the Grain is a memoir of childhood abuse and redemption - of the ways individuals and institutions can help us transform ourselves. In my case, I credit my grandmother's teachings, friends at school who showed me how families could and should behave, and the United States Marine Corps, which gave me a means of escape. Going Against the Grain is also a memoir of learning from the past and overcoming it - of being an involved father to my sons, the kind of father I wish I'd had. My fight for survival in childhood left me with a profound feeling about the importance of standing up for what is right. Going Against the Grain is about that too, and about the toll standing up for what is right can take on a person and a marriage. When corrupt and inept officials at the Small Business Administration lured me into signing a contract they knew would cause the downfall of my business, and then gained from my loss, I could not let the issue rest. I fought them with everything I had. When government agencies I worked for decided not to push too hard in the effort to aid minority businesses, I fought for greater compliance. When the director of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) insisted there was no need to bring in African American experts as speakers, I argued that there was indeed a need. Going Against the Grain is about lawsuits won and complaints filed and a lifelong determination to help those less fortunate that stemmed, probably, from starting out life as one of them.