In a forthright memoir, Wiley, an attorney, a New York City mayoral candidate, and a former legal analyst for MSNBC, pays homage to her parents, both civil rights activists whose examples served her as she navigated racism, sexism, and personal trauma. Her father, George Wiley, was a charismatic Black organic chemistry professor and civil rights and economic justice activist; her defiant white mother, Wretha Whittle, left her Southern Baptist family to enroll at Union Theological Seminary and mentor girls in East Harlem. The couple met at Syracuse University, where George was a newly hired faculty member and Wretha, a graduate student. Together they worked at the Syracuse chapter of CORE, tackling racial discrimination in housing, jobs, and schools. In 1964, James Farmer asked George to serve as associate national director of CORE in its New York City headquarters, an opportunity undermined by rivalries and ideological conflicts within the organization. The family—now including Maya and her older brother—relocated to a gentrifying Black neighborhood in Washington, D.C., where their home became a center of civil rights activity. Maya’s life was upended at age 9 when her father fell off their recently acquired cabin cruiser and drowned. Only she and her brother were on board, unable to save him. Beset by anger, fear, and guilt, she was later diagnosed with PTSD. As a biracial student, Wiley struggled to fit into “the color palette” of Washington’s public schools, Georgetown Day School, the Field School, Dartmouth, and Columbia Law School. She never lost sight of her parents’ ideals: doing an internship in the Philippines investigating human rights violations and serving a federal clerkship and positions at the ACLU, the U.S. attorney’s office, and the George Soros Open Society Institute, all confirming her commitment to progressive change.
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