By Krystle J Bailey
30-year-old Braeden Anderson, owner of Brigantine’s Black Turtle Coffee Co. and Kook Burger, released his 2023 book, Black Resilience, this April. The restauranteur, lawyer, philanthropist, and father has overcome seemingly impossible situations throughout his young life.
In Black Resilience, Anderson shares his stories and experiences as a young, Black man who immigrated to the United States from the metropolitan city of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. Based on his own story of childhood abuse, homelessness, and countless encounters with racism, Anderson shares how he paved his own road to success with a few replicable tools.
“It boils down to one fundamental concept,” explains the former NCAA athlete. “That, in order for us to make progress as a society, specifically in the Black community, we need to better combat the concept of learned helplessness and acknowledge the ways in which the mainstream approaches to combating racism have contributed to that.”
Broken down into 10 chapters, Black Resilience challenges the status quo and answers the burning question that millions of Black Americans ask every day, “Where do we go from here?”
Through first-hand storytelling and a unique vantage point, Anderson reveals the strategies that helped him face every roadblock on his journey from homelessness to his life as a business owner, lawyer, and entrepreneur. Topics include asserting your identity, employing empathy, transcending learned helplessness, and building one community.
In Black Resilience, Anderson shines a light on the traditional approaches to combating racism, such as the awareness campaigns that followed the death of George Floyd in 2020.
“The most effective way of running an awareness campaign is to tell stories of victimhood and pain,” explains Anderson. “Whether it’s received in one way or another doesn’t matter if it brings awareness.”
According to a Pew Research Poll, 70% of Black Americans agree that the awareness campaigns have done nothing to change their lives for the better. This is why Braeden Anderson continues to assert that there are other paths available and that Black Americans have the power to forge a path for themselves, despite any systemic roadblocks.
“I love America,” declares Anderson. “I’m an immigrant. I came with nothing and fought and scratched for everything, and I cried like a baby when I was able to raise my right hand and become an American Citizen.”
He goes on to explain, “We all want the same thing, for America to hold its rightful place as the best country on Earth. That takes work. In order to retain that status, we’re going to have to work together to figure it out.”
Anderson’s non-traditional approach empowers Black Americans through the honest and vulnerable recounts of his own experiences with racism as he pursued his life goals. He shares ways he may have mishandled past situations, as well as how he looked for opportunities to build bridges along the way.
Written from the perspective of someone who has faced many incidents of racism and trauma, Black Resilience represents a tactful and dynamic ideology for the reader who is open to receiving a solution-oriented mindset.
“It’s a noble endeavor to work towards the complete extermination of racism,” explains the father of two. “But what about the little Black boy or girl who grew up in a bad part of town and wants to become a doctor, an architect, or an engineer? What about that person that wants to succeed today? Are you supposed to tell your kids, ‘We’re working on it’? Or try to give them a mentality that nobody can stop them from success?”
In addition to the release of the book, Anderson founded the Black Resilience Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the mission of the book and helps people in Black communities achieve their goals.
Purchase a copy of Black Resilience on Amazon. Limited copies are available at Black Turtle Coffee in Brigantine. For more information, visit BlackResilienceBook.com.
