'Pittsburgh Is Not As Progressive As It Wants To Pretend To Be': Rising Literary Star Damon Young On Being Black In Pittsburgh
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Damon Young is fast becoming a literary star, writing about what it's like to be black in the City of Pittsburgh.
For years, he has authored the popular blog "Very Smart Brothas," but his new book has suddenly thrust him into the national spotlight.
Sometimes a first-time author catches fire, and this is Young's moment. Two weeks into a national tour, his book "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker" is taking him to dizzying heights.
"I would hope that this isn't a situation where you think you're launching and then you just go back to earth," Young said.
"Earth" is his native city of Pittsburgh, of which he writes and with whom he has something of a love-hate relationship.
Sheehan: "You embrace the city, but you're also a big critic of the city?"
Young: "Well, I'm from here, and Pittsburgh is my home. Pittsburgh is where I grew up, where my wife grew up. I just bought a home here."
The book's title, which is tattooed on his right arm, is largely about living as a black person in mostly white city, a city he sees as deeply divided along racial lines.
"One of the truths about Pittsburgh is that it is not as progressive and not as forward-thinking as it wants to pretend to be," Young said.
While Pittsburgh has experienced an economic resurgence, Young says black and poor people haven't participated or have been displaced. Nowhere is this clearer, he says, than in East Liberty.
"Where it's almost as if a spaceship landed and just flattened everything out that existed before," Young said.
But while often resentful of the new luxury apartments and upscale stores, Young says he can't live angry, conceding that he likes shopping at Whole Foods or trying out some of the new eateries.
"Sometimes you just want to go to a nice restaurant and get something to eat without having to think about everything that is surrounding that restaurant being there," Young said.
Caught somewhere in the middle, Young's book is about being an alien in his own hometown, observations told with a keen eye, sharp humor and unblinking honesty.
