damian joseph
Post on 14-Jan-2015
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{Mr. Joseph
West Seattle 3rd Grade Teacher
Mr. Joseph is featured in this book that lays out the history and struggles of African Americans in Seattle. It tells the story of Mr. Joseph and his fellow basketball players: “One Team and Ten lives in Black and White.”
Editor Review (reviewed on October 1, 2010)
In his debut, journalist Merlino traces the lives of his integrated junior-high basketball
team and what happened to the players when the games stopped.
In 1986, Coach Willie McClain brought his basketball players, all black, from Seattle's
inner city to the affluent suburbs to form a team with a group of white players. For a single
season, these young boys—who couldn't have been more different—shared an initially wary
then ebullient camaraderie that transcended race and class. But what happened after the
season, asks the author, as these players made the transition from boys to men? Merlino
returned to Seattle to find his old teammates and tell their stories. In one way or another,
the white players all made their way; for the black players, however, the story was mixed.
Through connections developed as a result of the team, all had the chance to attend quality
private schools. Some adjusted, some didn't. At 19, Tyrell was murdered; 20 years on, JT
still hustled on the street; Myran was in prison. All were lured by the seemingly easy
money of drug dealing as crack devastated their Seattle neighborhood in the late '80s. Yet
there were successes.
Damian became a teacher and a preacher, Eric
an auditor for the city with a solid middle-class life. None of the black
players, however, lived without struggles in a class and racially
divided Seattle. Merlino skillfully weaves the personal biographies
with the biography of a city that relegated blacks to neighborhoods
that were segregated and poor, to the margins of economic life, to
public schools that were overcrowded and underfunded. He tells the
story of the dispersal of Central Seattle's black population, as
Microsoft and Starbucks made it ripe for gentrification. But the heart
of Merlino's story is his teammates, black and white. He misses their
youth and promise and loves and respects them all.
The book's precise focus enables troubling considerations of the role
of race and class in America.
The Season: Mr. Joseph’s basketball team from 1986 at Lakeside School
The Championship Team in action
Lakeside School – where Mr. Joseph spent one year playing basketball.
The Team Today
Rainier Beach High School
Seattle Prep: another of Mr. Joseph’s high schools
The players & head coach today
College at Seattle University
Zion Preparatory Academywhere Mr. Joseph taught
school
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