Am I In Your Book?

“Am I in your book?”

It’s a question I’ve been asked a few times. It’s also a question I’m sure others have wondered. The answer?

Probably not.

My memoir, The Cult: A Black American Project, isn’t a typical story. I don’t share my experiences with everyone who was a part of my life during that period. The only people I mention are those who had a profound effect on my spiritual journey in some way. Some influenced it positively. Some did not. Either way, they were significant in what began as a search for God and blossomed into a search for truth. As my eyes opened, the two became one and the same.

This book is not about settling scores. It isn’t about exposing people. It isn’t about assigning heroes and villains. It’s about documenting a transformation.

The truth is, most people who crossed my path during those years never make it onto the page. Not because they weren’t important, but because this story isn’t about everyone I knew. It’s about the moments, relationships, and experiences that altered the trajectory of my life. It’s about the people who challenged my beliefs, reinforced them, manipulated them, or helped dismantle them.

Memory is a curious thing. We can live through the same event alongside someone else and carry away entirely different versions of what happened. What I share in this memoir is not the definitive account of anyone else’s life. It is simply my account of my own.

The people who appear in these pages are there because they became part of a larger story, one that ultimately forced me to ask difficult questions about faith, identity, power, belonging, and truth. Their presence in the book says less about who they are and more about the role they played in my awakening.

So if you’re wondering whether you’re in the book, the answer is still probably not.

But if you helped shape the woman I became, if you redirected my path in a meaningful way, if you were present during a moment that changed how I saw God, myself, or the world, then perhaps a piece of you lives there.

Not as the story.

But as part of the journey.