Officer Clemmons: A Memoir

I enjoyed the story and insight into Mr. Rodgers illuminating. I did not appreciate Mr. Rodgers as a young mother and always tried to trick my daughter into skipping his show. However, the bizarre intonation of the reader I found very irritating.

If I had read this book at a different time, I would have enjoyed it, but as I sit surrounded in a country of Black Lives Matter protesters, it took on a whole different meaning. Clemmons clearly showed how systemic racism impacted his career and how it took the interest of whites and their knowing someone who could help him got Clemmons recognized, and yet even then he discovered it wasn’t enough to get him a lead role in a Metropolitan Opera production. I picked the book up because of the Mr. Rogers connection, but what I learned went beyond Mr. Rogers neighborhood.

memoir, prejudice, family-dynamics, abuse, LGBTQ, music, actors*****

This is a deeply affecting personal memoir by a person of astounding accomplishments and a deeply rooted negative sense of self worth. Life was nice until he was four, then it kept escalating in family violence and abuse until his mentors in high school helped him to escape and move to Oberlin college to major in fine arts. Prejudice and segregation were still present but often less overt with relationship to color in the 1960s Ohio but there was also his problem with religiosity to the non gender conforming and the guilt that had been forced upon him. His burgeoning career as a professional tenor and the people who truly cared about him saved his sanity. To clue in on his tastes and abilities: gospel, Leontyne Price, Mahalia Jackson. Politically it was a time of turmoil and unease, but after attaining a BFA at Oberlin he earned full graduate fellowship to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh for the MFA with emphasis on opera.
It was while doing a performance at a Presbyterian Church that he first met Fred Rogers and their friendship began. In his own quiet way Rogers implemented François' public exposure and also, in time, the concept of Officer Clemmons was developed and implemented. But it was in his personal and professional life that Rogers was most influential, and that was a very great thing.
What a wonderful book!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Catapult, Counterpoint Press, and Soft Skull Press via NetGalley. Thank you!