Albert Samaha

Nearing the age at which his mother had migrated to the US, part of the wave of non-Europeans who arrived after immigration quotas were relaxed in 1965, Albert Samaha began to question the ironclad belief in a better future that had inspired her family to uproot themselves from their birthplace. As she, her brother Spanky—a rising pop star back in Manila, now working as a luggage handler at San Francisco airport—and others of their generation struggled with setbacks amid mounting instability that seemed to keep prosperity ever out of reach, he wondered whether their decision to abandon a middle-class existence in the Philippines had been worth the cost.

Tracing his family’s history through the region’s unique geopolitical roots in Spanish colonialism, American intervention, and Japanese occupation, Samaha fits their arc into the wider story of global migration as determined by chess moves among superpowers. Ambitious, intimate, and incisive, Concepcion explores what it might mean to reckon with the unjust legacy of imperialism, to live with contradiction and hope, to fight for the unrealized ideals of an inherited homeland.

An Immigrant Family's Fortunes

Concepcion

This uplifting story of a boys' football team shines light on the under-appreciated virtues that can bloom in impoverished neighborhoods, even as nearby communities exclude them from economic progress. The Mo Better Jaguars are the pride of Brownsville, a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn where New York City's decades of economic and social improvement have had little effect. As parts of America increasingly turn away from football, Brownsville's parents and coaches see virtue in the game's physicality and competitiveness: refuge from the gang feuding that consumes much of the streets, and valuable lessons on how to survive in that unforgiving environment. In their best years, the Jaguars have been regional champions, and sent players to the highest levels of college football. This book, years in the reporting, tells the story of the Jaguars and the children -- some as young as nine -- who grow and change as they enter this world. Oomz, Gio, Hart, and the rest of the team are charismatic and vulnerable and hardening all at once, a powerful cast of characters whose lives take shape in these pages. Their stories of learning about manhood, teamwork, and certain hard truths about American life chip away at the myth that the norms and values of low-income communities perpetuate poverty. Never Ran, Never Will is a complex, humane story about the new world of America's inner cities. Largely ignored by the public discourse, these communities suffer economic pain, crime, and a sense that progress belongs to other people, all the while fighting to keep their unique, intimate culture strong.

Boyhood and Football in a Changing American Inner City

Never Ran, Never Will

This uplifting story of a boys' football team shines light on the under-appreciated virtues that can bloom in impoverished neighborhoods, even as nearby communities exclude them from economic progress. Never Ran, Never Will tells the story of the working-class, mostly black neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn; its proud youth football team, the Mo Better Jaguars; and the young boys who are often at the center of both. Oomz, Gio, Hart, and their charismatic, vulnerable friends, come together on a dusty football field. All around them their community is threatened by violence, poverty, and the specter of losing their homes to gentrification. Their passionate, unpaid coaches teach hard lessons about surviving American life with little help from the outside world, cultivating in their players the perseverance and courage to make it. Football isn't everybody's ideal way to find the American dream, but for some kids it's the surest road there is. The Mo Better Jaguars team offers a refuge from the gang feuding that consumes much of the streets and a ticket to a better future in a country where football talent remains an exceptionally valuable commodity. If the team can make the regional championships, prestigious high schools and colleges might open their doors to the players. Never Ran, Never Will is a complex, humane story that reveals the changing world of an American inner city and a group of unforgettable boys in the middle of it all.

Albert Samaha

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