( continued from page 21) intervened after a high-speed chase and J. D. watched from the safety of one police car as his mother was handcuffed and placed in the other. For what seemed like an eternity, J. D. waited until Lindsay and Mamaw arrived to take him home. Lawyers were hired in order to keep mom out of jail and J. D. would have to give evidence. The critical question was whether or not his mom had threatened him. If so, she would go to jail. Mamaw in her wisdom advised her grandson that whatever his mother had done it wouldn’ t be good for appearances if she ended up in jail and so when the question was asked he should deny that any threat was made. He complied and he and Mamaw struck a deal. From that moment on he could live permanently with his grandparents and see his mother only when he wanted.
For a while, J. D. and Lindsay tried to manage on their own. Their mother, in and out of rehab for addiction to drugs initially stolen from the hospital, was unavailable to them for long periods of time. Failing in school and with little motivation for anything, twelve-year-old J. D. decided it was time to move in with Mamaw and Papaw. It wasn’ t easy. Mamaw was tough, but Mamaw was on his side. From time to time J. D. would visit his mother, now living with her fifth husband. He even attended an addicts’ support group meeting with her but the hopelessness of most of the other adults he encountered there was just too much for him to handle.
When J. D. was in high school Mamaw insisted that he take a job of some kind. He started helping out in a local grocery store where he became“ something of an amateur sociologist.” He was starting to notice that not all the folks in the neighborhood behaved the same way. In particular he started to record what people did with their food stamps and their cash and how they used the one to create the other. He began to identify the men and women who worked hard to take care of their families’ needs and those who were content to let the government provide. He and Mamaw had long conversations about these things. She had total disdain for shirkers and welfare queens.
It is not entirely clear to me when J. D. started to read what had already been written and hypothesized about“ his people.”( This is a phrase that appears not only in the book but which I have heard him use in a number of interviews and political discussions. It is one of the things that his detractors use against him.) The book is peppered with references to research articles and books by several academic sociologists. The author uses them to highlight or help him understand his own experiences and observations. Sometimes he uses them to advantage, sometimes they seem a little contrived. Two names that I recognized amongst these references were Raj Chetty and Charles Murray( the latter not winning any brownie points for the author among the critics on the political left).
University, but the application form and the realization that legally he is still Bob Hamel’ s son are things he and Mamaw don’ t really want to fool with. He has a cousin, a young woman who joined the Marine Corps and she puts him in touch with a recruitment officer. The decision is made. The recruitment officer comes to visit and tells J. D. that boot camp will be tough but not as tough as life with his grandma.
During his four years in the Marine Corps J. D. finds stability, discipline, role models who don’ t let him down and mentors who offer him sound guidance. He thrives. Thereafter his application to Ohio State is a cinch: his work ethic propels him to success and again he finds role models and mentors he can trust. Then it is on to Yale Law School, and the realization that he is somewhat of a novelty to many of his classmates, although he can rise to the challenges presented to him. He can manage the difficult choices that he is required to make. He meets Usha, a young Indian woman who is his classmate. She attended Yale as an undergrad and helps him navigate campus life and Law School rituals. Mamaw and Papaw, who had moved back to Mamaw’ s family home in Jackson while J. D. was in the Marines, did not live to see J. D. and Usha graduate. Eighteen of J. D.’ s extended family, but not his mother, attend the ceremony where they meet Usha and her family for the first time. All goes well.
Shortly after their graduation Usha and J. D. are married in a double ceremony, Hindu and Christian, back home in Jackson. Both take the name Vance. Finally, J. D. has the same name as the family to which he will always belong.
During the last three years J. D. and Usha have served one year clerkships in Cincinnati. They then worked for a private law firm in Columbus, Ohio but within the past year they have moved to San Francisco where J. D. is now a principal in an investment firm. J. D. and his book have generated both accolades and fierce criticism during the last six months. I think the harshest words were those published in the Lexington Herald-Leader which described him as a“ Silicon Vall-billy” and an“ Elite.” According to the Cleveland Inquirer, J. D. is working with Governor John Kasich to establish a non-profit organization that will work to promote educational and economic opportunities within the Rust Belt. That takes cash. The future will tell us what direction he takes. For anyone who may be wondering, J. D. voted for someone other than the two main presidential candidates.
Dr. Amin is a retired diagnostic radiologist.
Returning to the memoir itself, we learn that J. D. struggles through but graduates from high school. His goal is to get to Ohio State
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