Book Review: Kathy Barnette’s Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain

Kathy Barnette is many things – a professor of economics, a military veteran, and a courageous champion who has overcome humble beginnings to become an American success story. She has a powerful voice and a powerful story to tell.

In her new book, Nothing to Lose, and Everything to Gain: Being Black and Conservative in America, Barnette introduces her mother, Little Mamie Jo, who was raped at age 11 by Kathy’s father. After fathering two more children, he left her mother to raise the children on her own. Barnette deftly moves from her own personal experience to statistical analysis of the outcomes on black families by visited on them by the social programs our liberal government thinks they need, and the destruction wrought on the black family structure with no father in the home. Barnette presents a shocking picture of black life in America. The numbers are very disturbing, and Barnette’s book is compelling reading for this section alone.

Barnette relates a fascinating childhood story about her grandfather. He dug the family well deeper to make sure they had a reliable source of water. One can tell she has great respect for her elders and what they accomplished. Even today, many years later, one can hear the respect she has for her elders not based on emotion but on what gifts they gave her that helped shape her into the person she is today.

Barnette takes readers into the school of her childhood, where all was far from peaceful. She tells of a stunning moment when one of her classmates called her the N-word. She pondered how to respond to the insult and decided to take the matter up with her teacher. When she gathered her courage to speak with the teacher – who was a black woman – the response shocked her.

This is a raw book. Barnette never shies away from telling the whole truth. Her approach to the issue of slavery and the indiscriminate use of the word “racist” is necessary for the reader to hear and experience. The left has systematically demeaned the word “racist” to the point that anything a Republican says or does that is contrary to the Democratic Party makes that person a racist. Barnette shows what real racism looks like and how it has harmed the black American family.

Barnette’s experiences have undoubtedly shaped her and her beliefs about life, law, culture and politics. Her life has made her a fierce woman with a heart for others, which comes through in her patriotic service to her country and on the board of a crisis pregnancy center. Today she is a conservative Republican and is outraged as to how Democrats have treated black people since Lyndon Johnson introduced his war on poverty. She believes that the Democrats are singly responsible for the destruction of her black family. Enter Donald Trump in 2016 and the question he posed during a rally in Detroit: “What do you have to lose in voting for me?” Barnette is running for Congress to try and change what is wrong with Washington.

To be truly free, she says we must not allow others to define who we are by telling us who they think we should be, or what we should think, or how we should vote. Barnette makes a vivid and disturbing point when she quotes Michelle Obama speaking to a predominately black audience, admonishing them to vote Democrat above all else. “That’s my message to voters, it isn’t about Barack, the future First Lady told them. “It is not about the person on the ballot…a Democrat ticket is the clear ticket.” Obama’s message was clear: No one needs to spend time trying to persuade you or trying to woo your vote based on what they would do; just line up and do what you are told.

I enjoyed this book; I learned a great deal about what it means to be black in America today. I actually read twice the section on black voters twice. I have written myself on several occasions that the presumption of automatic black votes for someone on the ballot who had a D after their name may be over. I predicted that Mayor Pete would need to get a significant portion of the black vote to be a credible candidate nationally in South Carolina. He lost because he only got 2% of the black vote.

Yes, Kathy Barnette is black, but she is not a Democrat. To quote Kathy, “I’m more than the sum of my individual parts, Conservative, Veteran, Woman, Christian, Black, Suburban, and Middle class.” To all of that, I would add that she is an amazing woman. Put Kathy Barnette’s story on your list to buy. You have nothing to lose, and a great deal of knowledge to gain.

And be sure to read the essay at the end of the book, “Thank You Little Black Girl”