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Full Description
The personal story of a blind Puerto Rican boy in New York who transcends a harrowing childhood to become a lifelong advocate for social justice
"Jovencito, it's going to be lonely being different and yet strong in this world," James Francisco Bonilla's grandmother told him when he was ten. He had come home after defending himself against a bully who had threatened him with violence, making it clear that he didn't care that James was blind. But despite the isolation James felt in childhood, he would come to commit his life to leveraging his differences and strengths toward a collective fight for justice. James's memoir, An Eye for an I, is an inspiring account of how he found a path through his own suffering to make a difference for others.
Born with congenital cataracts, James had limited vision in his right eye and none in his left. At age nine, after a classmate hurled a horseshoe at his face in a racially motivated assault, James's right eye was injured and he became legally blind. At home, too, he feared physical violence, experiencing the unpredictable outbursts of a single mother suffering from severe mental illness. Throughout his youth as a Puerto Rican New Yorker, James was continually failed by educational systems that exposed him to one abuse after another. Searching for relief and inspiration, he discovered an unexpected solace in the natural world, spiritual encounters with Mother Earth that led him toward both personal healing and advocacy.
At nineteen, a breakthrough in medical technology restored the sight in his right eye, and James recognized his unique perspective on the struggles of the disabled and marginalized in American life - and his intense will to make a difference. He seeks to understand generational trauma, and in documenting his growth - physically, mentally, and spiritually—his memoir exemplifies the introspection necessary to participate in truly equitable and effective movement building. An Eye for an I presents both James and his aggressors with refreshing nuance and humility, inviting readers to empathize, be inspired, and consider their own potential to be of service in a broken, yet beautiful, world.
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Contents
Contents
Introduction
1. The Knife
2. Locked in the Closet
3. Just Dee and Me
4. Our Lady Queen of Martyrs
5. "Lock the Doors!"
6. DoÑa Luisa, Mi Nana
7. My First Bike
8. Coindre Hall
9. Sammy My Beagle
10. "Hey, Spic!"
11. "Sight Conservation" Class
12. Bullies
13. Puerto Rico's Hatfields versus the McCoys
14. Camp Lighthouse
15. The Gift of Not Seeing
16. Mr. Norton, MSW
17. Florida School for the Deaf and Blind
18. Mugging on Friday the 13th, 1972
19. "But You Don't Look . . ."
20. "Dad, I Can't Play Golf."
21. A Blind Messenger?
22. Stigma
23. Titi Anna
24. Clark Tower
25. "Oh, So Much Shame!"
26. Learning Grace from Mrs. Reed
27. The "Nearly Killed by Kindness" Blues
28. Seeing in Technicolor
29. Learning to Drive
30. "Crip Camp"
31. Stumbling into Spirit in Nature
32. "With Correction"
33. All Roads Led to Community Organizing
34. Dad and Son Reconcile
35. A Deepening Estrangement
36. Wrestling with Moral Outrage
37. Why Choose Dee as a Parent?
38. Temagami Vision Quest
39. Uncle Bim
40. Redefining Machismo
41. Dee's Last Act
42. Riding the Waves
Afterword: Insights from An Eye for an I
Acknowledgments
Resources: Seeing Beyond Our Blind Spots
References
