Author: Clay Rivers

Author & optimist. Editor, Our Human Family. Writing about equality, racism, and faith. "Embrace all that you are and strive to become all that God created you to be.”

“3 Things I Know” excerpt

Posted on by Clay Rivers

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99 Problems

If you’re living, you have, you are currently, or you will face problems, or as I like to call them, “challenges.” From newborns trying to find their way in a brand new world to teenagers battling with peer pressure and feeling misunderstood by everyone over eighteen to adults dealing with unexpected career changes or the loss of a loved one to seniors coping with the challenges of living in an aging body, no one leaves this world untouched by challenges of their own making or someone else’s. If anyone tells you otherwise, they’re delusional.

Announcing My New Book … “3 Things I Know”

Posted on by Clay Rivers

As a forty-eight-inch tall, black man, I know a thing or two about challenges. 3 Things I Know: Facing and Embracing Life’s Challenges deftly guides the reader through my unique life experiences, with which readers will readily identify, in discovering what works when confronted with challenges—and more importantly what doesn’t.

Letter No. 9: Why All the Buzz About Black Lives Matter?

Posted on by Clay Rivers

Hey, Clay.

I’m a little confused on the #blacklivesmatter movement. What is the message, and what do they want us to know about it. I have yet to receive a clear message on what it stands for. I know it has created spin offs like #alllivesmatter and #copslivesmatter. I know they want more policing of the police. What do they recommend we do to support them?

Letter No. 6: How Do You Make Your Parents Feel Wanted But Not Needed?

Posted on by Clay Rivers

Hey, Clay.

I have always been very independent from a young age. I was the child that my parents were always proud of and boasted about. They still do to this day and tell everybody, “Our child is living the dream life, we are so proud.” Unfortunately something is missing. We have never made the transition from parent-child relationship to parent-adult relationship. I’m having issues with this.

Letter No. 5: Should I Attend My Gay Friend’s Wedding?

Posted on by Clay Rivers

Hey, Clay,

I’m a 62-year-old heterosexual male who grew up in the South with all the beauty and values southern living afforded. It wasn’t exactly a “Gone with the Wind” existence, but there were clear lines drawn between accepted and unaccepted behavior and right and wrong. Most of those distinctions were moral ones I learned according to a Christian upbringing which I needed to operate successfully in society, but when it came to Blacks and gays, there was an inherent and practiced prejudice taught by society and not by the Bible. I have spent most of my adult life discarding or un-learning the negative, racist ideas instilled in me from a young age. however, some of those beliefs still are attached to my core and may stay until I am gone from this life.

Letter No. 4: Am I Black or Not?

Posted on by Clay Rivers

Hey, Clay.

Am I Black or not?

My mother is white, and my father is Black. I’m biracial, identify as Black, but look white. Black people always tell me I’m not Black enough, it’s like I constantly have to prove my Blackness. “You like hard rock? Obviously you’re not Black enough.” Oreo cookie.