The author, Ronald Rawlings, carries you through the many pitfalls and the countless amounts of times he was devastated by discrimination and life's setbacks in the South because he's Black, and because he wanted to be a cop. The book then turns into a self-motivational piece because he was able to persevere all of the roadblocks, stereotypes, and the negativity that goes along with being raised by a single black mother with several kids in the South. The main message from the book is that education is the key, education is a roadmap, but it does not trump racism in the South.