It's 2020. Surrounding the news of her best friend DeShaun being shot, 11-year-old Jasmine is learning what it means to live in a Black body in St. Louis, Missouri -- which some consider to be a microcosm of the United States and the epicenter of a new Civil Rights movement.
Jasmine struggles with being called names and picked on within her private school by her nemesis, Jacob Taylor. She unwittingly lets her friend Tiffany know. Tiffany is a fighter who comes from a complicated past that leads her to Jacob's home in the suburbs of St. Louis and a sticky situation.
The rigors of classical dance fare Jasmine no better. She's forced to choose whether an injury will cause her to become addicted to pain pills or if she can rise to the occasion naturally by rehabilitating her own wounds. All Jasmine wants is to dance and be free, but in 2020- something America, that task can be harder than it seems for a young Black woman.
DARIAN WIGFALL is an author, activist, arts organizer, DJ and entrepreneur. He is the Executive Director at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in St. Louis where he's bringing his community, arts and organizing background to aid the historic church.
He co-directed the FarFetched music collective, an art imprint producing progressive music and art in St. Louis and beyond. He currently runs a community-centered media company called Certain Media and a boutique artist and business management agency called Wealthy Mindset.
Darian's direct action in the Ferguson uprising led to his protest sign and art being inducted into the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in 2016 and a feature in Smithsonian magazine in December 2015.
In recognition of his efforts in civil rights and business successes - Darian was featured alongside his collaborative partners in the February 2016 issue of Fortune Magazine.
While working as a scientist at Washington University in St. Louis Medical School, Darian was the author of 2 articles and found his passion for civic engagement - by volunteering as an Urban FUTURE Inspire mentor in 2007 and 2008. These experiences inspired him to write A Dying Breed Volume 1, a juvenile fiction book about a young man struggling to stay on a straight path despite being raised in a declining inner city. As well, Darian has written a second book in the Bright Lights series, Not So Princess Jasmine, Volume 1, which you just read. Volume 2 of both books is in progress.