In The Deeper the Roots: A Memoir of Hope and Home, Michael Tubbs holds court one-on-one with readers while challenging the world to look beyond race, place, and economic status to find the budding shoots of potential and possibility. He speaks reverently of his hometown of Stockton, California, once a city on the verge of financial collapse, and of his life growing up as the son of an incarcerated father and a teenaged mother — a life in which poverty and loss abounded. He details with heartache his father's struggles, his absence, and its impact, along with the brushes he had with others who had similar stories among his high school friends, the students he taught, and other young African-American men in his community. At the same time, he extolls the many virtues of the women in his life who served as three strong pillars — his mother, grandmother, and aunt, who surrounded him with love, fight, faith, and patience.

Unflinchingly, Tubbs shares the soft bigotry that followed him through his formal education and the fervor with which he is underestimated and discounted on his path. He is intelligent, charismatic, quick-witted, and sharp-tongued for those who reveal their low expectations of him and desire to see him fail. His academic prowess and ease of matriculation set many back on their heels as he won a high-school essay contest hosted by author Alice Walker and entry to an elite education at Stanford University.

At Stanford, Tubbs learns the true meanings of social impact and social justice. He travels to El Salvador and South Africa, witnesses the abject poverty in those countries far beyond what he knows, and sees first-hand inadequate infrastructure, economic deprivation, rampant corruption, and violence. He is even confronted with his own privilege, that of being an American with the kind of opportunities that living in this country can afford, even for someone living on urban poverty’s edge. He sees himself in the poverty-stricken young boys who trade smiles and stories of their lives with him for meals. He reflects on his own survivor’s guilt about how the trajectory of his life is moving him forward toward success while many young Black men languish, bereft of opportunity. He decides not just to stand witness but to fulfill a promise and return home to embark on a career of service and education.

Tubbs became an intern in the Obama White House and, during that time, a eulogist at his cousin’s funeral, an African-American male victim of gun violence. He finds the dichotomy of the two worlds staggering. He notes that every year of his college career was punctuated by the murder of Black men — Troy Davis, Oscar Grant, and Trayvon Martin, among others. He often refers to the poem written by the late rapper Tupac Shakur that served as a source of inspiration, “The Rose that Grew from Concrete,” which portrays how a man can survive the harsh realities of life by remaining focused on his goals despite the challenges. So began his time as a community organizer, an educator creating programs for at-risk youth, a motivational speaker serving as Stanford’s NAACP president — followed by a run for Stockton’s city council — a run that attracted the attention, endorsement, and donations of such luminaries as Oprah Winfrey and Oakland, California’s own MC Hammer. In his campaign, Tubbs grapples with the injustices meted out to the underserved in Stockton’s communities. This is where he builds a relationship with the local police chief to find solutions to crime in the city and reimagine public safety with the help of a program that would find officers outfitted with body cameras.

In a memoir filled with accolades and story after story of “beating the odds,” it is with deep pain that Tubbs recounts the story of his 2014 DUI arrest while serving as a young city council member. He expounds with honesty, grace, and humility the experience of having his mugshot taken, sleeping in a jail cell, and the heavy weight of letting himself down. He remarks on the experience as if combatting an invisible self-fulfilling prophecy. He wasn’t supposed to successfully make it to age 24 outside of a jail cell or a coffin.

However, Tubbs’ indomitable spirit propelled him ever forward, becoming the root of his memoir. He did not wallow in his mistakes. He did not become mired in the quicksand of angst and second-guessing. Instead, he took hold of atonement and a second chance to keep going. With the support of various political allies, including grassroots groups and activists, community-based organizations, law enforcement, and the business community, Tubbs launched a bid for mayor of Stockton at age 25. This time the luminaries who endorsed him included President Barack Obama. Tubbs became the youngest person ever to be elected mayor of more than a hundred thousand people and Stockton’s first Black mayor. Tubbs wanted to change Stockton — from a place where people could work their whole lives and still face housing insecurity, job insecurity, a lack of adequate health care, and a lack of access to healthy food — to one of renewal and reinvention. He lamented that the city’s poverty, violence, and educational lapses were a part of larger systemic issues across the country. In an enterprising move, he contemplated the possibility of a guaranteed universal income to fight poverty. The proposal ignited a debate about such a program’s legitimacy and even patriotism. The discussions and criticism were steeped heavily in racism and prejudice.

Undeterred, in February 2019, Tubbs began the first mayor-led basic income pilot in U.S. history. A hundred and thirty families received $500 a month through the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED) project. The goal was to “provide an income floor that ensured that all people were afforded a baseline standard of living in hopes it would create a humane society that would enable members to contribute to traditional work contexts or otherwise, in environments where their dignity was protected.”

And Tubbs didn’t stop there. In the area of education, never far from his mind, he raised over $20 million dollars to create the Stockton Scholars, a scholarship and mentorship program for Stockton students, an investment that would ensure every high school graduate from the largest school districts in the city would be guaranteed a scholarship to a trade school, a community college, or a four-year university.

Tubbs’ approach to governing and public service was progressive and put the needs of his constituents or those who would be most affected by policy change at the forefront. He kept a clear goal in mind: to help the community of Stockton mitigate its challenges by often cutting out the red tape to provide direct service to those who need it most. The SEED program was a success, so much so that more than fifty mayors now support guaranteed income, have piloted it in their cities, or have advocated for it as a federal policy.

Throughout the positions Tubbs has held and the leadership roles he’s taken on, hope has proven to be a constant shining beacon. Home has also kept him grounded and connected to the plights and pains of his community. These two elements have served to guide him in the face of loss and injustice to bring about strength and fire for equality and equity for those among us who begin life in a struggle not of their making, who fight for small and big moments of dignity and accomplishment. These deep roots Tubbs speaks of are not just about family lines and ties, but of our connection to our fellow man and to lives that we can touch by listening, understanding, and caring about finding solutions to the ills of our society. Tubbs explains these points expertly, not with the expected political dogma, but with a true public servant’s will.

Tubbs’ memoir is timely and significant to the conversations surrounding systemic racism and poverty, especially since the pandemic began and the murders of several Black men put racial equity conversations squarely in our front view. Told with heart and monumental advocacy for public service, The Deeper the Roots is a primer for the service-minded and a source of inspiration for anyone seeking a story of hard-won successes against the odds. Tubbs’ deep knowledge of Stockton’s needs and determination to be the catalyst for change at such a young age is admirable. Interweaving heartache and joy, Tubbs tells his story with honesty, humility, grace, and passion as the first spark in a call to action for the reader to follow.

Lauren Brathwaite is associate managing editor at Philanthropy News Digest.