Dallas, TX--The author, Jerrkelia Lashaun Bazile, who is affectionately known by her family and friends as KeeKee, portrays in her book The Color of My Skin, more than just a valuable lesson about cheerleading for teens. The readers will be captivated by a much deeper message that KeeKee openly discuss throughout the pages of her book. In brief, her written expressions of her experiences reveals a riveting melodrama for which many teenagers of lesser determination, perhaps would have surrendered in defeat or at the very lease retreated to a silent state of discouragement.

It is only natural that parents seek the best for their children. However, sometimes what parents might think and do with the best of loving intentions to protect their children from perceived harm, unintentionally, put their children in harms way. KeeKee was placed in a predominantly white school, in a predominantly white neighborhood, and was sent to the school that appeared to offer the best academic advantages to her. As a result of being in that environment, unknowing to her at that time, she constantly had to battle against the invisible forces of institutionalized racism.

However, the real message of the book is not to dwell on racism, institutionalized or not. The focus of the book is to elevate the victories over the struggles and obstacles she faced to become the one of the first black varsity cheerleaders at her high school.