As AA co-founder Bill W. often pointed out, "Newcomers . . . represent almost every belief and
New AA Pamphlet Reaches Out
to Black/African Americans
"The neighborhood I grew up in seemed predominantly white and male. Somehow I felt that being female and black was never going to be good enough. In A.A. it didn't seem as if the color of my skin even mattered. I feel like I am simply a member of Alcoholics Anonymous---nothing more, nothing less."
--Paula"I was a black face in a white world, and my fear-based, aggressive personality came to the surface. I did get the help I needed in A.A., but it was what did not happen there that surprised me most. I was not judged, nor was I made to feel different." ---Kirk
"I'd learned how to live separate, but not always equal. This A.A. thing knocked down that barrier of me versus you. I began to see that, although I was black, A.A. would work for me."
---Sam
New York, September 2001---Paula, Kirk and Sam are three of the nine AA members who relate their experience as recovering alcoholics in a new pamphlet just released by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services (AAWS): “Can A.A. Help Me Too? Black/African Americans Share Their Stories.”
In recollections offering candid viewpoints and feelings, the members describe their preconceived notions of AA and what happened---or did not happen---when they stepped tentatively into their first AA meetings.
As early as 1940, when AA was a five-year-old fledgling, members of the black community were part of the Fellowship. Since then, and despite the hurdles sometimes faced by many people of color in society at large, thousands of black alcoholics have sobered up in AA and gone on to help other still-suffering alcoholics.
Like all books, pamphlets and audio/visual material published by AAWS, this pamphlet has been approved by AA's General Service Conference---the voice and conscience of the society. It offers a bridge to the AA Fellowship for Black/African American alcoholics who may be reluctant because of the mistaken notion that AA is not for them.
As the AA Preamble clearly states, "The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. . . A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution . . ."
attitude imaginable. We have atheists and agnostics . . . people of nearly every race, culture and
religion."
What binds AAs together, he stressed, is their alcoholism---their "kinship
of a common suffering
. . . Let us always try to be inclusive rather than exclusive."
One of the first AA Conference-approved pamphlets targeted to a special
population group appeared
in the early 1950s, when "Letter to a Woman Alcoholic" was published.
Over the years it has
helped thousands of alcoholic women overcome their fears, identify with
other alcoholics and find
sobriety in AA.
Since then, when a
strong need for special-interest information and sharing has arisen, it
has been
filled by such pamphlets as: "Young People and AA" and "Too Young?" (illustrated);
"AA and the
Armed Services"; "AA in Correctional Facilities" and "It Sure Beats Sitting
in a Cell"; "Do You
Think You're Different?"; "AA for the Native North American"; "AA and the
Gay/Lesbian
Alcoholic."
Most of these pamphlets are also available in Spanish and French. Several
are available in other
languages as well. To obtain copies of “Can AA Help Me Too? and other
AA information, call your
local AA Intergroup or Central Office. Contact information can be
located on our Web site
(www.aa.org) or in your local telephone directories.
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