About Aswad Thomas

Aswad was born in Hartford, CT but spent most of his childhood years in Highland Park, Michigan, a city within Detroit, Michigan. He grew up in a single-parent home along with four older brothers. He lived in two communities riddled with systematic barriers that didn’t provide him with many opportunities to succeed in life. They were, and still are, poverty-stricken communities that provides little to no hope for young men of color. As the youngest child in his family, he watched as three of his older brothers and their friends walked the path of destruction. As he viewed the paths that their lives were taking, he promised himself that he wasn’t going to do the same. Aswad went on to excel in the classroom and on the basketball court. His life changed forever when he became a victim gun violence.

The  Stars Represent You and Me is a story that will provide a glimpse into the lives of two childhood best friends, Duke and Reubin. Duke and Reubin did their best to use the stars in the sky as a guide to navigating their way through some of the negative influences that surrounded them. Duke and Reubin represented hope for their poverty-stricken and violence-plagued Detroit neighborhood. As they viewed the negative paths other boys were taking, Duke & Reubin promised each other that they were going to follow a different path in life, a positive path to success. Until one day, it all went wrong, when Reubin was shot and killed. Through a strong circle of support provided by his family and coach, Duke manages and ultimately triumphs over tragedy and pain to keep the promise he made to Reubin. The book is based on a true story.