The eldest of three boys, Dr. Joe-Joe was born into a European-American family, to a Jewish mother and an Irish/English father. The family lived in an apartment behind a “packie” (Massachusetts-speak for a convenience store that sells alcohol). When he was just a year old, his parents adopted five-week-old Kacey, and a few years later, their brother B-J was born.

Racism became an issue early on for the McManus boys because of the racist reactions to Kacey, who was African American. Later, issues of anti-Semitism and classism piled on. But there was nothing more difficult than the racism that Kacey endured personally.

Fast forward to today, and Joe-Joe is a dad. Makaila (they/them pronouns) identifies as a racially mixed non-binary kid. At ten-years-old, after viewing the footage of the murder of George Floyd with their dad, Makaila challenged him to do more. Makaila knew about Dr. Joe-Joe’s work. They had taken part in protests, participated in classes Joe-Joe taught, and joined in on conversations about racism and intersecting oppression at home.

After seeing the video, Makaila’s immediate response was to tell their dad that he needed to do more, that what he had done so far was not enough. That conversation was instrumental in pushing Dr. Joe-Joe to write his upcoming book, Brother: What I’ve Learned About Living an Anti-racist Life, and to step up his work to focus more directly on anti-racism, as it had begun so many years ago when he and Kacey were in high school.

From early childhood experiences until today, Joe-Joe continues to strive to live his best anti-racist life; continuing to learn, partnering with others working to make a difference, and fighting for diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in his personal life, in community, and professionally.