Searching for Whitopia

September 14, 2009
Starting in 2007, Benjamin, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan think tank Demos, and, more significantly, an African-American, spent two years traveling through America's whitest communities—patches of Idaho and Utah and even pockets of New York City—where, according to his research, more and more white people have been seeking refuge from the increasingly multicultural reality that is mainstream America. There's plenty of potential in this premise, but Benjamin writes without any sense of purpose, alternating between undigested interviews with policy experts, self-indulgent digressions on the pleasures of golf and real estate shopping and sketchy portraits of his subjects. Despite Benjamin's countless conversations with everyone from Ed Gillespie, former head of the GOP, to a drunk in an Idaho bar, he never offers any fresh insights or practical suggestions. He concludes by barraging the reader with a series of unearned “musts”: “we must revitalize the public sector,” “we must work hard for a new universalism.” If his time in the nation's whitest enclaves gave him any specific thoughts about how those ideals might be achieved, he would have done well to share them.

September 1, 2009
A black scholar moves into some of America's whitest communities, attempting to do for race what Barbara Ehrenreich did for class.

Benjamin opens with a surprising statistic."By 2042," he writes,"whites will no longer be the American majority." Perhaps even more surprising was the response that he noticed from white communities, particularly in urban areas. In an almost exaggerated version of"white flight," white populations were rising in particular communities across America. The author decided to spend time in three of those places. His first stop was St. George, Utah, home to both a bustling community of new retirees as well as a growing population of young families. There Benjamin rented a house from a rare black Mormon, joined a poker group and befriended a group of retired women. Next was Couer d'Alene, Idaho, where he settled into a pleasant life of work and dinner parties in a community that valued the outdoors. Finally, Forsyth, Ga., where Benjamin immersed himself in a church youth group. The author's experiences in"Whitopia" were surprisingly pleasant, particularly compared to a mugging incident near his home in racially diverse New York. But Benjamin is clear in his conclusion that this trend is not healthy for either white or minority communities. Ideally, he writes, each group should thrive on the resources of the city and on the influence of the other groups. Already, white communities are suffering from problems like unchecked sprawl and bad schools, and low-income minority groups are also losing access to the social capital of middle-class groups. Benjamin's points are articulate and well-reasoned, but many of them seem to function independently of his actual journey or his time spent in each community.

Interesting social experiments unevenly integrated into an intriguing thesis.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 15, 2009
Widely reported demographic shifts in contemporary America include the increase and diffusion of Latino populations and the relative population decline of Caucasians. Alongside these is a perhaps more subtle corollary, a phenomenon journalist Benjamin calls Whitopia ("white-opia"): disproportionately (generally over 90 percent) white communities that have grown rapidly in recent years, with most of the population growth also white. To learn about such communities, Benjamin here immerses himself in the life, culture, and politics of St. George, UT; Coeur d'Alene, ID; Forsyth County, GA; and Manhattan's Upper East Side Carnegie Hill area. A well-traveled black writer from a multiracial family, Benjamin hardly undertakes this venture incognito. But with his tact, genuine interest in people, and zest for golf, real estate, and socializing, Benjamin ingratiates himself nearly everywhere he goes and gains significant insights from residents, businesspeople and civic leaders. Benjamin's timely journey is surprising and provocative. He critically examines racial and economic segregation, structural racism, hostility to immigration, the rising political power of exurbs, and other sociopolitical realities that bespeak, in his assessment, a growing failure in commitment to the common goodyet he also demonstrates respect for his interviewees and offers his pointed assessments only after a thoughtful, open-minded exploration. VERDICT Written at the lay reader's level and in highly anecdotal narrative fashion, this is for all readers interested in the sociopolitics of America today. It will also be valued by policymakers and social scientists.Janet Ingraham Dwyer, Worthington Libs., OH

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 15, 2009
Benjamin, a fellow at a national nonpartisan think tankand a black manspent more than a year traveling the U.S. and living for several months in three exclusively (or nearly so) white communities. His goal was to explore the growing phenomenon in this country of segregated white communities. Benjamin examines the history, politics, economics, and culture of race and class as seen in the growth of these whitopias, racially and therefore socioeconomically exclusive communities from the exurb St. George, Utah, to the inner-city enclave of Carnegie Hill in Manhattan. Personable and adventurous, he participated in a three-day retreat at a white separatist church with links to the Aryan Nations in North Idaho. Also along the way, Benjamin house-hunted, played golf, participated in a murder mystery dinner, attended civic meetings on immigration issues, and met an array of friendly people willing to discuss their decision to move far from race and class differences. He also examines the Americans from whom the whitopians are fleeing, lower-income and middle-class people of all races. Beyond all the troubling statistics on worsening segregation, Benjamin offers a very personal look at individuals and communities across race and class that illustrates his point about lack of animus even as structural racism continues unabated. This is a thoroughly engaging and eye-opening look at an urgent social issue.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)