Backlash

April 15, 2018

Following up his 2015 New York Times op-ed letter, "Dear White America," which went viral, Yancy (philosophy, Emory Univ.; Christology and Whiteness) creates a teachable moment with this book and continues to offer a new perspective on white supremacy. After a foreword from Cornel West titled, "The End of White Innocence," Yancy provides an introduction, a reprint of the op-ed, and three essays about the existential struggle of black life in America, past and present. The author calls on white America to face the legacy and contemporary manifestations of its long-standing racism. In combining analysis of ideological abstractions with their concrete manifestations, Yancy provides both context and critique of the sheer brutal magnitude of persisting white terrorism. He argues that racial reconciliation in America requires whites to examine their selves and particularly their sense of white entitlement. VERDICT Refusing to be intimidated into silence, Yancy positions himself as an undaunted truth-teller expressing black pain and suffering as he further exposes unnerving and unsettling truths. For all readers with the courage and care to act for racial and social justice.--Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 7, 2018
Emory philosophy professor Yancy (On Race: 34 Conversations in a Time of Crisis) delivers a powerful reflection on the complexities of racial dialogue in America in this follow-up to a provocative 2015 op-ed published in the New York Times. That piece, “Dear White America,” was about racism in the 21st century and was addressed explicitly to white Americans. Though Yancy knew his essay would be controversial, he was unprepared for the deluge of hostile responses it provoked. Here, the original article appears and is followed by chapters addressing the range of responses that followed. In one chapter, Yancy parses the devastating examples of the vitriolic expressions of “unmitigated white hatred” he received. Further chapters assess the more empathetic responses and consistently invite white readers to think critically about how and why they talk about race, while also exploring Yancy’s own vulnerability within the discourse. Empathetic readers who do not initially recognize their implicit connections to racism will find insight in many of Yancy’s observations, such as his statement that “bonding with certain black people does not exempt you from white racism, just as having married a woman does not free me from sexism.” Direct and honest, Yancy’s delineations of white violence, white indifference, and white naïveté are both thoughtful and discomforting.