A distinguished columnist and cultural critic looks at the history and future of racism from the perspective of its most volatile word, revealing the institutionalization of bigotry in every aspect of American society and argues that the word is a slur that helps keep blacks at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, even when used with opposite intent. 30,000 first printing.
JABARI ASIM is the editor in chief of The Crisis, the NAACP’s flagship publication. For the previous eleven years he was an editor at the Washington Post Book World. His writing has appeared in Essence, Salon, the Los Angeles Times, the Village Voice, the Hungry Mind Review, Emerge, and elsewhere. He lives in Maryland.