Whites Shackled Themselves to Race and Blacks Have Yet to Free Ourselves

Whites Shackled Themselves to Race and Blacks Have Yet to Free Ourselves, argues that Trumpism has exposed the flaws in the Civil Rights era ethos. Instead of concentrating on changing majority hearts and minds, the book asks that the American descendants of African slaves change our own–change from focusing on a color-based identity that was imposed from without, to an identity focused on the indelible culture we’ve built from within. It asks that we look at the costs that we have paid for continuing to see ourselves-and this country-through the black/white racial frame and its historically negative definitions of the ‘black race.’ It discusses how, through programs of historical and cultural self-education, we can redefine ourselves to ourselves as the vital American cultural force that we have become, as opposed to a racial caste we were branded centuries ago. It insists that we use that elevated self-image to teach ourselves to live and thrive in the often racist America we have, as opposed to awaiting The Dream of the majority’s colorblind perfection. It’s about devising systems to teach young Afro-Americans to regard themselves as a critical through line of American history, an historical treasure trove, and cultural treasure. It’s about redefining our relationship to race, culture, history, and America itself.