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Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?: What It Means to Be Black Now (Compact Disc)
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Description
A provocative look at what it means to be Black today. It includes excerpts from over 100 interviews with Rev. Jesse Jackson, Cornel West, Skip Gates, Melissa Harris-Perry, Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, Glenn Ligon, Malcolm Gladwell, Paul Mooney, NY Gov David Paterson, Harold Ford, Jr., Soledad O'Brien, Kamala Harris, Chuck D, Questlove and others. A memoir of the racist and racial incidents that have shaped Tour 's life. An examination of Chappelle's Show and its brilliant way of playing with and skewering racial politics (informed by interviews with all of the major creative members of the show including Chappelle). And a trip through the modern Black art world focused on the work of Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, Glenn Ligon, William Pope.L, and Rashid Johnson.
Praise For…
A 2011 notable book. "...one of the most acutely observed accounts of what it is like to be young, black and middle-class in contemporary America. Touré inventively draws on a range of evidence...for a performance carried through with unsparing honesty, in a distinctive voice that is often humorous...always intensely engaging." - New York Times
"A Compelling book in the age of Obama..." - Booklist
"...powerful...A likely bellwether for America's future struggles with race." - Kirkus Reviews
"Touré candidly tackles a burning issue confronting us today. Black America is undeniably a community 'free, but not equal,' and people from all walks of life are compelled to devise new approaches to confronting today's structural inequalities. Here Touré explores insights from many perspectives to help guide the way." - Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
"A fascinating conversation among some of America's most brilliant and insightful Black thinkers candidly exploring Black identity in America today. Touré powerfully captures the pain and dissonance of Black Americans' far too often unrequited love for our great nation." - Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP
"Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness is a tour de force! I applaud Touré's courage in standing up and telling it like it is. This special book will make you think, laugh, cry - and it will make you look at race and at yourself differently." - Amy DuBois Barnett, Editor-in-Chief, Ebony
"Touré has taken a question I have asked myself uncountable times over the course of my life and asked it of everyone: 'What does it mean to be Black?' The answer in this book are thought-provoking, uplifting, hilarious and sometimes sad. His sharp writing and self-effacing stories help digest some hard facts about how identity can be used for and against each of us - and why it matters so much to all of us." - Soledad O'Brien, CNN anchor and special correspondent
"Touré is one of my favorite writers. I've watched him grow and mature into the thinking man's writer for the neo era. Extremely observant on class and culture, this book is a must-have guide from one of the few remaining minds with the courage to tell the truth about America's beautiful stain." - Questlove, from the Roots
"This book is a torch! Even though I hate highlighting, I couldn’t help it. I need to be re-reminded of so much of what Touré's saying. He offers up an insightful, smart, hip exploration of Blackness that makes it clear we should all relax: no one has a right to define Blackness. Black is whatever Black is. He's brave to tackle this issue - I can't wait for my son to read this!" - Terry McMillan, bestselling author of A Day Late and a Dollar Short and Getting to Happy
"With WHO’S AFRAID OF POST-BLACKNESS, Touré fulfills his potential as a journalist, prose stylist and thinker. He has written a book that captures the new possibilities, as well as the traps, that confront black folks in the heart of the Obama era. This isn't simply a book about now, but our collective future." - Nelson George, author of City Kid, director of HBO’s Life Support
"WHO’S AFRAID OF POST-BLACKNESS is a necessary book. To fulfill your potential as an individual or as a people, you need a clear sense of self. Touré has done the difficult but liberating work of moving the discussion of race beyond the Black Power-era thinking of the 1970's into the 21st Century." - Reginald Hudlin, filmmaker
"This book is quintessential Touré: smart, funny, irreverent, and provocative as hell. Rejecting old school racial dogma and new school myths about post-raciality, he offers a powerful and original thesis on the status of Blackness in the 21st century. Through his sharp analysis and honest reflections, Touré challenges us to embrace a more mature, sophisticated, and ultimately liberating notion of racial identity. Any serious conversation on race and culture must begin with this book." - Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, Columbia University Professor and host of "Our World With Black Enterprise"