Description
Book SynopsisSilver medalist for the IPPY award for Current Events in 2016!
Racial Realities and Post-Racial Dreams is a moral call, a harkening and quickening of the spirit, a demand for recognition for those whose voices are whispered. Julius Bailey straddles the fence of social-science research and philosophy, using empirical data and current affairs to direct his empathy-laced discourse. He turns his eye to President Obama and his critics, racism, income inequality, poverty, and xenophobia, guided by a prophetic thread that calls like-minded visionaries and progressives to action. The book is an honest look at the current state of our professed city on a hill and the destruction left on the darker sides of town.
Trade Review“Julius Bailey is a grand prophetic intellectual with deep roots in the Black freedom struggle and genuine routes to new radical democratic possibilities. Racial Realities and Post-Racial Dreams is a courageous and powerful text, indispensable for any serious reflection about the future of America and the world!” — Cornel West, author of Race Matters and Democracy Matters
“Julius Bailey has written our generation’s Race Matters. There are many books in the canon of ‘Obama,’ but Bailey seeks to answer questions around moral reasoning and provides a clarion call for change.” — Duchess Harris, Professor and Chair of American Studies, Macalester College
“This is Julius Bailey’s most important work to date. The book provides a critical, urgent, and courageous meditation on the current American racial landscape. Drawing from Western philosophy, prophetic criticism, and Black arts and culture, Bailey spotlights the political, economic, and existential challenges confronted by the American body politic. Equally important, he offers a pathway for creating a more humane, loving, safe, and just world.” — Marc Lamont Hill, Distinguished Professor of African American Studies, Morehouse College, and CNN Political Commentator
“Dr. Bailey hits the nail on the head … as he perspicaciously confronts and reverses the flawed discourse of success specific to racism in America. As only he can, he sharpens the readers’ thinking with a much-needed cultural candor unique to his profound intellect. Dr. Bailey is masterful here in calling out cowardice and calling for courage.” — Dr. Chandra Gill, CEO, Blackademically Speaking Enterprises
Table of ContentsForeword by Rev. Dr. Michael L. Pfleger
Acknowledgments
Introduction: “I, Too, Sing America”
Chapter 1: “I Can’t Breathe!” “So What! F✻✻✻ Your Breath”
Chapter 2: Obama and the Myth of a Post-Racial America
Chapter 3: Racism: The Long March to Freedom and the New Jim Crow
Chapter 4: Xenophobia: America Inside Out
Chapter 5: Poverty: A Load Too Heavy to Bear
Chapter 6: Income Inequality: The Unbridgeable Gap
Chapter 7: Repositioning the Moral Arc
Works Cited
