Book description
Could this be the final victory for civil rights, or the first of many
to come?
When Henry Louis Gates spoke out about his ridiculous arrest, he
stated a truth few Americans?including President Obama?are eager to
discuss: there is no such thing as a post-racial America. When it
comes to race, the United States has come a long way, but not far
enough and not fast enough. Every day, we cope with casual racism,
myriad indignities, institutional obstacles, post-racial nonsense, and
peers bent on self-destruction. The powers that be, meanwhile, always
seem to arrive with their apologies and redress a day late and a
dollar short.
This book takes a close look at the lives of African-Americans from
diverse backgrounds as Obama?s victory comes to play a personal role
in each of their lives. Every tale delves into the complex issues we
will have to deal with going forward:
- The many challenges young black men face, such as subtle
persistent racism
- The stagnation of blacks vis ? vis whites
- Widespread black participation in the military despite
widespread anti-war sentiments
- The decline of unions even as organized labor becomes the
primary vehicle for black progress
- The challenges of interracial families
- The lack of good schools or healthcare for the poor
- The inability of well-off blacks to lift up others
Barack Obama will deliver his first official State of the Union
address in January 2010, and A Day Late and a Dollar Short will
deliver an altogether different picture of the way things really under
the first black president.
Robert E. Pierre, a reporter and editor at the
Washington Post, has covered politics and social issues at the Post
for nearly two decades. He is a former Chicago bureau chief and a key
figure in the Post's 2006 award-winning series, "Being a Black Man."
Jon Jeter has served as a producer for This American Life on
NPR and as a Bureau Chief for the Washington Post. He is the author of
Flat Broke in the Free Market.
