Dispatches from the Race War: (City Lights Open Media)

Essays on racial flashpoints, white denial, violence, and the manipulation of fear in America today. "Drawing on events from the killing of Trayvon Martin to the Black Lives Matter protests last summer, Wise calls to account his fellow white citizens and exhorts them to combat racist power structures."—The New York Times “What Tim Wise has brilliantly done is to challenge white folks' truth to see that they have a responsibility to do more than sit back and watch, but to recognize their own role in co-creating a fair, inclusive, truly democratic society.”—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow "Tim Wise's new book gives us the tools we need to reach people whose understanding of our country is white instead of right. And without pissing them off!"—James W. Loewen, author, Lies My Teacher Told Me "Tim Wise's latest is more urgent than ever. "—Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy "A white social justice advocate clearly shows how racism is America's core crisis. A trenchant assessment of our nation’s ills."—*Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review " [Dispatches from the Race War] is a bracing call to action in a moment of social unrest."—Publishers Weekly "Dispatches from the Race War exhorts white Americans to join the struggle for a fairer society."—Chapter 16 In this collection of essays, renowned social-justice advocate Tim Wise confronts racism in contemporary America. Seen through the lens of major flashpoints during the Obama and Trump years, Dispatches from the Race War faces the consequences of white supremacy in all its forms. This includes a discussion of the bigoted undertones of the Tea Party’s backlash, the killing of Trayvon Martin, current day anti-immigrant hysteria, the rise of openly avowed white nationalism, the violent policing of African Americans, and more. Wise devotes a substantial portion of the book to explore the racial ramifications of COVID-19, and the widespread protests which followed the police murder of George Floyd. Concise, accessible chapters, most written in first-person, offer an excellent source for those engaged in the anti-racism struggle. Tim Wise’s proactive approach asks white allies to contend with—and take responsibility for—their own role in perpetuating racism against Blacks and people of color. Dispatches from the Race War reminds us that the story of our country is the history of racial conflict, and that our future may depend on how—or if—we can resolve it. “To accept racism is quintessentially American,” writes Wise, “to rebel against it is human. Be human.”

Table of Contents:
Dispatches from the Race War: Table of Contents Preface: Racism and Inequality in a Time of Illness and Uprising Introduction: America’s Longest War    I. POST-RACIAL BLUES: RACE AND REALITY IN THE OBAMA YEARS Good, Now Back to Work: The meaning (and limits) of the Obama victory Denial is a River Wider than the Charles: Implicit bias and the burden of blackness in the age of Obama Harpooning the Great White Wail: Reflections on racism and right-wing buffoonery Imagine for a Moment: Protest, privilege, and the power of whiteness If it Walks Like a Duck and Talks Like a Duck: Racism and the death of respectable conservatism Bullying Pulpit: The problematic politics of personal responsibility No Innocence Left to Kill:Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, and coming of age in an unjust nation Killing One Monster, Unleashing Another: Reflections on revenge and revelry in America You Will Know Them by the Eyes of Their Whites: Ferguson and white denial   II. TRUMPISM AND THE POLITICS OF PREJUDICE Discovering the Light in Darkness: Donald Trump and the future of America Reeking City on a Dung Heap: The dangerous worldview of Donald Trump Patriotism Is for Black People: Colin Kaepernick and the politics of protest If It’s a Civil War, Pick a Side: Charlottesville and the meaning of Trumpism Making a Murderer (Politically Profitable): Immigration and hysteria in Trumplandia Racist Is too Mild a Term: The President is a white nationalist The Face of American Terrorism Is White Weaponized Nostalgia: The evil genius of Donald Trump   III.   2020 VISION—AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS? Americanism is a Pandemic’s BFF: Why the U.S. has been so vulnerable to COVID-19 It’s Not a Death Cult, It’s a Mass Murder Movement: The homicidal indifference of MAGA nation Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: COVID and Trumpism reveal America’s true virus Bad Will Hunting: The killing of Ahmaud Arbery and the rituals of white supremacy This Bias is Not Implicit: The problem isn’t fear, it’s contempt for black humanity It’s not the Apples, It’s the Orchard: Police violence is neither new nor rare Violence Never Works? America Would Beg to Differ Nobody’s Perfect—So Why Do We Need Black People to Be? Demanding angelic victims of police violence is absurd   IV. CONFRONTING WHITE DENIAL, DEFLECTION, AND FRAGILITY White Denial Is as American as Apple Pie What, Me Racist? Understanding why your intentions are not the point Weaponizing Appalachia: Race, class and the art of white deflection Chicago Is Not a Punch Line (or an Alibi): White deflection and black-on-black crime Identity Politics Are Not the Problem, Identity-Based Oppression Is Farrakhan Is Not the Problem: Exploring the appeal of white America’s bogeyman You May Not Be Racist but Your Ideology Is: Why modern conservatism is racist Who’s the Snowflake Now? White fragility in a time of turmoil   V. MIS-REMEMBER WHEN: RACE AND AMERICAN AMNESIA  Dream Interrupted: The sanitizing of Martin Luther King Jr. Holocaust Denial, American-Style History, Memory, and the Implicit Racism of Right-Wing Moralizing Europe Didn’t Send Their Best Either: Immigration and the lies we tell about America (and ourselves) Racism Is Evil but Not Un-American MAGA Is a Slur and Your Hat Is Hateful Statues Make Good Rubble: An open letter to my fellow Southerners   VI.   ARMED WITH A LOADED FOOTNOTE: DEBUNKING THE RIGHT Cheap White Whine: Debunking reverse discrimination and white victimhood Rationalizing Unequal Policing: Exposing the right’s war on justice Hey Conservatives, Facts Don’t Care About Your Feelings Either: Debunking the lie of welfare dependence Baby Mama Drama: Debunking the Black Out-of-Wedlock Birth Rate Crisis Debunking the Model Minority Myth: Using Asian Americans as pawns in a white game Intelligence and Its Discontents: Debunking IQ and the absurdity of race science Nazis Make Lousy Researchers: Debunking the myth of Jewish power   VII.      WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Not Ready to Make Nice: The fallacy of outreach and understanding Checking Privilege (While Not Being an Asshole) Spreading Solidarity in Pandemic Times Coalition building in a post-corona America “Listen to Black People” is Completely Correct and Entirely Insufficient: Amplifying Black voices does not mean refusing to use our own       Taking Personal Responsibility Seriously: Rejecting white saviorism and embracing allyship Forget STEM, We Need MESH: Civics education and the future of America Who’s Afraid of De-Policing? Why a radical sounding idea isn’t as crazy as you think Hope Is a Noun, Justice Is a Verb, and Nouns are Not Enough     About the Author