Customer Reviews

By The Color Of Our Skin

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This is a distinctive book about race and, in particular, the failures of integration in the United States. American University communications professors Leonard Steinhorn and Barbara Diggs-Brown document and discuss black-white relations, drawing upon social science scholarship, the media and popular culture, and their own personal experiences. The authors talk about integration and segregation not only in schools and the workplace, but also in worship, leisure, and recreational pursuits. In doing so, they provide a well-rounded but perhaps even more dismal assessment (than others) of the failures of formal, legal efforts to achieve both equality and integration.

Drawing upon their varied professional experiences, they argue that the media has helped to foster an illusion of integration. In particular, they point to the typically diverse casting of on-air television news reporters at the national and local level that suggest an interpersonal racial ease only rarely achieved. The more common view, they argue, is a society where black and white people may work together [if mostly on unequal terms], but then pass each other like ships in the night on the way home to neighborhoods that are overwhelmingly white or black. Their analysis is especially significant for large northeastern and midwestern cities, where black-white relations mostly define the race landscape.

In the end, this book challenges scholars and citizens alike to reflect honestly on our values, our residential choices, and personal practices, not just on rhetoric. Steinhorn and Diggs-Brown show us that a commitment to integration requires hard work and difficult choices, both at the personal and community levels, in ways that national rhetoric about race misses.

The subject of race provokes more deceit, denial and dishonesty than any other issue in American life. The authors of this book explore the reality-versus-image dichotomy more analytically than any other work I've read. And they're right on the money with respect to affirmative action, which was developed as a counter-weight to racism, and those critics who declare that it gives rise to white resentment. This position is akin to using an experimental treatment for cancer, and then declaring that the treatment CAUSED the cancer. It is well settled that there was white resentment long before the words "affirmative" and "action" were ever used in the same sentence. This book should be required reading at every college in America.

The truth is not always pretty or palatable, but as the Bible says, it "shall set you free." That is the basic premise, and promise, of "By the Color of Our Skin: the Illusion of Integration and the Reality of Race," brilliantly written, argued and researched by Leonard Steinhorn and Barbara Diggs-Brown.

The 1990s have not exactly been famine years for books on race, and some of them, quite frankly, have an "attitude" and an ideological ax to grind. "By the Color of Our Skin," in contrast, gives us a stark and uncompromisingly fair and honest picture of reality, moving the reader -- with statistics, facts, and cultural and historical analysis -- across America's vast sociological landscape, to the conclusion that for all of the Colin Powells, Oprah Winfreys, Michael Jordans, and Bill Cosbys, we are surely calcifying into two separate Americas -- one black, one white.

Politicians, the media and the entertainment industries play and perpetuate a tune of integration-on-its-way-to-being-achieved, and they have "charmed" the American people into thinking that things are ultimately moving in the right direction, that all that is needed now is time. But it is precisely time that is working against us, and unless we -- to borrow a medical phrase -- take some "heroic measures," we will become two countries sharing one land.

Admittedly, the authors are not particularly optimistic that Americans will take such "heroic measures." The resistance to affirmative action makes that clear. Indeed, all the signs suggest that Americans have neither the will nor the inclination to make the necessary sacrifices. But then the question is, do we want to become like Belgium, fractured along Flemish and Waloon fault lines, or a Switzerland divided into separate national cantons? Perhaps the most we can hope for is co-existence, the authors say, but clearly Steinhorn and Diggs-Brown prefer to light a candle than curse the darkness.

For, as the authors point out, there are models for reasonably successful integration: Shaker Heights, Ohio; the Corning Corporation in New York state; the United States military. But it requires an enormous amount of work, will, dedication, and constant vigiliance to see that the disease of racism and separatism does not gain the upper hand.

The U.S. military is wise enough to understand that lives depend on racial harmony within the ranks. We should be wise enough to understand that the life -- the very survival -- of our country may depend on the same thing.

"By the Color of Our Skin" cuts to the bone of America's racial dilemma. More than any other book on the subject, it has the potential to change hearts and minds in this country, to bequeath to our children a better, more whole America. This book is the most candid, creative and refreshing treatment of the race question I have ever read. I cannot recommend it too highly.

Its not very often that a book about race does not have a hidden agenda. Most are thinly disguised propaganda opposed or supporting a particular issue. Many blame the oppressed or the oppressor. This book gets to the heart of the matter (race/integration) and does not let go. I, for one, have been hopeful regarding race relations in this country and still am. No doubt we as a nation have come a long way. However when ever I begin to believe that racism and racial prejudice is on the decline, I am harshly reminded. O.J., C.C.C., Militia are to name a few. The authors expose the lack of candidness we have when discussing race and how (from JFK to Clinton) politicians have used race and raced based rhetoric to their advantage. Alas, it is easier to stike fear and anger than to inspire. The book left me with a certain sadness, perhaps the feeling of being reminded the truth of a situation when in denial. While this book is important to both white and black americans. It is black americans who should take note; Self empowerment and self sufficiency becomes even more vitally important. Congress, the courts and the "liberal minded" white person often feel that they have done enough. Whether as a moral imparitive or for basic survival, black people must be honest with themselves. Most whites do not want real integration for reasons described in the book. Most blacks must realize for that reason, advancing in this nation in many ways must depend on blacks themselves. Thank you Mr. Steinhorn and Ms. Diggs-Brown for an excellent book!

This book is a must read for anyone looking to understand race relations in America. It looks at every aspect of race in America -- history, media, culture, politics, how we lead our lives -- and each page offers a level of depth not often found in other books. Little wonder that Dr. Alvin Poussaint called it essential reading on race. The basic premise of the book is that America may be desegregating but we are not integrating -- that our lives may intersect but they do not integrate. The book doesn't deny the progress we've made, but it shows how we remain fundamentally separate in the parts of our lives that involve personal choice -- our neighborhoods, schools, homes and culture. Perhaps most important, the book shows how the basic contradiction of American history -- a nation built on freedom and equality that enslaved and segregated some of its people -- has permeated almost every aspect of our lives. There are lots of insights here: how the increasing integration of media images may hinder real integration; how the black experience is fundamentally different from the experience of other minorities; how politicians use the symbolism of integration for their own purposes; how whites and blacks see the same things differently; how the patterns of racial separation that we see today were becoming apparent before the civil rights movement, meaning that the integration ideal of the Sixties was never really possible. You'll learn about why blacks tolerate Farrakhan; why whites don't like to buy homes owned by blacks, even in predominantly white communities; how neighborhoods turn from all white to mostly black; how you can never trust public opinion polls on race; why blacks and whites seem to be gravitating toward different sports. The book also explores whether we can ever overcome this divide -- and offers an agenda of racial honesty that may be the only way out. And one final thing: the book is beautifully written, easy to read, remarkable for a book packed with so many ideas and insights. This book deserves a lot more publicity. It's one of the most important books you'll read.

Anyone interested in race relations -- indeed anyone interested in America -- should read By the Color of Our Skin: The Illusion of Integration and the Reality of Race. This is a significant book and I'm thankful I was able to read an advance copy of it. It's well written and every page seems full of insights and ideas. The authors probe deep into our society, puncturing the illusion that we are moving toward an integrated America and forcing us to look deep into our own assumptions about race. This book shows how blacks and whites intersect but never really integrate. It shows how the media sustains an "integration illusion" and how politicians use the integration ideal for their own purposes. It shows how blacks and whites perceive the world differently, and how the black image in the white mind undermines any chance for integration. It also calls for what can only be labeled as radical racial honesty -- and an end to the state of denial that currently governs our racial dialogue. Another point I found fascinating is how we are wrong to lump blacks together with Hispanics and Asians as one large group made of "people of color" -- in truth, as the book shows, Hispanics and Asians are assimilating in ways that blacks have never been able to integrate. By the way, ignore the November 15 Kirkus review posted here. It's obvious that the reviewer didn't read the book and simply took a few items out of context to make the review sound intelligent. I did not even recognize this book from reading that review -- it is a cimplete misrepresentation that missed the whole point of the book. The bottom line is: you will learn from this book and we'll all be better off from reading it. It deserves the attention of all Americans concerned with race relations and the future of their country.

I've read "By the Color of Our Skin" three times. Each time I take away something different, and each time I cry. I cry because this book tells ugly, painful truths. And I cry because these are truths that most often remain missing from dialogue in our society, yet I experience them daily as half of an interracial black-and-white couple. In this book are things that African Americans (and their significant others of other races) know and discuss among themselves, things that white people discuss infrequently and only in whispered tones, and it's affirming to have them released into a public venue.

While "By the Color of Our Skin" was written by scholars/professors, the authors are not scientific writers; they are speechwriters and op-ed writers. They make their points with examples from every day culture, news and television with easy-to-understand, illustrative and flowing language. The book would be a fast read if not for its subject matter, which makes the reader stop and think throughout every page.

This is a book that I read for a while, then put down, read, and put down. I didn't WANT the authors to be right. I was born in the "we shall overcome" '60s, & am still getting over the whiplash from R. Reagan's "anecdotes" about "welfare mothers" (people who gave birth to welfare???) and G. Bush I's disgusting Willie Horton spectacle. It has been a couple of decades & I am still hoping that it is just a blip. But of course it isn't.

But my local paper, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, had this story last week: The report by the African American Men Project found that in 2000:

*About 44 percent of all black men in Hennepin County between the ages of 18 and 30 were arrested and booked into jail during the year.
*49 percent lived in one of Minneapolis' poorest and most unsafe neighborhoods.
*47 percent were being raised by single mothers.
*28 percent finished high school in four years.

The evidence shows that we ARE two countries, separate and unequal. And Diggs-Brown and Steinhorn show that maybe separate and equal are better than what we have now. Their examples of a few settings that are carefully managed to become & stay integrated are enlightening. It can be done, but it sure does take a strong will. The majority of whites, while seeing themselves as decent people, have a poor knowledge of history and don't follow politics. They don't have the will & the commitment to create more integrated communities if the price is higher taxes and constant vigilance.

One thing I was puzzled about, though, was that they did not address what is clearly an increased rate of intermarriage among blacks and whites during the 1990s. How was that happening while housing in general remained dismally segregated?

As to the comment in another review that Latinos & Asians should have been included, I don't agree. This book examines the peculiar, sad story of how African-Americans, as a group, came to be in such a bind in this country. Their story is distinctive and troubling and deserves examination on its own.

I don't want these authors to be right. But I thank them for making me think hard thoughts.

The best book yet on race relations. A compelling read for any American interested in an honest assessment of the devastating consequences of our nation's arrogance and hypocrisy surrounding racist sentiments and practices.

While I understood that this book was dealing with integration issues between Black and Whites, I found the dismissal of Asians and Latinos in this equation as being somewhat disturbing. This book simply states that they are more integrated by citing interracial marriage rates and where they live while examining the separate circumstances of Blacks extensively. I felt that by dismissing the Asian and Latino equation by simply citing IR marriage rates and housing patterns as evidence of their relatively successful integration while citing TV programming, sports, social clubs, music preferances, vacation choices, etc... as proof of Black's unsuccessful integration as unconvincing. You cannot make a conclusion about the truthfulness of this assertion because they were not given the same scrutiny and comparison. If they were, the evidence may show that this issue isn't simply Black or White, but complex.

I also noticed that the majority of the emphasis was on White views and contributions to the segregation of Blacks while the Black views and contributions to their (oft-asserted) segregation was relatively unexplored. To have a discussion on Black and White, you need equal input from both groups. Ironically, this book indulges in what it attempts to expose...it segregates Blacks by not equally exploring their views and contributions in this Black-White relationship. It's almost as if it's taken for granted that Blacks are the victims, Whites the perpetrators, and that it doesn't matter what Blacks think because they are powerless in this relationship.

While this book contains truths, it doesn't encompass THE truth. It makes one question what is integration, what were our expectations of it, what are our hopes for it, how is it succeeding, how is it failing, etc...but it also made me think that this issue encompasses more than a Black-White dynamic and that to leave out non W/B Americans in this equation (ie Asians, Latinos, Native Americans, and mixed-race people) is to segregate and not explore additional truths and honesty.