Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity (City Lights Open Media) [Paperback]

Tim Wise (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2010 | Series: City Lights Open Media

"It's a great book. I highly, highly, highly recommend it." --Tavis Smiley

In this powerful follow-up to Between Barack and a Hard Place, Tim Wise argues against “colorblindness” and for a deeper color-consciousness in both public and private practice. We can only begin to move toward authentic social and economic equity through what Wise calls "illuminated individualism"—acknowledging the diverse identities that have shaped our perceptions, and the role that race continues to play in the maintenance of disparities between whites and people of color in the United States today. This is the first book to discuss the pitfalls of “colorblindness” in the Obama era.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his follow-up to Between Barack and a Hard Place, Wise continues to explore his provocative contention that Obama's commitment to transcending racism has made it "more difficult than ever to address ongoing racial bias" in America. By refusing to openly confront racism, Wise argues, the President has ceded the ground to conservatives, allowing them to "manipulate racial angers unmolested and unchecked." While many progressives are disappointed that Obama has, in their view, capitulated to corporate interests and not forged his own New Deal, Wise makes the opposite charge. He believes that Obama is in fact too eager to follow FDR's lead in subordinating racial issues to the fight against poverty. Obama's endorsement of New Deal measures like social security, FHA home loan programs, and the G.I. Bill downplays the extent to which these programs were and continue to be "intensely racialized." Wise also contends that the pervasiveness of racism has a subconscious effect on Americans that can only be altered by forcing the issue into the open.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Tim Wise provocatively takes up the bitterness of the contemporary debate over racially charged issues aiming at racial justice and the general nature and implications of liberalism in a nation which faces the troublesome problem of discrimination."--Tribune India

"With Colorblind, Tim Wise offers a gutsy call to arms. Rather than play nice and reiterate the fiction of black racial transcendence, Wise takes the gloves off: He insists white Americans themselves must be at the forefront of the policy shifts necessary to correct our nation's racial imbalances in crime, health, wealth, education and more. A piercing, passionate and illuminating critique of the post-racial moment." --Bakari Kitwana, author of The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture

"Tim Wise's Colorblind brilliantly challenges the idea that the election of Obama has ushered in a post-racial era. In clear, engaging, and accessible prose, Wise explains that ignoring problems does not make them go away, that race-bound problems require race-conscious remedies. Perhaps most important, Colorblind proposes practical solutions to our problems and promotes new ways of thinking that encourage us to both recognize differences and to transcend them." --George Lipsitz, author of The Possessive Investment in Whiteness

"At every turn and every corner, in every crevice and every crack, Tim Wise debunks the mythology of a Color Blind' society with the vigor of a statistician and the passion befitting one of the preeminent anti-racist theorists working today. You will literally lose your breath trying to keep up with the ways that Wise lays waste to the idea that we've achieved anything close to a 'post-race' society. If you don't know who Tim Wise is, you will after this book." --Mark Anthony Neal, author of New Black Man and Professor of African & African-American Studies at Duke University

"A phenomenal book, a great read, you definitely want to check out." --Roland Martin, The Tom Joyner Show & CNN

"I finally finished Tim Wise's 'Colorblind' and found it right-on, straight-ahead piece of work. This guy hits all the targets, it's really quite remarkable . . . That's two of his that I've read [the first being 'Between Barack'] and they are both works of crystal truth . . ." --Mumia Abu-Jamal

"America needs not to 'move beyond' race but to adopt innovative public policies that directly address it. Wise gives specific ideas of what those policies might be." --World Wide Work

"Wise's powerful and thought-provoking book is aimed at opening the eyes of Americans, by showing them that this country, in 2010, is not a colorblind society." --The Empowerment Initiative Online Newsletter

"Tim Wise dismantles the myth that full equality has been won and the playing field is level with hard facts, citing studies that have shown the persistence of institutional racism and white racial preference in all areas, including employment, education and health care." --Kel Munger --Sacramento News and Review

"The book is consistently interesting and, in many ways, unsettling as it challenges the settled opinions on race matters. . . . In a post-racial 7society, race-bound problems require race-conscious remedies.' A preeminent anti-racist, Tim Wise lays out brilliantly his views on a society that is yet to move beyond discrimination to a post-racial liberalism." --Tribune India

"The author of 'White Like Me' returns with the timely and provocative 'Colorblind,' examining the ongoing racial disparities in all aspects of American life in the age of Obama. Wise convincingly argues that by turning a colorblind eye, we not only fail to achieve equality but in fact worsen racial injustice." --Shelf Unbound


"A new book by Tim Wise, 'Colorblind: The Rise of Post-racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity', provides an excellent companion piece to Alexander's 'New Jim Crow'. Wise argues that Barack Obama's appeal to post-racial universalism has been an unmitigated disaster. By refusing to address the tidal wave of racist rhetoric currently engulfing the Republic, Obama has multiplied its power. . . . I urge you to run out and buy a copy of this important book..." --Alan Bean, Friends of Justice

"In Colorblind, Wise explores the implications of the Obama victory on the country’s racial discourse. His disturbing, but quite convincing, conclusion is that the Obama administration’s embrace of what Wise calls 'post-racial liberalism'—a combination of race-neutral rhetoric and public policy that avoid race-conscious remedies—makes the challenging of ongoing racism more difficult." -- Political Media Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: City Lights Publishers (June 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872865088
• ISBN-13: 978-0872865082
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,796 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Specific Demographics > Minority Studies
  • #19 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Civil Rights & Liberties
  • #46 in Books > History > Americas > United States > African Americans > Discrimination & Racism

More About the Author

"Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and activists in the U.S., and has been called, ""One of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation,"" by best-selling author and professor Michael Eric Dyson, of Georgetown University. Wise has spoken in 48 states, and on over 400 college campuses, including Harvard, Stanford, and the Law Schools at Yale and Columbia, and has spoken to community groups around the nation. Wise is the 2008 Oliver L. Brown Distinguished Visiting Scholar for Diversity Issues at Washburn University, in Topeka, Kansas: an honor named for the lead plaintiff in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. He is the author of White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, and Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White. A collection of his essays, Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male, was published in the Fall of 2008."

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read May 13, 2010

By B. Maina

Format:Paperback

Mr Wise explores the often told narrative of a Post-Racial America especially in the age of Obama and why this in itself remains a falsehood as it not only allows white America to resist honest talk on racism but it helps their continued racism towards people of color; i.e "I can't stand black people, but Obama is alright".

In addition Mr Wise examines other "issues"-I say issues in quotes because, people of color have long experienced these problems-that are making any honest discussion on race impossible e.g. the recession and the myth of a Color-Blind society which in itself is a racist construct telling us to be blind to problems experienced by people of color as a result of their race and hence deny the existence of systemic racism.

18 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tim Wise is incredible May 15, 2010

By Jonathon Booth

Format:Paperback

Tim Wise is without a doubt one of the best white anti racist thinkers around. All of his books are great and important reading for anyone interested in combatting white supremacy and creating a more equitable society.

His important attacks on the absurd, frankly racist, conservative doctrine of "color blindness" are extremely prescient in these supposedly post-racial times.

While his last major book, White Like Me, focused on the personal attributes of White Privilege, this book focuses more on our current, racially charged political atmosphere. (This is actually a gross over simplification of both books, which are very much worth reading). With right wing calls for "Less tax money for lazy welfare queens," racist laws targeting latinos, and a whole range of other racist legislation and actions, Tim Wise stands against the madness and for a fair and equal society.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Insights on the new racism August 29, 2010

By Jeff King

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Wise, with good insight and armed with up-to-date facts, compellingly portrays the new strategies that have been developed within the US political system that actually serve to perpetuate racism in our society. Scary and brutal--a must read for anyone who really wants to know how our society subtley and not so subtley pushes a White supremacy agenda without even knowing it.