The End of Blackness [Hardcover]

Debra J. Dickerson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 2004

“This book will prove and promote the idea that the concept of ‘blackness,’ as it has come to be understood, is rapidly losing its ability to describe, let alone predict or manipulate, the political and social behavior of African Americans.” Such is the explosive enterprise of what is sure to be one of the most
controversial books of recent times.

How has the notion of “blackness” bamboozled African Americans into an unhealthy obsession with white America? What are the deleterious consequences of this? How has “blackness” diminished the sovereignty of African Americans as rational and moral beings? How has white America exploited the concept to sublimate its rage toward and contempt for black America? Is American racism an intractable malaise, and who gets to decide when the past is over?

In this unstinting, keen, and brutally funny manifesto, Debra Dickerson critiques “race” as a bankrupt scientific and social construct, exposing the insidious, manipulative racial myths and prejudices still held by American blacks and whites. She examines much statistical rubbish that passes for sociological fact, the purposeful corruption of American history, and the resulting social ills and pathologies bedeviling both the black and white communities.

She bravely argues that, whether or not African Americans still have a moral claim against this country, they must now be fiercely self-reliant, ignoring the hackneyed presuppositions and expectations of whites and other blacks still stuck in tired and fruitless ways of thinking.

As the New York Times remarked about her highly acclaimed memoir, An American Story, “it is a startling thing to hear an American speak as frankly and un-self-servingly about race as Dickerson does.”

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In order to make progress possible, blacks have to give up on the past-that's the core argument of this inflammatory, cogently written book. Dickerson, a lawyer and journalist, continues the examination of black self-reliance that she introduced in her first book, An American Story. This time, however, she leaves her own experiences out of it and focuses on breaking down racial myths, social concepts and prejudices with the help of statistics and citations by such figures as W.E.B. Du Bois, Frederick Douglass and James Baldwin. Racism, according to the author, "is compounded by black cooperation and by fruitless black jousts with intransigence, while winnable victories are ignored because they do not center on whites and because they are unglamorous." Dismissing Afrocentrism as "self-eliminative and isolationist," Dickerson encourages blacks to focus on their own talents and ignore the expectations of whites and other blacks. She fearlessly condemns the black community for defending the actions of O.J. Simpson and Marion Barry, and for scorning "Uncle Tom" figures like Julian Abele, a black architect who designed Duke University in the 1920s despite its whites-only policy preventing him from ever visiting the campus. "The great architect never got to see his creation, but those for whom he left it in trust-knowledge seekers of all races and nationalities-do. Thank God he was an Uncle Tom," she writes. Few of the book's assertions are new or groundbreaking, but Dickerson updates and expands the arguments by using references to current television sitcoms, mass-mailed Internet jokes that reinforce stereotypes and the emergence of hip-hop artists as individualistic thinkers to back up her statements. Addressing an incendiary issue in a straightforward and un-self-serving manner, this polemic is likely to provoke thoughtful discussion.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Journalist Dickerson asserts that black consciousness, Afrocentrism, and other aesthetics growing out of the civil rights movement have reached their limitations as progressive strategies. They have focused too much on whites by seeking to change their minds and provoke acknowledgment or admission of racism. Given that whites feel they have conceded enough and are blinded by self-interest, a better strategy would be to turn the focus inward, to transcend race while continuing to address historic racism. Dickerson's perspective is that of a post-civil rights generation, who, although they have been the direct beneficiaries of the movement and are well versed in historical facts, are more inclined to look for solutions in new arenas. She contrasts members of the old-school civil rights generation with youngsters from the emerging hip-hop generation, who have lost respect for their elders even as some of them continue to fall victim to self-destructive forces centered in racism. This is a thought-provoking and compelling look at generational perspectives on contemporary race issues. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon; 1 edition (January 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375421572
• ISBN-13: 978-0375421570
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,090,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great no-prisoner take on racism, blackness, July 2, 2004

By 

Scott Woods (Columbus, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The End of Blackness (Hardcover)

Dickerson's body blow-dealing introduction is enough to wither most black intellectuals where they stand. Taken by itself, one would think the remaining 275 pages were a primer on how to get your butt-whupped at the company picnic of the NAACP. After plainly and deftly laying out in the first sentence the purpose of her book, she jabs, kicks and otherwise pounds on the kufi-donned heads of any black person donning race baggage without breaking a lip sweat, with such haymakers as:

"[Blacks] have not been left out of America; they affect rejecting it while availing themselves of every morsel of its benefits."

Ouch. Or how about:

"If an upheaval on the scale of the civil rights movement couldn't do it, it is hard to know what it will take to satisfy the `woe is me' race men that they are citizens; perhaps a giant Hallmark card signed by every Caucasian in America."

Are your cowry shells ringing yet?

Dickerson, however, isn't a simple race baiter. She just as easily spends the next 25 pages running white folks through the ringer, detailing the developmental history of slavery and racism as it has nurtured and been so nurtured in the west. From there, the rest of the book is open season on anybody without an open mind.

Dickerson possesses a cool hand when it comes to capturing not only the academic side of the racial shebang, but is particularly stunning at pointing out the ridiculous foibles of a people who want freedom by as few means as necessary. Her codification and critique of popular public-passed emails such as "You Know You're Ghetto Corporate If..." and "Ghetto Resume" puts her research firmly in the front lines of the debate, and yet, just when you think she's Clarence Thomas in a dress, she lambasts whites for contributing politely to much of the same crimes of ignorance and fear-based rhetoric as blacks. A great example, among many, is the section on Africa-bashing by whites to slip under the radar of the homegrown racism they claim to no longer possess as it relates to Africa's American stepchildren.

Dickerson plays for keeps, and despite what must be an obvious and careful noting of just-enough cases to make the points she wishes to make, she writes this book with more courage and brawn than any Dyson book, and with more on-ramps into her worldview than Cornel West has ever offered. You may not like what she has to say, but chances are if the rock hit you, well, you were the one in the pack she was aiming for. The question isn't how back is Dickerson. The question is, how black are blacks, and what does that mean 40 years out of the civil rights movement?

This book reads as though Dickerson wrote it like it might be her only one. Hopefully, we'll not have to wait long for another dose of her medicine. It goes down tough, but you'll be better in the morning.

(Review from KISO Books)

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A provocative, flawed work by a misunderstood author., July 20, 2004

By 

namepeace "namepeace" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The End of Blackness (Hardcover)

I too was inspired to buy this book after seeing the author on Bill Maher. I was very much looking forward to a frank, honest and convincing deconstruction of the essence of the black experience in America and a proposal to reform our ideas of race and identity in America. I finished the book not completely satisfied but consider the book worth a look.

Ms. Dickerson obviously is a well-educated, intelligent woman who has given much thought and study to issues of race. She does a good job of dissecting the underpinnings of white racism and "blackness," and our misperceptions about both. She seems to imply that blackness is borne of a reflexive, defiant attitude towards white racism that has been an effective "defense mechanism" but not a basis for true development within the black community. She dismisses the notions of blackness, identity and "realness" that have permeated our culture since the Civil Rights Movement. And she concludes with a call for black people to "disarm" themselves of such thought processes and attitudes so we can attain full membership in American society.

It is a powerful,counter-intuitive manifesto. But it has its drawbacks.

1. The book is not as well-written as I would have expected. At times, it reads like a string of personal and historical anecdotes and block quotes from other works which don't flow very well.

2. The author seems to want to ignore the virtues of black identity and culture, one of the most unique cultures in the history of the world.

3. By excoriating figures like Ms. Vanzant, the author engages in exactly the kind of behavior she seeks to eliminate. She mistakes personal judgments for valid criticism, and at times, she makes ad hominem attacks on those with whom she disagrees.

But this book's strength lies in the fact that it represents an alternative perspective on blackness and a provocative thesis that, at the very least, helps you think through your own philosophy on race and identity. Any book that makes you think can't be all bad.

49 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars for saying..., February 11, 2004

By 

Gunfighter (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The End of Blackness (Hardcover)

...some of the tough things that we, as black Americans, should have been saying for many many years.

Ms Dickerson deserves full marks for having the courage to skewer many of the sacred cows that we have been praying to for so many years. Further, she doesn't shrink from taking stab at today's almost-useless civil rights leaders.

It is time, and past time for us to be proud of who we are for what we are and what we have done in this country. Not because white people will acknowledge it... some will, some won't, but so what? The acknowledgement of others shouldn't be the goal of ethnic pride. That said, it should also be said that ethnic pride shouldn't be a bar to the pride that comes from being an American.

It is time, and past time for us to stop seeing ourselves only in comparison to how we are treated by white people... or any other people, including other black people. Black Americans have done remarkable things. We are inseparably woven into the fabric of American history and society.

It is time, and past time for us to stop pretending that we exist outside of American society. We don't. This is our country, we are full citizens... let's act like it. We should walk tall, be proud, look others in the eye and smile, or not..., but not because of hostility, but because we are sure of ourselves and our great role in the building, and the success of this country. We ought not wait for the approval of other people to feel good about ourselves. This is childish behavior.

This book could have been written better, and I don't agree with every word that is printed here, but what Dickerson wrote needed to be said.

Dickerson is right... the mind truly is the last plantation, and all we need do is walk out through the open gate and decide to opt in.