Book Review: Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

ISBN: 0804137412
Published: January 12th, 2016
Publisher: Crown
Read from January 17th to 22nd, 2016
Synopsis from Goodreads:

A powerful polemic on the state of black America that savages the idea of a post-racial society

America’s great promise of equality has always rung hollow in the ears of African Americans. But today the situation has grown even more dire. From the murders of black youth by the police, to the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act, to the disaster visited upon poor and middle-class black families by the Great Recession, it is clear that black America faces an emergency—at the very moment the election of the first black president has prompted many to believe we’ve solved America’s race problem.

Democracy in Black is Eddie S. Glaude Jr.'s impassioned response. Part manifesto, part history, part memoir, it argues that we live in a country founded on a “value gap”—with white lives valued more than others—that still distorts our politics today. Whether discussing why all Americans have racial habits that reinforce inequality, why black politics based on the civil-rights era have reached a dead end, or why only remaking democracy from the ground up can bring real change, Glaude crystallizes the untenable position of black America--and offers thoughts on a better way forward. Forceful in ideas and unsettling in its candor, Democracy In Black is a landmark book on race in America, one that promises to spark wide discussion as we move toward the end of our first black presidency.

Review:

Democracy in Black discusses many of the current race issues and movements in the United States, and it often does so by connecting them back to the past. I think it does a really nice job of it. The book itself discusses the different political positions most common within the black community and the different ways they look at race, including current power structures that have been created.

I think this is an excellent book for anyone wanting to learn more about what is currently happening in the black community, including movements like #BlackLivesMatter. The book does a great job of laying out where it all comes from, and the author discusses his own belief as to what needs to be done. Not everyone is going to agree with him, but regardless of that, I think his words are ones worth listening to.

This book contains so much information that everybody today should know, and it's one that will definitely have you thinking as you read.. I would recommend it to everyone.

I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.