Fountaindale Public Library

When the stars begin to fall, overcoming racism and renewing the promise of America, Theodore Roosevelt Johnson

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

index present

non fiction

When the stars begin to fall

dictionariesbibliography

1253372257

Theodore Roosevelt Johnson

overcoming racism and renewing the promise of America

""Racism is an existential threat to America," Theodore R. Johnson declares at the start of his profound and exhilarating book. It is a refutation of the American Promise enshrined in our Constitution that all men and women are inherently equal. And yet racism continues to corrode our society. If we cannot overcome it, Johnson argues, while the United States will remain as a geopolitical entity, the promise that made America unique on Earth will have died. When the Stars Begin to Fall makes a compelling, ambitious case for a pathway to the national solidarity necessary to mitigate racism. Weaving memories of his own and his family's multi-generational experiences with racism, alongside strands of history, into his elegant narrative, Johnson posits that a blueprint for national solidarity can be found in the exceptional citizenship long practiced in Black America. Understanding that racism is a structural crime of the state, he argues that overcoming it requires us to recognize that a color-conscious society--not a color-blind one--is the true fulfillment of the American Promise. Fueled by Johnson's ultimate faith in the American project, grounded in his family's longstanding optimism and his own military service, When the Stars Begin to Fall is an urgent call to undertake the process of overcoming what has long seemed intractable"--Amazon

An Introduction: race and solidarity in the United States -- Part I: The challenge for America -- The primary threat to America -- The veiled threats exposed -- Part II: American, but black: lessons for national solidarity -- Superlative citizenship -- Inclusion trickles down -- Black solidarity -- Part III: A framework for national solidarity -- Finding civil religion -- Racism is a crime of the state -- Solidarity is not colorblind -- Part IV: A path toward national solidarity -- National solidarity as the right response to racism -- A conclusion: creating national solidarity -- Acknowledgments -- Index

adult