The End of Blackness [Hardcover]

"[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)

She then turns around and spends the first half or so of the book blaming whites for the state of black America. She presents horror stories of racism, such as the murder of Emmett Till, just as if she believes that they represent the state of race relations today. Indeed, she expends much verbiage on whites and on how they pretend to support civil rights while secretly doing everything that they can to undermine those same civil rights.

Dickerson seems to have some racist tendencies of her own. She seems to resent the fact that Asian Americans generally live in mostly white, middle-class communities as opposed to having their own ethnic enclaves.

Dickerson also has some weird ideas on how prevalent racism supposedly is in America. For instance,Dickerson complains about the fact that the movie "Saving Private Ryan" does not include black soldiers storming the Normandy Beach. However, she admits that no blacks participated in the D-Day invasion. Yet, she criticizes the producers for excluding a black presence in the film anyways.

After her carnival of criticism of whites and Asians for their alleged role in keeping blacks down, she then gets into the second half of her book, which is a critique of blacks in modern America. In this part, she criticizes blacks for dwelling on the racist past and using racism as a crutch for blacks not making it in America. By doing so, she completely contradicts the first half of her book.

This is an inconsistent and contradictory book on race relations in America. Definitely not recommended.