Essays on racial flashpoints, white denial, violence, and the
manipulation of fear in America today.
"Drawing on events from the killing of Trayvon Martin to the Black Lives
Matter protests last summer, Wise calls to account his fellow white
citizens and exhorts them to combat racist power structures." (The New
York Times)
"What Tim Wise has brilliantly done is to challenge white folks' truth
to see that they have a responsibility to do more than sit back and
watch, but to recognize their own role in co-creating a fair, inclusive,
truly democratic society." (Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim
Crow)
"Tim Wise's new book gives us the tools we need to reach people whose
understanding of our country is white instead of right. And without
pissing them off!" (James W. Loewen, author, Lies My Teacher Told Me)
"Tim Wise's latest is more urgent than ever. " (Heather Ann Thompson,
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison
Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy)
"A white social justice advocate clearly shows how racism is America's
core crisis. A trenchant assessment of our nation's ills." (Kirkus
Reviews, starred review)
"[Dispatches from the Race War] is a bracing call to action in a
moment of social unrest." (Publishers Weekly)
"Dispatches from the Race War exhorts white Americans to join the
struggle for a fairer society." (Chapter 16)
In this collection of essays, renowned social-justice advocate Tim Wise
confronts racism in contemporary America. Seen through the lens of major
flashpoints during the Obama and Trump years, Dispatches from the Race
War faces the consequences of white supremacy in all its forms. This
includes a discussion of the bigoted undertones of the Tea Party's
backlash, the killing of Trayvon Martin, current-day anti-immigrant
hysteria, the rise of openly avowed white nationalism, the violent
policing of African Americans, and more.
Wise devotes a substantial portion of the book to explore the racial
ramifications of COVID-19 and the widespread protests that followed the
police murder of George Floyd.
Concise, accessible chapters, most written in first-person, offer an
excellent source for those engaged in the anti-racism struggle. Tim
Wise's proactive approach asks White allies to contend with - and take
responsibility for - their own role in perpetuating racism against
Blacks and people of color.
Dispatches from the Race War reminds us that the story of our country
is the history of racial conflict and that our future may depend on
how - or if - we can resolve it. "To accept racism is quintessentially
American," writes Wise, "to rebel against it is human. Be human."
