Blinded by the Whites: Why Race Still Matters in 21st-Century America

David H. Ikard

Oct 2013 · Indiana University Press

About this ebook

The election of Barack Obama gave political currency to the (white) idea that Americans now live in a post-racial society. But the persistence of racial profiling, economic inequality between blacks and whites, disproportionate numbers of black prisoners, and disparities in health and access to healthcare suggest there is more to the story. David H. Ikard addresses these issues in an effort to give voice to the challenges faced by most African Americans and to make legible the shifting discourse of white supremacist ideology—including post-racialism and colorblind politics—that frustrates black self-determination, agency, and empowerment in the 21st century. Ikard tackles these concerns from various perspectives, chief among them black feminism. He argues that all oppressions (of race, gender, class, sexual orientation) intersect and must be confronted to upset the status quo.

About the author

David H. Ikard is Professor in the Department of English at the University of Miami and author of Breaking the Silence: Toward a Black Male Feminist Criticism and (with Martell Lee Teasley) Nation of Cowards: Black Activism in Barack Obama's Post-Racial America (IUP, 2012). His blog "Nation of Cowards" (nationofcowards.blogspot.com) takes up contemporary racial topics and engages a wider intellectual and activist community.