There are a lot of theories about what’s most important for success in politics, but I’m clear on what is essential. Because strength will always prevail over weakness and you can’t fix stupid, the most important asset anyone can possess is an informed and disciplined mind.
With that frame of reference, I’d like to recommend four important books published in the last year that provide insight and historical context to what often appears to be an incomprehensible American political landscape.
“Brown Is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created a New American Majority” by Steve Phillips. Much has been written about America becoming a majority minority country over the next 20 years, but Steve Phillips’ persuasive analysis concludes that politically we’re there already. His breakdown of the demographics that made up Barak Obama’s election victories in 2008 and 2012 document there is already a governing coalition of African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and progressive whites. He also explains why the Democratic Party establishment is so resistant to embracing this emerging reality.
“Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul” by Eddie Glaude Jr. Glaude calls for a reimagining of black politics and a remaking of American democracy. He smashes the illusion that racial inequality is some unintended byproduct of America’s great experiment in democracy, arguing that it’s the direct consequence an intentionality present since the country’s founding. It’s why for the last eight years black Americans have lived with the contradiction of a black man in the White House and nearly a million black men and women in the big house.
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by professor Carol Anderson. Anderson argues that not enough attention is paid to the real source of racial conflict in America: white rage. She makes the compelling case that the root of white resentment of the presence black people is really white hostility to black progress. Put simply: The harder we work at getting ahead, the angrier significant portions of white America become.
“The Fire This Time: A New Generation Talks about Race” by Jesmyn Ward. James Baldwin’s classic work “The Fire Next Time “ is the inspiration for this anthology of 17 African-American writers of this generation addressing the meaning of the black experience in today’s America. “The Fire This Time” gives voice to an extraordinary mosaic of some of the best thinking and writing on the black condition we’ve seen in a long time. Ward and her fellow contributors have produced a book worthy of their muse.
Taken together, these four books create a coherent theoretical framework for an informed black perspective of contemporary America. If you read any or all of these, you will better understand where we are, why and how we got here, and what we might do about it.
Mike Jones, who has held senior policy positions in St. Louis city and county government, serves on the St. Louis American editorial board and the State Board of Education.
