When Race Becomes Real: Black and White Writers Confront Their Personal Histories

Contents

C o n t e n t s Introduction by Bernestine Singley xi I. Genesis 1 Jim Schutze, Race Story 3 Leonard Pitts, Jr., Crazy Sometimes 21 Robert Coles, Experiences and Memories 29 Les Payne, The Night I Stopped Being a Negro 37 John Seigenthaler, Sr., Son of the South 51 Kimberly Springer, Talking White 71 Natalie Angier, Central Park Samaritan 79 Lucy Gibson, It All Started with My Parents 87 II. Fear and Longing 99 Julianne Malveaux, Race, Rage, and the Ace of Spades 101 David Bradley, To Make Them Stand in Fear 111 Theresa M. Towner, Passing 139 Robert Jensen, Black and White 143 Joycelyn K. Moody, For Colored Girls Who Have Resisted Homogenization When the Rainbow Ain’t Enough 159 Patricia J. Williams, Anatomy of a Fairy Princess 173 Kalamu ya Salaam, A Rambling Response to the Play Marie Christine 183 Shawn E. Rhea, Black, White, and Seeing Red All Over 193 Ira J. Hadnot, Race Fatigue 207 III. Exodus 213 Beverly Daniel Tatum, Choosing to Be Black: The Ultimate White Privilege? 215 Tim Wise, White Like Me: Race and Identity Through Majority Eyes 225 Colleen J. McElroy, Traveling with White People 241 Kiini Ibura Salaam, Race: A Discussion in Ten Parts, Plus a Few Moments of Unsubstantiated Theory and One Inarguable Fact 253 Touré, A Funky Fresh Talented Tenth 269 Lisa Dodson and Odessa Dorian Cole, On Acting White: Mother-Daughter Talk 273 Susan Straight, Country Music 283 Noel Ignatiev, One Summer Evening 291 Carlton Winfrey, Spelling Lesson 303 Bernestine Singley, Jasper, Texas Elegy 307 Michael Patrick MacDonald, All Souls: Civil Rights From Southie to Soweto and Back 317 Hanna Griffiths, Pictures in Black and White 323 Epilogue by Derrick Bell 327 ...