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This title in other formats:The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracyby Lani Guinier
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Like the canaries that alerted miners to a poisonous atmosphere, issues of race point to underlying problems in society that ultimately affect everyone, not just minorities. Addressing these issues is essential. Ignoring racial differences--race blindness--has failed. Focusing on individual achievement has diverted us from tackling pervasive inequalities. Now, in a powerful and challenging book, Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres propose a radical new way to confront race in the twenty-first century. Given the complex relationship between race and power in America, engaging race means engaging standard winner-take-all hierarchies of power as well. Terming their concept "political race," Guinier and Torres call for the building of grass-roots, cross-racial coalitions to remake those structures of power by fostering public participation in politics and reforming the process of democracy. Their illuminating and moving stories of political race in action include the coalition of Hispanic and black leaders who devised the Texas Ten Percent Plan to establish equitable state college admissions criteria, and the struggle of black workers in North Carolina for fair working conditions that drew on the strength and won the support of the entire local community. The aim of political race is not merely to remedy racial injustices, but to create truly participatory democracy, where people of all races feel empowered to effect changes that will improve conditions for everyone. In a book that is ultimately not only aspirational but inspirational, Guinier and Torres envision a social justice movement that could transform the nature of democracy in America. Review:In this outstanding, trenchant, and ultimately uplifting book, Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres demonstrate how a racial order still profoundly structures the life chances of all Americans, and convincingly argue that racially based social movements have historically, and can again, promote a truly egalitarian society. The Miner's Canaryis sure to become required reading for all those who seek to understand the racial divide as well as those who care about the future of the American polity. Review:Deep in the mines, a distressed canary is a warning that there's poison in the air. Professor Lani Guinier...and Gerald Torres...contend that in America, race is like a miner's canary: Injustices experienced by people of color warn of systemic toxins that threaten everyone...In a passionate call for social change and progressive action, Guinier and Torres convincingly argue that a colorblind approach to deeply entrenched problems does not work; it only inhibits democratic engagement and reinforces existing power structures. Citing the Rev Martin Luther King Jr.'s message that freeing black people from injustice will free America itself, Torres and Guinier urge progressives to use racial awareness as an entryway to political activism. Review:I recommend this book to every thoughtful U.S. citizen. We all need to get a better analytic grip on the phenomenon of "race." We all need to rethink outdated democratic systems. We all need help in organizing human action across lines of division. The Miner's Canaryshows how the experiences of people of color are a key diagnostic tool, drawing attention to flaws in the existing system and galvanizing practical ways to change it for the better. Guinier and Torres have got it exactly right. Review:As the stunningly insightful stories in The Miner's Canarymake clear, the primary racial challenge of the twenty-first century is to convince white people that social ills adversely affecting people of color disadvantage whites as well. Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres argue persuasively that progress can come through cooperative efforts for reform rather than race-related resistance to it. Review:Legal scholars Guinier and Torres invite the public to consider, among other indicators, the plight of young black men, long the primary targets of racial profiling on the part of law-enforcement agencies...Those who insist that American courts dispense justice equally get a stern lesson with statistics the authors cite to the contrary, while civil-rights activists will find much to motivate them in the authors' prescriptions, which include grassroots political organizing, consensus building, "enlisting race to resist hierarchy", and other measures. A useful, provocative, wounded critique of the status quo. Review:As the stunningly insightful stories in The Miner's Canarymake clear, the primary racial challenge of the twenty-first century is to convince white people that social illsadversely affecting people of color disadvantage whites as well. Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres argue persuasively that progress can come through cooperative efforts for reform rather than race-related resistance to it. Review:I recommend this book to every thoughtful U.S. citizen. We all need to get a better analytic grip on the phenomenon of "race." We all need to rethink outdated democratic systems. We all need help in organizing humanaction across lines of division. The Miner's Canaryshows how the experiences of people of color are a key diagnostic tool, drawing attention to flaws in the existing system and galvanizing practicalways to change it for the better. Guinier and Torres have got it exactly right. Review:The Miner's Canaryis thoughtful, provocative, and timely. It persuasively develops the idea of "political race," a concept that identifies racial literacy as a new way to think about social change in American society. This book will challenge the very way we think about race, justice, and the political system in America. Review:Compassion permeates this thoughtful analysis. Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres show us how Americans of all races and ethnicities can draw upon African Americans' positive racial identity, which is rooted in solidarity and the ability to see problems that are systemic. Yes, we can advance democracy by all becoming "black," in the sense of building upon our culture's race consciousness. Review:Mixing myriad personal examples with hard data and analysis of biased news reports, Guinier and Torres cogently and forcefully argue that "color-blinded" solutions are not "attaining racial justice and ensuring a healthy democratic process"...[The authors] grapple intelligently and with passionate wit with such explosive topics as racial profiling and the elusiveness of racial identification and identity...making this one of the most provocative and challenging books on race produced in years. Review:The Miner's Canaryis conceptually imaginative and politically inspiring. It is generously inclusive where other accounts of race and power are harshly exclusive. Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres combine sober analysis and models of democratic activism. About the AuthorLani Guinieris Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at <>Harvard Law School.Gerald Torresis H.O. Head Centennial Professor in Real Property Law, <>University of Texas Law School. Table of ContentsPrologue 1. Political Race and Magical Realism 2. A Critique of Colorblindness 3. Race as a Political Space 4. Rethinking Conventions of Zero-Sum Power 5. Enlisting Race to Resist Hierarchy 6. The Problem Democracy Is Supposed to Solve 7. Whiteness of a Different Color? 8. Watching the Canary Notes What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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