Synopses & Reviews
In these five eloquent and passionate pieces (which she gave as the prestigious Reith Lectures for the BBC) Patricia J. Williams asks how we might achieve a world where "color doesn't matter"--where whiteness is not equated with normalcy and blackness with exoticism and danger. Drawing on her own experience, Williams delineates the great divide between "the poles of other people's imagination and the nice calm center of oneself where dignity resides," and discusses how it might be bridged as a first step toward resolving racism. Williams offers us a new starting point--"a sensible and sustained consideration"--from which we might begin to deal honestly with the legacy and current realities of our prejudices.
Review
"This powerful text examines the everyday realities of race in such a powerful and poignant way that we can never fall back on the myth of color blindness even as we transcend race in our quest for humane ends and aims."--Cornel West
"Seeing a Color-Blind Future is a slender book that challenges us to dream the biggest dream--a deep democracy in which we see ourselves in each other. Patricia Williams instills it with her gifts of intelligent rage, compassion, and hope."--Gloria Steinem
"Some forty years ago, James Baldwin informed White America: 'We know more about you than you know about us.' Today, Patricia Williams sets out to repair this failing, this retardedness, that, unless recognized, may become the wound that will not heal. With acerbic wit, easy grace, and telling anecdote, she offers a remedy: our native intelligence."--Studs Terkel
About the Author
Patricia J. Williams is a columnist ("Diary of a Mad Lawyer,"
The Nation), and a professor of law at Columbia University. Her previous books are
The Rooster's Egg and
The Alchemy of Race and Rights. She also contributes regularly to
Ms. and
The Village Voice.