Dear White America Letter to a New Minority

"Sparing neither family nor self . . . he considers how the deck has always been stacked in his and other white people's favor. . . . His candor is invigorating."—Publishers Weekly

"One of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation."—Michael Eric Dyson

White Americans have long been comfortable in the assumption that they are the cultural norm. Now that notion is being challenged, as white people wrestle with what it means to be part of a fast-changing, truly multicultural nation. Facing chronic economic insecurity, a popular culture that reflects the nations diverse cultural reality, a future in which they will no longer constitute the majority of the population, and with a black president in the White House, whites are growing anxious.

This anxiety has helped to create the Tea Party movement, with its call to "take our country back." By means of a racialized nostalgia for a mythological past, the Right is enlisting fearful whites into its campaign for reactionary social and economic policies.

In urgent response, Tim Wise has penned his most pointed and provocative work to date. Employing the form of direct personal address, he points a finger at whites race-based self-delusion, explaining how such an agenda will only do harm to the nations people, including most whites. In no uncertain terms, he argues that the hope for survival of American democracy lies in the embrace of our multicultural past, present and future.

Tim Wise is one of the most prominent antiracist essayists, educators, and activists in the United States. He is regularly interviewed by A-list media, including CNN, C-SPAN, The Tavis Smiley Show, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, Michael Eric Dyson's radio program, and many more. His most recent books include Colorblind and Between Barack and a Hard Place.

"Tim Wise is an American hero in the truest sense of the term - he tells the truth, no matter how inconvenient that truth might be. 'Dear White America' is a desperately needed response to the insidious mythology that pretends whites are oppressed and people of color unduly privileged. In the process, it exposes how new forms of racism have been deliberately embedded into our supposedly 'color blind' culture. Read this book - but rest assured, it's not for the faint of heart." - David Sirota, syndicated columnist, radio host, author of "Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live In Now"

"Tim Wise is back with another no-holds-barred take on race and America's changing demographics. . . . Sharp and witty, Wise's latest book criticizes many of today's continued racist institutions while provocatively proclaiming their quick demise as America's racial landscape continues to evolve."-- The Root

"The foremost white analyst of racism in America never fails to provide fresh takes as he punctures myths and defenses." -- World Wide Work

"In his latest, he cuts to the core of white fears, using his white authority and white privilege to tell other whites that 'yes, it's time for you to deal with yourselves and the new American reality you now inhabit.'" -- Drums in the Global Village

“Tim Wise has written another blockbuster! His new book, 'Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority,' is a cogent analysis of the problems of race and inequality as well as a plea for those who harbor views about race and racism to modify and indeed eliminate them. While the books title addresses white people, this is really a book for anyone who is concerned about eliminating the issue of racial disparity in our society. This is must read and a good read.” -- Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the Executive Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice. He is the author of a number of books, including "The Presumption of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Race, Class and Crime in America"

"Tim Wise is an American hero in the truest sense of the term - he tells the truth, no matter how inconvenient that truth might be. 'Dear White America' is a desperately needed response to the insidious mythology that pretends whites are oppressed and people of color unduly privileged. In the process, it exposes how new forms of racism have been deliberately embedded into our supposedly 'color blind' culture. Read this book - but rest assured, it's not for the faint of heart." - David Sirota, syndicated columnist, radio host, author of "Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live In Now"

"Wise, an educator and racial justice advocate, presents an analysis of race relations and ideology in the contemporary US, as a letter addressed to its 200 million white citizens. As demographic trends portend a more colorful United States, and as its first black president begins a second term, Wise confronts the white fear of losing cultural hegemony, on the one hand, and the politics of resentment that has been both a real and contrived source of right-wing power in national politics. The book is aimed at a reasonable audience who may describe themselves as 'not a racist,' but whose assumptions about race and social power make them underestimate or misrecognize racism's persistence in the US." -- Book News Inc.

White Americans have long been comfortable in the assumption that they are the cultural norm. Now that notion is being challenged, as white people wrestle with what it means to be part of a fast-changing, truly multicultural nation. Facing chronic economic insecurity, a popular culture that reflects the nation's diverse cultural reality, a future in which they will no longer constitute the majority of the population, and with a black president in the White House, whites are growing anxious.

This anxiety has helped to create the Tea Party movement, with its call to "take our country back." By means of a racialized nostalgia for a mythological past, the Right is enlisting fearful whites into its campaign for reactionary social and economic policies.

In urgent response, Tim Wise has penned his most pointed and provocative work to date. Employing the form of direct personal address, he points a finger at whites' race-based self-delusion, explaining how such an agenda will only do harm to the nation's people, including most whites. In no uncertain terms, he argues that the hope for survival of American democracy lies in the embrace of our multicultural past, present and future.

"Sparing neither family nor self...he considers how the deck has always been stacked in his and other white people's favor...His candor is invigorating."--Publishers Weekly

"One of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation."--Michael Eric Dyson

"Tim Wise has written another blockbuster His new book, Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority, is a cogent analysis of the problems of race and inequality as well as a plea for those who harbor views about race and racism to modify and indeed eliminate them. While the book's title addresses white people, this is really a book for anyone who is concerned about eliminating the issue of racial disparity in our society. This is must read and a good read."--Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the Executive Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice. He is the author of a number of books, including The Presumption of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Race, Class and Crime in America

"Tim Wise is an American hero in the truest sense of the term--he tells the truth, no matter how inconvenient that truth might be. Dear White America is a desperately needed response to the insidious mythology that pretends whites are oppressed and people of color unduly privileged. In the process, it exposes how new forms of racism have been deliberately embedded into our supposedly 'color blind' culture. Read this book--but rest assured, it's not for the faint of heart."--David Sirota, syndicated columnist, radio host, author of Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live In Now

"The foremost white analyst of racism in America never fails to provide fresh takes as he punctures myths and defenses."--World Wide Work

Tim Wise is one of the most prominent antiracist essayists, educators, and activists in the United States. He is regularly interviewed by A-list media, including CNN, C-SPAN, The Tavis Smiley Show, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, Michael Eric Dyson's radio program, and many more. His most recent books include Colorblind and Between Barack and a Hard Place.

"Sparing neither family nor self . . . he considers how the deck has always been stacked in his and other white people's favor. . . . His candor is invigorating."—Publishers Weekly

"One of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation."—Michael Eric Dyson

The old notion that "being white means never having to think about it" is being challenged on all fronts as whites are increasingly having to wrestle with what it means to be part of a fast-changing, culturally diverse nation. In Dear White America Tim Wise directly addresses white people's growing concerns about political, cultural, and community-level shifts displacing their power and privilege. Wise examines the perfect storm of events fueling white anxiety: the election of a black president, economic insecurity at a level unseen by whites as a group in seventy-five years, a popular culture that reflects the nation's growing multicultural reality, and demographic shifts that make it increasingly difficult for whites—who have long been able to see themselves as the prototypical American—to continue to view themselves as the norm. Through stories, anecdotes, and analysis, Wise taps current trends and addresses how to move forward as a unified, diverse, and vibrant democracy.

Tim Wise is one of the most prominent antiracist essayists, educators, and activists in the United States. He is regularly interviewed by A-list media, including CNN, C-SPAN, The Tavis Smiley Show, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, Michael Eric Dyson's radio program, and many more. His most recent books include Colorblind and Between Barack and a Hard Place.