From high school dropout and convicted drug dealer, to successful entertainment industry executive, eventual law school graduate, and college professor, this is an explosively emotional inspirational journey exploring the ups & downs of growing up bi-racial in America. Born just a few years after the Supreme Court made discrimination against interracial marriage unconstitutional, the author takes you from his time as an impoverished youth, living in a predominantly white neighborhood, to his move to the inner city and predominately black school system. From being called 'nigger' in the white neighborhood to fighting daily for being attacked and called 'white boy' in the black neighborhoods. From the brutal murders of friends and family members, to providing an insider's look at the author's time in the entertainment industry, working on projects that went on to win Grammy Awards and garner numerous Gold, Platinum and Diamond records, through all the highs and lows of a life full of extreme challenges and inspirational triumphs. REVIEWS & PRESS "Simply brilliant"- Nancy Bonilla, Cabrera Press "The must read book of the year!" - M.J. Brown "Stunningly blatant and non-apologetic, this is a must read for anyone that is searching to find understanding in our current racially divisive times. For the first time, I feel as if I have a real understanding of the struggles associated with being bi-racial in America..." - KnowledgeOfself.online Comparable works 'The Autobiography of Malcom X' by Alex Haley 'Makes Me Wanna Holler' by Nathan McCall 'Manchild in the Promised Land' by Claude Brown 'Nigger' by Dick Gregory

Recovers the careers of four US women serial writers, and establishes a new archive for American literary studies.

Randall Kennedy takes on not just a word, but our laws, attitudes, and culture with bracing courage and intelligence—with a range of reference that extends from the Jim Crow south to Chris Rock routines and the O. J. Simpson trial. It’s “the nuclear bomb of racial epithets,” a word that whites have employed to wound and degrade African Americans for three centuries. Paradoxically, among many Black people it has become a term of affection and even empowerment. The word, of course, is nigger, and in this candid, lucidly argued book the distinguished legal scholar Randall Kennedy traces its origins, maps its multifarious connotations, and explores the controversies that rage around it. Should Blacks be able to use nigger in ways forbidden to others? Should the law treat it as a provocation that reduces the culpability of those who respond to it violently? Should it cost a person his job, or a book like Huckleberry Finn its place on library shelves?

'Every voice raised against racism chips away at its power. We can't afford to stay silent. This book is an attempt to speak' The book that sparked a national conversation. Exploring everything from eradicated black history to the inextricable link between class and race, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race is the essential handbook for anyone who wants to understand race relations in Britain today. THE NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS NON-FICTION NARRATIVE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 FOYLES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR BLACKWELL'S NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER OF THE JHALAK PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR A BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARD

The first, and most obvious questions, which should be asked are, "What are niggers? Who turned Africans into niggers? When were Africans turned into niggers? Why were Africans turned into niggers, and how were Africans turned into niggers? These are the questions, which this book endeavors to answer. Although this book talks about White Supremacy, and the effects of White Supremacy on Black people, this book is not about White people. This book is not about blaming White people, or having any hatred for White people. "Blame and Hatred are distractions," and when we spend our time blaming and hating White people, we are wasting valuable time; time that could instead be used to improve, and empower us as a people. Black people must awaken that "Spiritual Afrakan" inside of them!

An engrossing autobiographical exploration of black masculinity as a mode of racial and verbal performance. In Your Average Nigga, Vershawn Ashanti Young disputes the belief that speaking Standard English and giving up Black English Vernacular helps black students succeed academically. Young argues that this assumption not only exaggerates the differences between two compatible varieties of English but forces black males to choose between an education and their masculinity, by choosing to act either white or black. As one would expect from a scholar who is subject to the very circumstances he studies, Young shares his own experiences as he exposes the factors that make black racial identity irreconcilable with literacy for blacks, especially black males. Drawing on a range of interdisciplinary scholarship in performance theory and African American literary and cultural studies, Young shows that the linguistic conflict that exists between black and white language styles harms black students from the inner city the most. If these students choose to speak Standard English they risk alienating themselves from their families and communities, and if they choose to retain their customary speech and behavior they may isolate themselves from mainstream society. Young argues that this conflict leaves blacks in the impossible position of either trying to be white or forever struggling to prove that they are black enough. For men, this also becomes an endless struggle to prove that they are masculine enough. Young calls this constant effort to display proper masculine and racial identity the burden of racial performance. Ultimately, Young argues that racial and verbal performances are a burden because they cannot reduce the causes or effects of racism, nor can they denaturalize supposedly fixed identity categories, as many theorists contend. On the contrary, racial and verbal performances only reinscribe the essentialism that they are believed to subvert. Scholars and teachers of rhetoric, performance studies, and African American studies will enjoy this insightful volume.