Red, White, Black and Blue: Black Anger and White Ignorance in Obama's America examines contemporary expressions of subtle racism and looks at how our present political climate affects issues of lingering racist inequality. Drs. van Gorder and Tait provide a historical and theoretical context for their analysis of America's present intercultural tensions and offers concrete steps forward in addressing our seemingly entrenched polarities: Black Anger and White ignorance. This book is up-to-date and prescient in addressing modern issues of systemic racism with clarity and resolve. Even tough issues such as reparations and the relation between economic injustices with de facto segregation in America are discussed without resorting to the false comfort of idealistic or wishful solutions. This book will teach you with step-by-step clarity while also challenging you to work within your own communities to advance Martin Luther King, Jr.'s new American dream of intercultural mutuality.

This incisive book challenges every American to come to terms with the urgent need of treating racial injuries in order to build a healthier society. It is a captivating and informative labor of love.

—Dr. Lawrence O. Ettu, Professor, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Daring to wade into the muddied waters of America, racism, and the wide and varied responses to it, Van Gorder and Tait invite readers to engage the American cultural norms that persist in the age of Obama. The authors address critical issues related to commonly held assumptions about the so-called “post-racial” Black presidential reality, exposing the ways in which American culture continues to attempt to render silent those who suffer from socio-cultural oppression, both in America and around the globe. Drawing from important historical foundations, this very timely volume calls us to come out of hiding and participate in a real examination of what’s really going on in America.

—Maisha I. Kariamu Handy, Ph.D

Interim Associate Provost & Associate Professor of Christian Education, the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) Atlanta

With many writers focusing on justice as a "commodity" and the majority of the popular media focusing on supposed post-racial paradigms, it is sobering and refreshing to read a book that challenges us to love America enough to lift up its stains and shortcomings as well as its strengths and successes. This book articulates our failings and frustrations but frames these in concrete steps towards a brighter future.

—Dr. Anthony L. Bennett

Senior Pastor, Mt. Aery Baptist Church; Adjunct Professor of Hartford Theological Seminary; Guest Lecturer, Yale University Divinity School

Red, White, Black and Blue:  Black Anger, White Ignorance and Racism in Obama’s America intertwines religion, politics, race, and education eloquently while emphasizing the value of learning about the histories, philosophies and events of a dynamic society.  As revisionist, these scholars emphasize again the importance of being critical in their pedagogy.  Tait’s and van Gorder’s eclectic thinking is a great source of co-dialoguing in arenas of social circles, collegiate courses, conventions, and professional and personal development and has the lasting effect of being one of the most referenced educational texts drawn from rich sources.  The practical implications of questions evolved from each chapter act as a reflection that can help foster understanding and evoke meaningful conversations among mankind.

—Angela Sims Stephens

Adjunct Professor- Education Seminar and Interpersonal Communication

Sojourner Douglass College Baltimore

This book provides an opportunity for the reader to evaluate one's place in Obama's not-so post racial society. It is both captivating and pointed.

—Andrea Murphy,

Educator and Poet, Antioch, CA

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

A. CHRISTIAN VAN GORDER is Professor of Islam and Muslim-Christian relations at Baylor University. A graduate of the Queen's University of Belfast, Ireland, he is also the author of seven other books and the grateful husband to Vivian Ezeife of Igboland, Nigeria and the proud father of six children.   

LEWIS T. TAIT Jr. is the Senior Pastor/Teacher of Faith Bible Church (Remixed) in Washington, D.C. He is also an author and university lecturer on Afrocentric themes along with his wife, the Dr. Lisa Tait and their two children of Atlanta, Georgia.  

CATEGORIES
Politics, Sociology/AFRICAN AMERICAN