Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line PDF
Preview Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line
RACE NAVIGATING THE COLOR LINE RULES MICHAEL ERIC DYSON $20.00 US $27.00 CANADA America's leading young black intellectual reveals the hidden rules of race that dominate politics, society and cultural life. Former welfare father, ordained Baptist minis- ter, and Princeton Ph.D., Michael Eric Dyson is best known for taking black studies "to the streets" with his passion for popular culture and his commitment to urban youth. Here he Y unearths the hidden rules that poison our lan- R guage, our thinking, and our politics. Ae Rr Ba Dyson reveals the pernicious influence of Uu q C racial thinking across the broad canvas of IS L American social and cultural life, from the dis- By U e junction between how whites and blacks view P l N p the world, to the way perceptions of black Oo TC masculinity thwart black leadership, to the S O politics of nostalgia that keeps us looking to B an imaginary past rather than creating a posi- tive future. Through painful examples drawn from within the black community—sexual conflict in the black church, the myth of the "head Negro," relations between black men and women—he depicts our ongoing failure to break free of the rule of race. "In a color-blind society, we can only see black and white,” warns Dyson as he argues for color consciousness informed by history and shaped by hope. Provocative and compelling, Race Rules is the most important work to date from the "hip- hop intellectual" who stands at the forefront of his generation of black public thinkers. * < Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/racerulesnavigatOOdyso Race Rules ALSO BY MICHAEL ERIC DYSON Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism Race Rules NAVIGATING THE COLOR LINE Michael Eric Dyson vv ADDISON-WESLEY PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. Reading, Massachusetts • Menlo Park, California New York • Don Mills, Ontario • Harlow, England Amsterdam • Bonn • Sydney • Singapore • Tokyo Madrid • San Juan • Paris • Seoul • Milan Mexico City • Taipei The excerpt from “Let’s Get It On” is reprinted by permission of the publisher. Written by Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend © 1973 Jobete Music Co./Stone Diamond Music Corporation. The excerpt from “Sexual Healing” is used by permission. Words and music by Marvin Gaye and Dell Brown © 1982 EMI April Music Inc., Bug Pie Music Publishing, and EMI Blackwood Music, Inc. All Rights for Bug Pie Music Publishing controlled and administered by EMI April Music, Inc. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dyson, Michael Eric. Race rules : navigating the color line / Michael Eric Dyson. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-201-91186-8 (alk. paper) 1. United States—Race relations. 2. Afro-Americans—Social conditions—1975- I. Title. E185.615.D95 1996 305.8'00973—dc20 96-32592 CIP Copyright © 1996 by Michael Eric Dyson All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. Jacket design by Jean Seal Text design and production by Mark Corsey Text set in 11-point Garamond Book 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9-DOH-0099989796 First printing, September 1996 To my brothers Anthony Dyson Gregory Dyson Brian Dyson For your companionship and support along the way and especially to Everett Dyson-Bey Prisoner #212687 For his determination to free his body and mind and for his heroic will to survive the madness of his fate CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Race Plus Rage Equals Ruin Race Rules page 1 1 When You’re a Credit to Your Race, the Bill Will Come Due O.J. Simpson and Our Trial by Fire page 10 2 It’s Not What You Know, It’s How You Show It Black Public Intellectuals page 47 3 When You Divide Body and Soul, Problems Multiply The Black Church and Sex page 77 4 We Never Were What We Used to Be Black Youth, Pop Culture, and the Politics of Nostalgia page 109 vi
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