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THE PERSISTENCE OF THE COLOR LINE
By: Randall Kennedy
Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency
Random House
August 2011
On Sale: August 16, 2011
336 pages
ISBN: 030737789X
EAN: 9780307377890
Kindle: B004J4WL46
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction Political
Timelyโas the 2012 presidential election nearsโand controversial, here is the first book by a major African-American public intellectual on racial politics and the Obama presidency.
Renowned for his cool reason vis-ร -vis the pitfalls and clichรฉs of racial discourse, Randall KennedyโHarvard professor of law and author of the New York Times best seller Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Wordโgives us a keen and shrewd analysis of the complex relationship between the first black president and his African-American constituency.
Kennedy tackles such hot-button issues as the nature of racial opposition to Obama, whether Obama has a singular responsibility to African Americans, electoral politics and cultural chauvinism, black patriotism, the differences in Obamaโs presentation of himself to blacks and to whites, the challenges posed by the dream of a postracial society, and the far-from-simple symbolism of Obama as a leader of the Joshua generation in a country that has elected only three black senators and two black governors in its entire history.
Eschewing the critical excesses of both the left and the right, Kennedy offers a gimlet-eyed view of Obamaโs triumphs and travails, his strengths and weaknesses, as they pertain to the troubled history of race in America.
 Media BuzzOn Point - October 9, 2012
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