A unique and irreverent take on everything that’s wrong with our “national conversation about race”—and what to do about it
Product Code: 6914
ISBN: 9780807039847
Format: Paperback / softback
Publisher: Beacon Press
Pages: 256
Published Date: 08/20/2019
Availability:In stock
N/A
Price: $14.95

How to Be Less Stupid About Race is your essential guide to breaking through the half-truths and ridiculous misconceptions that have thoroughly corrupted the way race is represented in the classroom, pop culture, media, and politics. Centuries after our nation was founded on genocide, settler colonialism, and slavery, many Americans are kinda-sorta-maybe waking up to the reality that our racial politics are (still) garbage. But in the midst of this reckoning, widespread denial and misunderstandings about race persist, even as white supremacy and racial injustice are more visible than ever before.

Combining no-holds-barred social critique, humorous personal anecdotes, and analysis of the latest interdisciplinary scholarship on systemic racism, sociologist Crystal M. Fleming provides a fresh, accessible, and irreverent take on everything that’s wrong with our “national conversation about race.” Drawing upon critical race theory, as well as her own experiences as a queer black millennial college professor and researcher, Fleming unveils how systemic racism exposes us all to racial ignorance—and provides a road map for transforming our knowledge into concrete social change.

Searing, sobering, and urgently needed, How to Be Less Stupid About Race is a truth bomb and call to action for everyone who wants to challenge white supremacy and intersectional oppression. If you like Issa Rae, Justin Simien, Angela Davis, and Morgan Jerkins, then this deeply relevant, bold, and incisive book is for you.


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INTRODUCTION
The Origins of Racial Stupidity

CHAPTER ONE
The Idiot’s Guide to Critical Race Theory

CHAPTER TWO
Listen to Black Women

CHAPTER THREE
On Racial Stupidity in the Obama Era

CHAPTER FOUR
Trump Country

CHAPTER FIVE
Fake Racial News

CHAPTER SIX
Interracial Love 101

CHAPTER SEVEN
Becoming Racially Literate

Acknowledgments
Notes

“Fleming offers a crash course in what will be a radically new perspective for most and a provocative challenge that should inspire those who disagree with her to at least consider their basic preconceptions . . . . A deft, angry analysis for angry times.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“Dr. Fleming offers a straight-no-chaser critique of our collective complicit ignorance regarding the state of race in the United States. In particular, she calls out the lack of resolve, especially among the political class, to admit and address the generational damage caused by institutional racism. This book will leave you thinking, offended, and transformed.” —Nina Turner, former Ohio state senator

“Crystal Marie Fleming is one of the most forceful sociological voices of this new generation. How to Be Less Stupid About Race is a brilliant contribution to the long African American tradition of bridging dark humor with social critique. Fleming has written a timely analysis of systemic racism and white supremacy that is both deadly serious and seriously funny. With its deft mix of satire, memoir, and empirical evidence, her book is a groundbreaking model of public scholarship and sure to be an instant classic. Everyone needs to read this book, and I for one will assign it in my classes!” —Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, President of the American Sociological Association and author of Racism without Racists: Colorblind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America

How to Be Less Stupid About Race is the perfect combination of Racism 101, critical race theory, and powerful analysis, woven with Dr. Crystal Fleming’s personal journey from racial naiveté to one of the most incisive critics of white supremacy. Anyone who wants a straightforward education on race, racism, and white supremacy should buy this book immediately. Dr. Fleming minces no words in her exposition of racism in both the Obama and Trump eras. This bold and brave book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand white supremacy in the United States.” —Tanya Golash-Boza, author of Race and Racisms: A Critical Approach

“A bold, carefully researched, and intimate take on the race conversation that points the finger at all of us: Yes, even those of us who know what intersectional means. Yes, even those of us who voted for Obama. Yes, even us Obama voters who know what intersectional means and have all Black friends . . . . For those looking for a distinctly smart, humorous, and intellectually challenging read on a much-needed complex racial conversation, How to Be Less Stupid About Race is essential reading.” —Angela Nissel, author of The Broke Diaries and Mixed

“Bold . . . and irreverent . . . How to Be Less Stupid About Race is an explosive book revealing the roots and nature of racism in our psyche, our interactions with each other, our institutions, our politics, our media, our gender relations, and even our love lives . . . While racism is based on power and economic inequalities, it is also anchored in ignorance and stupidity. If Americans are willing to initiate the long journey of eradicating racism, they must wipe away the ignorance that sustains it.” —Aldon Morris, author of The Scholar Denied: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Birth of American Sociology

“Fleming upbraids us all (herself included) for our ignorance about race, but her breathtaking (and wig-snatching) lessons assure that racial illiteracy has a cure. By page 15 of this book you are already supremely smarter, having learned all the terms you need to sound knowledgeable, and by page 20, you won’t be as susceptible to making common mistakes in racial thought. Along the way you will surely laugh, and by the end you may even find yourself listening to black women! Don’t be stupid about race. Buy this book.” —Vilna Bashi Treitler, author of The Ethnic Project: Transforming Racial Fiction into Ethnic Factions

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