RACIAL REALITIES IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Abstract

Doing Race: 21 Essays for the 21st Century and Black Los Angeles: American Dreams and Racial Realities are two important additions to the study of race in the United States. First, both provide insight into the continuous significance of race in a time when racial tensions are on the rise despite the ubiquitous suggestion that we are in a post-racial society. Secondly, both works serve as important indicators of the multiplicative nature of race, each covering many of the bases so critical to race study. As many academicians and students of race and ethnicity recognize, race is a phenomenon that must be approached from multiple angles (e.g., anthropologically, sociologically, historically, and so on) if we are to fully understand how race operates. Thirdly, these two works offer an array of possible solutions or models for addressing some of the problems that beset racial and ethnic conflicts. Finally, while each of the books tackles the issue of race, they complement each other as Doing Race provides a more general, comprehensive understanding of racial and ethnic issues across the United States while Black Los Angeles represents a specific case study of race relations in one urban setting. All in all, these works make important contributions to the literature about the significance of race in America.