Content area
Full Text
The Changing Terrain of Race and Ethnicity, edited by Maria Krysan and Amanda E. Lewis. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2004. 273 pp. ISBN: 0-87154-491-1.
This book brings together leading Black and Latino scholars of racial dynamics. It is a superbly balanced and well-researched collection of ten papers given at the University of Illinois, Chicago, in October, 2001. They emphasized the changing forms, expressions and subtleties of white racism, and collectively pushed the research and conceptual boundaries about race and ethnicity. The editors very cogently and clearly summarized the entire book, stressing the connection and significance of each article to each part of the book. They did a superb and professional job. The book is a must-read for anyone teaching African-American studies or social problems.
The main thesis is that a major shift has occurred from overt white racism to covert racism. They envision the basic problem not as individual prejudice and discrimination, but as a structured and systemic racist society whites have created. The key to understanding the racial situation in the U.S. and the world is "exploitation" of races-economically, politically, socially and culturally. To really grasp race relations today, emphasis must be on "white privileges" and "white supremacy" accumulated over centuries.
Lawrence Bobo of Harvard sees a new racial ideology-"laissez-faire" racism. It...