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When the Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America

When the Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America

Current price: $26.00
Publication Date: June 8th, 2021
Publisher:
Atlantic Monthly Press
ISBN:
9780802157850
Pages:
320
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Description

A bold, thought-provoking pathway to the national solidarity that could, finally, address the ills of racism in America

"Racism is an existential threat to America," Theodore R. Johnson declares at the start of his profound and exhilarating book. It is a refutation of the American Promise enshrined in our Constitution that all men and women are inherently equal. And yet racism continues to corrode our society. If we cannot overcome it, Johnson argues, while the United States will remain as a geopolitical entity, the promise that made America unique on Earth will have died.

When the Stars Begin to Fall makes a compelling, ambitious case for a pathway to the national solidarity necessary to mitigate racism. Weaving memories of his own and his family's multi-generational experiences with racism, alongside strands of history, into his elegant narrative, Johnson posits that a blueprint for national solidarity can be found in the exceptional citizenship long practiced in Black America. Understanding that racism is a structural crime of the state, he argues that overcoming it requires us to recognize that a color-conscious society--not a color-blind one--is the true fulfillment of the American Promise.

Fueled by Johnson's ultimate faith in the American project, grounded in his family's longstanding optimism and his own military service, When the Stars Begin to Fall is an urgent call to undertake the process of overcoming what has long seemed intractable.

About the Author

Theodore R. Johnson is a Senior Advisor at New America, leading its flagship Us@250initiative marking the nation's semiquincentennial, and a writer at TheBulwark. Prior to joining New America, he was a senior fellow and Directorof the Fellows Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School ofLaw, where he undertook research on race, politics, and American identity. Heis a retired Commander in the United States Navy, serving for twenty years in avariety of positions, including as a White House Fellow in the first Obamaadministration and as speechwriter to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff. His work on race relations has appeared in prominent nationalpublications across the political spectrum, including the New York TimesMagazine, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the WallStreet Journal, and National Review, among others.