"THE SMARTEST BOOK OF THE YEAR" (THE WASHINGTON POST)
In these provocative, powerful essays acclaimed writer/journalist Jeff Chang (Can't Stop Won't Stop, Who We Be) takes an incisive and wide-ranging look at the recent tragedies and widespread protests that have shaken the country. Through deep reporting with key activists and thinkers, passionately personal writing, and distinguished cultural criticism, We Gon' Be Alright links #BlackLivesMatter to #OscarsSoWhite, Ferguson to Washington D.C., the Great Migration to resurgent nativism. Chang explores the rise and fall of the idea of "diversity," the roots of student protest, changing ideas about Asian Americanness, and the impact of a century of racial separation in housing. He argues that resegregation is the unexamined condition of our time, the undoing of which is key to moving the nation forward to racial justice and cultural equity.
About the Author
JEFF CHANG is the author of Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation and Who We Be: A Cultural History of Race in Post-Civil Rights America. He has been a USA Ford Fellow in Literature and the winner of the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award. He is the executive director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University.Reviews"There is history and analysis in these pages, and there is life and experience, too, but neither form of storytelling overpowers the other. Instead, what comes through most clearly is a versatile mind in the service of a painful and protracted story, an author who ranges widely before drawing tough conclusions and one who, despite the book's optimistic title, appears deeply pessimistic about things getting any better, much less becoming all right...The limits of representation come alive in the author's unforgettable discussion of the Asian American experience."--The Washington Post
"In the song that inspired the author's title, Kendrick Lamar repeatedly asks his listeners, 'Do you feel me?' Chang's text, in essence, poses the same question. Enriched and stimulated as much by his passion as his ideas, I'm pleased to answer with a resounding yes."--Jabari Asim, Bookforum
"We Gon' Be Alright is a parade of some of the most uncomfortable and heartbreaking dances this country has seen; it looks glaringly close at buzzwords such as "affirmative action," "white flight," "gentrification," "diversity," "Beyoncé," and--of course--"Donald Trump." Its topics are so current, its tone so raw, that readers might wonder if Chang finished it minutes before it was due to the printer."--The Rumpus
In these provocative, powerful essays acclaimed writer/journalist Jeff Chang (Can't Stop Won't Stop, Who We Be) takes an incisive and wide-ranging look at the recent tragedies and widespread protests that have shaken the country. Through deep reporting with key activists and thinkers, passionately personal writing, and distinguished cultural criticism, We Gon' Be Alright links #BlackLivesMatter to #OscarsSoWhite, Ferguson to Washington D.C., the Great Migration to resurgent nativism. Chang explores the rise and fall of the idea of "diversity," the roots of student protest, changing ideas about Asian Americanness, and the impact of a century of racial separation in housing. He argues that resegregation is the unexamined condition of our time, the undoing of which is key to moving the nation forward to racial justice and cultural equity.
About the Author
JEFF CHANG is the author of Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation and Who We Be: A Cultural History of Race in Post-Civil Rights America. He has been a USA Ford Fellow in Literature and the winner of the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award. He is the executive director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University.Reviews"There is history and analysis in these pages, and there is life and experience, too, but neither form of storytelling overpowers the other. Instead, what comes through most clearly is a versatile mind in the service of a painful and protracted story, an author who ranges widely before drawing tough conclusions and one who, despite the book's optimistic title, appears deeply pessimistic about things getting any better, much less becoming all right...The limits of representation come alive in the author's unforgettable discussion of the Asian American experience."--The Washington Post
"In the song that inspired the author's title, Kendrick Lamar repeatedly asks his listeners, 'Do you feel me?' Chang's text, in essence, poses the same question. Enriched and stimulated as much by his passion as his ideas, I'm pleased to answer with a resounding yes."--Jabari Asim, Bookforum
"We Gon' Be Alright is a parade of some of the most uncomfortable and heartbreaking dances this country has seen; it looks glaringly close at buzzwords such as "affirmative action," "white flight," "gentrification," "diversity," "Beyoncé," and--of course--"Donald Trump." Its topics are so current, its tone so raw, that readers might wonder if Chang finished it minutes before it was due to the printer."--The Rumpus