Lessie B. Branch confronts the tension between black Americans' economic realities and the hope many felt for the future, looking at survey data alongside the rhetoric of leading black figures, including President Obama. This disparity has caused a dangerous resistance to social activism, as discourses of optimism privilege individual success over the need for collective action. Branch sees the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement as a constructive change in this dynamic. As Americans continue to grapple with complicated questions of race and progress in classrooms, in the media, and in legislatures, this short, provocative book will inform and enrich these important discussions.
Contents
Introduction : the paradoxical ebullience problem -- Post-racial theories of racial inequality -- Critical discourse analysis and narratives of race -- Ebullience and action in Black discourse -- Social knowledge and Black "progress" -- Black America at the end of the Obama era -- Epilogue : the role of elite discourse in the Trump era and beyond.
