The scholar and author posits that "the election of Barack Obama gave political currency to the (white) idea that Americans now live in a post-racial society. But the persistence of racial profiling, economic inequality between blacks and whites, disproportionate numbers of black prisoners, and disparities in health and access to healthcare suggest there is more to the story"--Dust jacket flap
Introduction: What does black empowerment in the twenty-first century look like? -- White supremacy under fire: the unrewarded perspective in Edward P. Jones's The Known World -- Easier said than done: making black feminism transformative for black men -- All joking aside: black men, sexual assault, and displaced racial angst in Paul Beatty's The White Boy Shuffle -- Boys to men: getting personal about black manhood, sexuality, and empowerment -- Rejecting Goldilocks: the crisis of normative white beauty for black girls -- "Stop making the rest of us look bad": how class matters in the attacks against the movie Precious -- Epilogue: So what does it all mean?