Summary Of Between Barack And A Hard Place By Tim Wise

Published soon after President Obama’s inauguration in 2009, Tim Wise’s book, Between Barack and a Hard Place, argues that contrary to the largely held white belief, the election of our nation’s first African American president is a long way away from the end of racism in the United States. Wise suggests that instead of signifying a victory over racism, the election of Barack Obama may even signal the emergence of an entirely new type of racism altogether. Between Barack and a Hard Place examines contemporary white denial and the reality of modern racism by investigating different forms racism present in income and jobs, housing, education, criminal justice and the law, and health care. In light of Obama’s victory, the book aims to expose the

In his book, Wise agrees with the socially fabricated nature of race and even goes further to question how race had gained its weighty significance. He states, “Race has meaning not because there are ‘white genes,’ or ‘Asian genes,’ or ‘black blood’ or ‘Latino blood,’ but because it has been given meaning in the laws and customs of a society” (Wise 13). Following this reasoning, even if those being oppressed are not any different from the oppressor biologically, it is social circumstances which dictate the meaning of race. With the social terms of race in mind, Wise provided two definitions of racism: 1) “An ideological belief in the racial or cultural superiority or inferiority of certain people defined racially as members of a group” 2) “A system of inequity based on race, or perceived racial difference” (Wise 15). These definitions are important to keep in mind considering [according to a survey for CNN and Essence magazine] “only 1 in 9 whites believe racial discrimination against blacks is still a very serious problem” (Wise 31). Considering that systematic racial discrimination continues to oppress people of color in our nation, the widespread skepticism concerning the existence of racism cannot possibly be due to the absence of present-day racial inequity. However, this skepticism may in fact be due to our inability to recognize an entirely new form of racism– a racism which Wise dubs ‘Racism