Fight back against misinformation and ignorance as New York Times bestselling author Keith Boykin debunks 25 of the most common claims used to refute America’s racist past and present.

The most toxic racial arguments share one of five traits. They try to erase Black history, prioritize white victimhood, deny Black oppression, promote myths of Black inferiority, or rebrand racism as something else entirely. They’re all designed to distract society from racial justice, but now we have the tools to debunk them.

With a mixture of personal experience, reportage, and extensive research, Keith Boykin takes a wrecking ball to twenty-five of the most widespread deceptions about race, such as:

The Civil War was about states’ rights, not slavery
Affirmative action is reverse discrimination
Critical Race Theory is indoctrinating children to hate one another

and shows us how to refute lies, myths, and misinformation with history, knowledge, and truth.

Genre:

"A clarifying set of arguments about Black lives past and present."
Kirkus
"Boykin's approach underscores the pervasive role race plays in America and how and why anti-Blackness and systemic racism persist…Readers seeking books in Black Studies, civil rights, and issues of discrimination will find this one thought-provoking and crucial to understanding and dismantling the anti-Black consciousness that endures in American society."
Booklist

Keith Boykin

About the Author

Keith Boykin is a New York Times–bestselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He’s a Lambda Literary Award–winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

Learn more about this author

January 4 2024

Open Book Interview: Keith Boykin

Get to Know our January 2024 Open Book Author, Keith Boykin!

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