How Race is Lived in America.

by New York Times Correspondents

The most compelling essay in How Race is Lived in America describes the horrific working conditions of a slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, North Carolina. Workers are segregated and scapegoated as a company strategy. Racial mistrust and competition eat away at the possibility of positive human relations. The slaughtering of pigs becomes a metaphor for the slaughtering of the spirit. If there ever was a mainstream illustration of the desperate need for multiracial organizing, this is it.

The compilation of articles from the New York Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning series at least succeeds in combating the notion that race is no longer a factor in American life. What the book actually says about race is not, in the end, particularly enlightening or optimistic. It highlights limited examples of interracial relations, with astoundingly low expectations of whites taking responsibility for their own biases and too many quotes from immigrants describing black people as untrustworthy, resentful, and lazy. There are better examples of multiracial alliances that involve real struggle and progress on race relations, where stereotypes are actively challenged and people are armed with a historical context. The next time the mainstream media takes on such an ambitious project, progressive organizers should be on hand to help out with story ideas.