The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy. (nonfiction reviews).The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy by Lani Guinier Lani Guinier (born 1950) is arguably one of the foremost American civil rights scholars in the United States. The first black woman tenured professor at Harvard Law School, Guinier's work spans a range of topics, including professional responsibilities of public lawyers, the and Gerald Torres Harvard University Press The Harvard University Press is a publishing house, a division of Harvard University, that is highly respected in academic publishing. It was established on January 13, 1913. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. , February 2002 $27.95, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0-674-00469-8 Legal scholars Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres use the canary--which miner's employed to detect noxious gas in the coal mines--as a metaphor for exploring race in America. The Miner's Canary offers several compelling anecdotes that iterate it·er·ate tr.v. it·er·at·ed, it·er·at·ing, it·er·ates To say or perform again; repeat. See Synonyms at repeat. [Latin iter the message: If we ignore issues of race and racism, we do so at our own peril. In what is presented as a series of case studies, Guinier and Torres alternately detail stories of efforts by African Americans and Hispanics to assert what the two scholars term "political race." The concept, as they describe it, involves using race to resist established political power. Not surprisingly, Guinier enlists some of the same arguments here that proved to be her undoing in her short-lived nomination for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under former president Clinton. One example in Miner's Canary involves the efforts to unionize K-Mart's majority black workforce at the company's distribution center in Greensboro, North Carolina “Greensboro” redirects here. For other uses, see Greensboro (disambiguation). Greensboro, North Carolina (IPA: [ɡɹiːnsbʌɹəʊ]) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. , during the 1990s. While many of the case studies are clinical in their presentation, the most vivid example is offered in Guinier's prologue, in which she describes a conversation with her son Niko: "Okay," I said. "Now let me demonstrate racial abuse. Let's walk back down that same street." Just as I passed Niko, I looked him straight in the eyes and almost spit out Verb 1. spit out - spit up in an explosive manner splutter, sputter cough out, cough up, expectorate, spit up, spit out - discharge (phlegm or sputum) from the lungs and out of the mouth 2. , "You ugly nigger!" He jumped backward, afraid. "You called me the `N' word, Mom," he said, accusingly. "Yes, I did. That's racial abuse." He paused, reflecting a moment. Then he almost whispered, "Mom, will someone ever call me that?" I was torn ... Reluctantly, I said, "I'm afraid that is possible." It is precisely that kind of candid commentary about race that makes The Miner's Canary a worthwhile read. --Evette Porter is the executive editor of BIBR BIBR Bay Islands Beach Resort (Roatan, Honduras) BIBR Backward Indicator Bit Received . |
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