cover image Race Manners

Race Manners

Bruce Jacobs. Arcade Publishing, $22.95 (256pp) ISBN 978-1-55970-453-3

In a frank, intelligent guide intended for both whites and blacks, Jacobs explores the resentments that thwart a genuine dialogue on race. He lays bare the ""wildly, even hysterically"" exaggerated fear of African-American males held by many whites, and he urges white people to recognize that a racial double standard exists in law enforcement. Jacobs, a poet and essayist, describes how, as an African-American, he grew up surrounded by racial hatred in predominantly white, middle-class Rochester, N.Y. Nevertheless, he cautions that many blacks have succumbed to a siege mentality, judging all whites as harshly and as broadly as they feel themselves to be judged. While supporting affirmative action, he acknowledges that this policy comes with a price involving sacrifice by some whites for the greater good. He urges blacks to gain as much competence as possible in Standard English, while at the same time deploring the negative attitude many whites harbor toward speakers of vernacular ""black English."" Whether he is discussing interracial love, ethnic jokes, African-American TV shows or Elvis Presley's borrowings from black music, Jacobs challenges preconceptions and entrenched myths. Agent, Sheree Bykofsky. (Feb.)