When Whites Riot: Writing Race and Violence in American and

Challenging the perceptions that ""race riots"" in the U.S. and South Africa are always perpetrated by people of color, Sheila Smith McKoy, an assistant professor of English at Vanderbilt University, explores the history of some of the two countries' most violent moments in When Whites Riot: Writing Race and Violence in American and South African Culture. Focusing on events like Wilmington N.C.'s race riot in 1898 and Mmabatho, Bhoputhatswana's 1994 pre-election riot, McKoy explores in various media the way public attention gets diverted from white violence. Several participants in the Soweto Uprising, for instance, describe how a peaceful protest by black school children one afternoon became a violent three-day rebellion after the police fired upon the crowd. While media in South Africa and elsewhere alleged that the police were provoked by the crowd's violence, McKoy contends that, in fact, the white police rioted, spurring the community to throw rocks and burn buildings. Her unflinching look at horrifying events offers an important take on race-based violence. 12 b & w photos. (Dec.)