The Drama of Obama on Racism: Analyzing Obama's Speech on Race

by Wayne Perryman

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 188754285X
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Book Publishers Network
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Niche of Knowledge

"The Drama of Obama on Racism" is a slightly misleading title, because the reader gets a much broader and deeper perspective on the entire history of racism and slavery in the North American hemisphere than the book's title suggests. The Reverend Wayne Perryman uses Obama's racism speech as a jumping off point, to investigate the almost 400 year history of slavery and racism in, primarily, the US (and, of course, in the original colonies before they became the US). The book is most definitely NOT restricted to the narrow topic its title would imply. However, this explanation is itself probably misleading. This is NOT a boring tome of inordinate length. It is only about 100 pages long. But Rev. Perryman has packed an immense amount of information into his concise book, and yet it is written in common english, easy to read, easy to absorb. The author has obviously done his research thoroughly, and the results are bound to be both interesting and surprising. He has made himself into an expert in a "niche" area of American history: slavery and racism. The book is short because it is pithy; it's all information and virtually no surrounding fluff. In the couple hours it takes to read, this book will make the reader into an expert on its subject. One reason it's so easy to absorb 100 pages of condensed information is the simple but extremely effective organization, or formatting of the book. Only the first few pages are explicit comment on Obama's racism speech,and they serve as the introduction to the general topic of racism's history in North America, primarily the US. Rev. Perryman's thesis is probably unique amongst historians of this topic. His view is that the oppression of the black minority was not the fault of the US as a nation, nor of the white race, but that it can be laid almost exclusively at the door of one specific subgroup of American whites. He points out that the Abolitionists were another group vehemently opposed to the group responsible for the racial prejudice, exploitation, and enslavement of blacks, and that many Abolitionists actually ended up losing their lives in their fight to secure freedom, equality, and dignity for the black race. The organization of the book is used by the author as an intelligent means for supporting his view, and it seems to work very well. After the few introductory pages about Obama's speech, the book simply continues without any chanpter headings or chapters. It is merely a nearly 100 page long LIST of approximately the last 300 years, in chronological order. Not every year is included. Some are omitted, and some on the list are actually a span of several years. Each entry is for a period of time when something significant that's relevant to the story of black history in the US, occurred. Following each bold-faced year or range of years is a brief summary of the significant event(s) that occurred during that period, and which earned it a place in his book. Th