Review by Choice Review
Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future is an expansive and engaging survey of contemporary Black politics. Using a range of approaches, including media criticism and political analysis, Collins-Dexter (independent scholar) challenges facile associations between Black Americans and the liberalism of the Democratic Party. Collins-Dexter explores the nuance and complexity of Black politics, challenging America to deliver institutions that can actually promote Black flourishing. The book's title comes from a Kanye West song, and West's political and cultural impact (and infamy) provides Collins-Dexter with a case study of the complexity of Black political thought. "Black skinheads" are those whose views the Democratic Party's approach to racial politics do not neatly capture. In challenging the linkage between Black voters and the Democratic Party, Black Skinhead would make interesting reading alongside Ismail K. White and Chryl N. Laird's Steadfast Democrats: How Social Forces Shape Black Political Behavior (CH, Dec'20, 58-1193), although the latter book has a more explicitly social science orientation. Black Skinhead has an approachable journalistic style, which makes it a great resource for undergraduate students and nonacademic audiences. Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduates and general readers. --H. Howell Williams, Western Connecticut State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Collins-Dexter introduces Black skinheads, a group that emerged after Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden failed to meet the needs of a considerable segment of Black lives in America. She questions the long-held assumption that Black people will always vote for the Democratic Party and wonders if Democrats are genuinely committed to Black people. She states, "How can the most reliable Democratic voters be the most dissatisfied with the Democratic Party? Why does the political class obsess over the shifting loyalties of white voters but ignore Black voters who are experiencing the same doubts?" In her powerful essays, Collins-Dexter--an influential media commentator and former senior campaign director for Color of Change--explores the fragile alliance between the Democratic Party and Black voters in a mix of memoir, research, and analysis. She blends stories about her father, beloved basketball star Jimmy Collins, with observations about Kanye West, Black Trump supporters, historian Leah Wright Rigueur, activist Kwame Ture, and radio host Charlamagne tha God. This fresh inquiry is recommended for everyone interested in the U.S. political landscape, Black lives, and identity in America.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Political activist Collins-Dexter debuts with an immersive and insightful look at the Black community's fraying relationship with the Democratic Party. Focusing on Black Americans who "live outside of the bounds of fetishized Black political identity," Collins-Dexter describes rapper Kanye West, whose song gives the book its title, as a "canary in the coal mine" warning that Democrats are taking Black votes for granted. She admits that her 2020 presidential vote was more "anti-Trump" than "pro-Biden" and critiques the "symbolic gestures" of Democrats including Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, who wore kente cloth in solidarity with the Black community, but resisted calls to reroute funding from police departments to social welfare programs. Throughout, Collins-Dexter spotlights a diverse range of Black political thinkers, including Marxists, conservatives, and disillusioned liberals who voice their grievances with the current political landscape, and interweaves cogent analyses of popular culture, including the movie Black Panther and the rise of streetwear fashion. Seamlessly balancing the personal, political, and cultural, and enlivened with a sharp sense of wit, these standout pieces strike an essential note of warning for Democrats. (Sept.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Former senior campaign manager for Color of Change, a nonprofit civil rights organization advocating for Black Americans, Collins-Dexter calls on voting statistics and personal experience, plus music, film, and sports, to examine Black America's disaffection with the politics and false promises of the United States. In particular, she considers the strained relationship between Black Americans and the Democratic Party; the book originated in her shock that some Black voters opted for Trump, which compelled her to examine her own identity. With a 100,000-copy first printing.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An influential media commentator on racial justice explores politics and Black voters in this sharp blend of memoir and cultural criticism. In her debut book, Collins-Dexter, a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, chronicles her "journey to get to the heart of Black political identity, a process that involved extensive interviews with Black people from all across the ideological spectrum." She narrates a powerful story "about a Black America that had become disillusioned with the failed promises of their country." In the 1960s, before it became known for White nationalism, the skinhead movement was a political movement comprised of the British working class, most of whom felt "left behind" and disillusioned by economic and political infrastructures. The author uses this idea as a launching pad to deconstruct a host of cultural frameworks involving politics and place in communities around the U.S., and she offers a well-rendered critique of the implicit attitude that Black voters prefer Democrats or Black candidates. Through the lens of Black voters, Collins-Dexter examines often complex political concepts in an accessible way--Kanye West's troubling persona is a recurring topic--but the rigor of her scholarship is never in question. In the section on populism, the author employs wrestling lingo and characters from the World Wrestling Federation to describe political ideology from the left and right. "With its exaggerated narratives of good, evil, and the struggle of the everyman," she writes, "[wrestling] is the perfect way to understand populism--its pitfalls and its undeniable draw." Reminiscent of Notes From No Man's Land, by Eula Biss, this collection is well constructed and incisively argued. Collins-Dexter begins and ends with poignant memories of her father, effectively tying the personal to the universal. Featuring a vivid mix of hard data, anecdotal details, and scholarly research, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in politics and Black lives in America. A remarkable work that leaves us feeling hopeful for change. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
