The Ugly Side of Beautiful

Here is the seminal and critical work that helped solidify Haki Madhubuti as an informed, passionate, and caring commentator on Black life, culture, relationships, and the development and stability of the Black community. In ""Black Men,"" an integral text for anyone with vested interest in building healthy, thriving Black families and communities, Madhubuti takes aim at some of the critical issues facing the African American family. He offers useful, pointed, practical solutions for overcoming these obstacles and challenges.

White Hate Crimes: Howard Beach and Other Racial Atrocities offers a timely examination of the barely discussed, but widely practiced phenomenon of white-on-Black Crime. Although the Civil Rights legislation of the 1950s and 1960s suggested a movement toward racial harmony, the rise of conservatism during the Ronald Reagan Administration helped to create a climate that not only reversed civil rights gains, but lead to a resurgence of hatred and violence toward people of color and the poor. Dr. Alphonso Pinkney presents a riveting, historical account of white racially motivated individual and mob attacks on Blacks during the 1980s. Documenting the striking parallels of these attacks as a return to Reconstruction Era and early 1900s race riot styled lynchings, Pinkney provides engaging profiles of the victims and their attackers, reviews the legal proceedings, analyzes the affects on the families and communities involved, and demonstrates the legal system's complicity in disrupting justice.

Taking Bullets: Black Boys and Men in Twenty-First Century America Fighting Terrorism, Stopping Violence, and Seeking Healing starts a national debate on Black male empowerment with an urgency for the survival of a generation of Black men and boys who are confronted with disparity and adversity on the streets of every city in America. Haki Madhubuti speaks directly to these young men with an empathic understanding of their plight, yet he sees hope and a vision for their future. In Taking Bullets, he challenges community leaders, educators, and all of those individuals who directly impact the lives of our young men to develop sustained strategies to confront and challenge the systematic problems of police violence, mass incarceration and economic disparity.

Compiled as a response to Manning Marable's controversial new biography of Malcolm X, more than 30 noted scholars from the African American community offer their opinions on Marable's portrayal of the man whose short life still inspires speculation of what might have been.

This book is the bible on the social pathology of street gangs in Chicago. It should be read by all professionals working with young adults, especially those involved in law enforcement.

Sterling Plumpp contrasts the rituals of Africa with African American rituals that have emerged in the twentieth century.