Jeff Chang: Who We Be: The Colorization of America

Presented by KPFA Radio 94.1FM and Pegasus Books

Hosted by Davey D

$12 advance tickets: :: 800-838-3006 or Pegasus (3 sites) Moe's, Marcus Books, Walden Pond, Diesel a Bookstore, Mrs. Dalloway's Books SF: Modern Times, $15 door, KPFA benefit http://www.kpfa.org/events
.......................................................................................................................
Jeff Chang's first book was the highly acclaimed, award-winning Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, memorably hailed as "the funky, bootleg, B-side remix of late-20th century American history" by Time Magazine.

Who We Be: The Colorization of America is an essential chronicle of the past five decades of American cultural history in which Jeff reveals exactly how the rise of Hip-Hop impacted today's cultural politics, how Americans now view race, and how that view has changed over the past five decades. In a narrative that moves from the 1963 March on Washington through the Obama election to the aftermath of the George Zimmerman trial, Jeff examines the role of artists in culturally desegregating America, including the multiculturalism movement. While many viewed Obama's election as proof we had moved beyond race, Who We Be shows the full paradox of the "post-racial era," including the darker tones of political debates reflecting deep pessimism, and social indexes showing rising rates of resegregation in housing and schooling.

Currently Executive Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University, Jeff is continuing his long career specializing in culture, politics, the arts and music.

Besides editing the book, Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop, Jeff co-founded CultureStr/ke and ColorLines. He was a Senior Editor/Director at Russell Simmons' 360hiphop.com.

Davey D is the Host of Hard Knock Radio (airing on KPFA 94.1fm weekdays at 4pm) and Adjunct Professor, Afrostudies Dept, S.F.St