This book traces the changing role of race within the American political system since the Civil Rights Movement. It charts the author's striking evolution of political ideas, moving toward a political analysis of multicultural democracy, social justice, and egalitarian pluralism.

Introduction: Toward an Autobiography of the Politics of Race and Class -- Black Liberation in America -- The Tchula Seven: Harvest of Hate in the Mississippi Delta -- The March on Washington, DC, 1983: What Next? -- The Paradox of Black Reform -- Harold Washington and the Politics of Race in Chicago -- Black Conservatives -- Smoke and Mirrors: City of Hope and Illusion -- Toward a Renaissance of Progressive Black Politics -- Black America: Multicultural Democracy in the Age of Clarence Thomas, David Duke, and the Los Angeles Uprisings -- The Challenge of Black Leadership: African-American Empowerment for the Twenty-first Century -- Crossing Boundaries, Making Connections: The Politics of Race and Class in Urban America -- Violence, Resistance, and the Struggle for Black Empowerment -- Malcolm, Martin, and the Mandates of Justice -- Louis Farrakhan and the Million Man March -- The Third World and the Politics of Peace -- Zimbabwe and the Problematic of African Socialism -- Sin Libertad: United Nations Appeal for Puerto Rican Independence -- Nuclear War and Black America -- Race and Democracy in Cuba -- Free South Africa Movement: Black America's Protest Connections with South Africa -- The Future of the Cold War -- The Bitter Fruits of War -- Toward a Pan-Africanist Manifesto for the Twenty-first Century -- Radical Democracy and Socialism -- Why Black Americans Are Not Socialists -- Black Politics and the Challenges of the Left -- Toward an American Socialism from Below: Beyond Stalinism and Social Democracy -- Remaking American Marxism -- Toward a New American Socialism