White Lies Matter: Race, Crime and the Politics of Fear (City Lights Open Media)

“[Wise’s] work is revolutionary, and those who react negatively are simply afraid of hearing the truth”—Robin D.G. Kelley

“Tim Wise is one of the great public moralists in America today.”—Michael Eric Dyson

With stories of police misconduct and the shooting of unarmed people of color a permanent fixture of our nation’s news cycle, White Lies Matter provides a framework for understanding the politics of black outrage—and the subsequent white backlash to urgent calls for justice and racial equality. Tim Wise connects the dots between historical flare-ups of white fear of blacks, dating back to the race riots of the 1970s, the Civil Rights movement, Reconstruction, and the founding of the nation itself. He shows how the national media and the political system are being manipulated through the repetition of false narratives meant to stoke white fear of black crime, effectively perpetuating chronic inequities and violent racial oppression in the United States. With passion and poise, Tim Wise provides his readers with the factual ammunition needed to resist right-wing narratives of white victimization as he calls on the nation to step back from violence and fear and to find strength in the reality of our multicultural community.

Tim Wise is one of the most prominent antiracist essayists, educators and activists in the United States. He is regularly interviewed by national media, including CNN, Tavis Smiley and by Tom Joyner. His books include Under the Affluence, Dear White America, Colorblind, White Like Me, and Between Barack and a Hard Place.