When the Stars Begin to Fall

""Racism is an existential threat to America," Theodore R. Johnson declares at the start of his profound and exhilarating book, a refutation of the American Promise enshrined in our Constitution--that all men and women are inherently equal. And yet racism continues to corrode our society. If we cannot overcome it, Johnson argues, while the United States will remain a geopolitical entity, the promise that made America unique on earth will have died. When the Stars Begin to Fall makes a compelling, ambitious case for a pathway to the national solidarity necessary to overcome racism. Weaving memories of his own family's experiences and strands of history into his elegant narrative, Johnson posits that a blueprint for national solidarity can be found in the exceptional citizenship long practiced in Black America, augmented by a more enduring version of the solidarity among members of the military or in communities recovering from a natural disaster. Understanding that racism is a structural crime of the state, he argues that overcoming it requires us to recognize that a color-conscious society--not a color-blind one--is the true fulfillment of the American Promise. Alive to the power of writers from James Baldwin to Isabel Wilkerson to Jon Meacham, When the Stars Begin to Fall is an urgent call to undertake the process of overcoming what has long seemed intractable"-- Weaving memories of his own family's experiences with strands of history, Johnson posits that a blueprint for national solidarity can be found in the exceptional citizenship long practiced in Black America, augmented by a more enduring version of the solidarity among members of the military or in communities recovering from a natural disaster. Understanding that racism is a structural crime of the state, he argues that overcoming it requires us to recognize that a color-conscious society-- not a color-blind one-- is the true fulfillment of the American Promise. -- adapted from jacket