Racial Definitions in America

 

Got to do a illustration for a dual book review by Gwen Ifill for the Washington Post.

Here's an excerpt: 

Decades later, Americans are still struggling with racial definitions. Is the president black or biracial? Are we Latino or Hispanic? Is the n-word an insult or an affectionate term? What does it mean to be authentically black? And does any of that
matter anymore? Didn't the 2008 election signal that the country that elected its first black president is now post-racial?

sketch and color study

Two new books take radically different approaches to these questions of race introspection - one academic, the other anecdotal. Both are mature and serious works that seek to get us past our laziest assumptions about race. Each managed to expand my notion of what it means to be black in America, and why it matters.

Art direction by Kristin Lenz.