Dyson’s ‘Long Time Coming’ addresses history of racism in US

NEW YORK — One of the country’s most prominent scholars on race has a new book out in December.

Michael Eric Dyson’s “Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America” will be released Dec. 1, St. Martin’s Press announced Tuesday. The book traces the history of racism from slavery to the killing of George Floyd.

“Dyson examines the cultural imperatives of black death, the plague of police brutality, the white theft of black bodies and opportunities, the resort to the often fascist justice of social media instead of the faulty, but far superior justice of the legal system, and the craving for white comfort that has too often cost black people their lives,” according to the publisher. “Ending with a poignant plea for hope, Dyson’s new book points the way to social redemption.”

Dyson’s previous books include the bestsellers “Tears We Cannot Stop” and “What Truth Sounds Like.” In a statement issued through St. Martin’s, Dyson said he would be addressing “a racial reckoning we haven’t seen in this nation in more than 50 years.”

“This book is my love letter to the martyrs of the struggle, to my people who have been courageous long-distance runners in the fight for justice, and to a country that hasn’t always loved us as it should,” he said.

The Associated Press