The Time Is Always Now : Black Thought and the Transformation of US Democracy

""Why," asks Nick Bromell, "should the political thought of white Americans remain the only theory to which Americans of all ethnicities turn when constructing and reconstructing their understanding of democracy? Must Americans remain locked in an apartheid of experience and perception even after whites have become a minority population in this nation? Hasn't the 2012 presidential election made clear that the time has come to build not just on the votes of citizens of color, but on the varieties of democratic thought their experience has engendered?" In his answers to these questions, Bromell brings to light an underappreciated stream of democratic reflection by black writers and activists from David Walker to Malcolm X. Bromell argues that these thinkers urge Americans to fundamentally re-imagine the nature of their democracy and recognize that indignation can be a powerful and productive democratic emotion; that dignity is just as important to democracy as equality and liberty; that national citizenship can be infused with a sense of responsibility to the world; and that faith can actually promote rather than threaten democratic pluralism. A literary critic and intellectual historian, Bromell draws on a wide range of fiction, essays, speeches, and oral histories, deftly synthesizing recent work in U.S. history, literary and cultural studies, and political theory. Like the figures he discusses, he puts this thought to work in the present moment, this "now." Black democratic insights, he shows, are strikingly relevant to the challenges facing US democracy today, and they provide the basis for a new, post-liberal public philosophy with which to turn back the rise of radical conservatism."--Publisher's description 'Why,'asks Nick Bromell,'should the political thought of white Americans remain the only theory to which Americans of all ethnicities turn when constructing and reconstructing their understanding of democracy? Must Americans remain locked in an apartheid of experience and perception even after whites have become a minority population in this nation? Hasn't the 2012 presidential election made clear that the time has come to build not just on the votes of citizens of color, but on the varieties of democratic thought their experience has engendered?'In his answers to these questions, Bromell brings to light an underappreciated stream of democratic reflection by black writers and activists from David Walker to Malcolm X. Bromell argues that these thinkers urge Americans to fundamentally re-imagine the nature of their democracy and recognize that indignation can be a powerful and productive democratic emotion; that dignity is just as important to democracy as equality and liberty; that national citizenship can be infused with a sense of responsibility to the world; and that faith can actually promote rather than threaten democratic pluralism. A literary critic and intellectual historian, Bromell draws on a wide range of fiction, essays, speeches, and oral histories, deftly synthesizing recent work in U.S. history, literary and cultural studies, and political theory. Like the figures he discusses, he puts this thought to work in the present moment, this'now.'Black democratic insights, he shows, are strikingly relevant to the challenges facing US democracy today, and they provide the basis for a new, post-liberal public philosophy with which to turn back the rise of radical conservatism. Historian Robin D.G. Kelley writes:'In this work of enormous breadth, depth, and imagination, Nick Bromell makes what may be the most original contribution to political theory in the past decade. In this age of alleged color blindness, Bromell has the vision and the chutzpah to turn to African American thought-ideas born of struggle, anchored in questions of dignity, human relationships, and faith-in order to revitalize American democracy.' There Have Been Many Answers On Offer For Liberalism's Anemic Approval Ratings, But As This Book Shows, We May Have Been Looking In The Wrong Places And Using The Wrong Defenses For Liberal Democracy. Focusing On The Long History Of Black Political Participation And Protest, This Book Contends That It Offers Object Lessons For Liberalism. Democratic Indignation And The Dynamics Of Black Philosophy -- Styles Of Democratic Indignation -- Human Relationships And The Production Of Democratic Dignity -- Chesnutt, Larsen, And Baldwin On Seeing And Knowing Others -- Black Imaginings Of Patriotic Cosmopolitanism -- Faith And Pluralism In The Black Democratic Imagination -- The Democratic Imagination Of Barack Obama. Nick Bromell. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Introduction: Black thought and the transformation of US public philosophy 1. From indignation to dignity: What anger does for democracy 2. "This is personal": The politics of relationships in Jim Crow America 3. The art of citizenship: Nella Larson, James Baldwin, and the difficulty of knowing others 4. "A greater, broader sense of humanity and world fellowship": Black worldly citizenship from Douglass to Malcolm X 5. "Religion in the sense of striving for the infinite": Faith, pluralism, and democratic action 6. "The moment we're in": The democratic imagination of Barack Obama A coda for my colleagues: Fusing critique and vision Nick Bromell argues in The Time is Always Now that blacks' reflections on their painful experience and their ability to advocate for people 'both black and more than black' (an Obama quote) provides us with the foundation for constructing a democracy that is less angry and more welcoming of a cosmopolitan polity.