Description:
GRIFTER [grif-ter] noun
1. a con or scam artist, a hustler or a sell-out
After the Civil War, the pillars of Black Republicanism were a balanced critique of both political parties, civil rights for all Americans, reinventing an economy based on exploitation, and, most importantly, building thriving Black communities. How did Black Republicanism devolve from revolutionaries like Frederick Douglass to the puppets in the Trump era?
Whether it's radical conservatives like South Carolina Senator Tim Scott or Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, they are consistently viral news and continuously uphold egregious laws at the expense of their Black brethren.
Part history and part cultural analysis, The Grift chronicles the nuanced history of Black Republicans and lays out how Black Republicanism has been mangled by opportunists who are apologists for racism.
Black faces in high places providing cover for explicit bigotry is one of the greatest threats to the liberation of Black and brown people. By studying these figures and their tactics, Cane exposes the grift and lays out a plan to emancipate our future.
Brief description:
Clay Cane is the author two books, Live through This and The Grift. He is an award-winning journalist, writer, radio host, and political commentator. His work on race, culture, and politics have appeared in national publications, including the Washington Post, CNN, and The Grio. He is the director of the original BET documentary Holler If You Hear Me: Black and Gay in the Church, which was screened at the Obama White House. In 2017, The Clay Cane Show launched on SiriusXM Urban View channel 126. He is a regular political commentator on MSNBC. He is a graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in African-American studies.
Review Quotes:
"A take-no-prisoners attack on the small but vocal community of Black Trump supporters and their ideological forebears...A full-bore assault on Black politicos who buy the GOP line and are thus tolerated, 'but only if they know their place.'"
-- "Kirkus Reviews"