Yet a Stranger: Why Black Americans Still Don't Feel at Home

by Deborah Mathis

In a provocative examination of the state of race relations today, Deborah Mathis provides personal and sociological perspective on what it feels like for African Americans who continue to be segregated spiritually and emotionally from the rest of the country. Mathis airs mutual fears and suppositions and shines a spotlight on how far we still have to go before black Americans can truly feel at home in a country that benefits so strongly from their many contributions. Topics of discussion include: * Affirmative action -- are we starting to move backward? * Racial profiling and the assumptions it involves * The poor state of education in low-income area schools * Blacks and their treatment in the judicial system * The dangerous sense of complacency about "how things are so much better than they used to be" * And more.

Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2002

Reviews

[Marcus Perales · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the book, Yet a Stranger it takes you on a journey through the writer's experiences with discrimination. She takes you through her childhood experiences with racism. Then how she copes with it throughout her life. But she also states facts throughout the book and shapes what it was like back then in the 20th century. Throughout the book, she references events that heavily involve discrimination.

I really liked this book it is probably the second best book that has to do with racism that I have read. One thing that got really old throughout the book was the repetition of events she used, but she mentions quite a bit of events but they just seem to be told for too long. Besides the repetition of events, the book was great. She uses a lot of imagery to help paint the picture of what it was like in the 20th century. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes to learn about the 20th century and racism.

[Carolyn Moon · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a quote that states that sometimes 'I feel like an unwanted guest in my own life'...well Ms. Mathis discusses how people of African descent with an legacy of slavery in this country feel like unwanted guests in their home which is America.

She examines the economical, political, social and ethnic barriers that must be navigated in this country in order to become acceptable to mainstream society. Many of those barriers were intact as recently as 30 yrs. ago. The never ending process of setting the bar higher as individuals and groups attain higher status and empowerment in areas that were once inaccessible continue to this day.