What's Going On Paperback - 1998

First line

While riding through a wooded park in Arlington, Virginia-where the bike trails are longer and more scenic than those in my neighborhood-I came across a group of white boys shooting hoops on a crowded court.

From the jacket flap

Current Affairs / African American Studies
"Filled with essays that challenge America's myths.... His easy reading style unsuspectingly pricks the conscience." --USA Today
ith the same personal authority and exhilarating directness he brought to his account of his passage from a prison cell to the newsroom of The Washington Post, Nathan McCall delivers a series of front-line reports on the state of the races in today's America. The resulting volume is guaranteed to shake the assumptions of readers of every pigmentation and political allegiance.
In What's Going On, McCall adds up the hidden costs of the stereotype of black athletic prowess, which tells African American teenagers that they can only succeed on the white man's terms. He introduces a fresh perspective to the debates on gangsta rap and sexual violence. He indicts the bigotry of white churches and the complacency of the black suburban middle class, celebrates the heroism of Muhammad Ali, and defends the truth-telling of Alice Walker. Engaging, provocative, and utterly fearless, here is a commentator to reckon with, addressing our most persistent divisions in a voice of stinging immediacy.
"[These essays] reinforce the moral authority McCall [brings]
to the issue of America's racial schisms."
--The New York Times Book Review
"Straightforward, quick-moving [and] erudite."
--Philadelphia Inquirer

Media reviews

"Sooner or later, every generation must find its voice.  It may be that ours belongs to Nathan McCall... He is a mesmerizing storyteller." - Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The New Yorker

"Filled with essays that challenge America's myths.... His easy reading style unsuspectingly pricks the conscience."- USA Today

"[These essays] reinforce the moral authority McCall [brings] to the issue of America's racial schisms." - The New York Times Book Review

"Straightforward, quick-moving [and] erudite." -Philadelphia Inquirer

Citations

• New York Times, 02/21/1999, Page 32