A blistering exposé of how anti-Black racism has influenced the most essential cornerstones of American life — from where we live and where we go to school to our opportunities to vote and our relationship with law enforcement— from the founder of The Who We Are Project and former director of the ACLU and the Trone Center for Justice and Equality

Featuring a foreword by Tom Hanks

One of America’s darkest myths is that the abolition of slavery and the 1960s’ dismantling of legalized racial segregation created a racially equitable and just society. But after more than four decades working on criminal and racial justice issues, Jeffery Robinson witnessed firsthand the persistence of the very inequities he’d spent his career challenging.

The white supremacy that fueled the country for more than a century after the Civil War remains deeply ingrained in our culture, and racist laws that were banned and deemed unconstitutional have been replaced by laws that are more covert. Robinson argues that if our country is to change for the better, we must confront this truth. 

Challenging what many have been taught about America’s past, Robinson takes readers on a dramatic journey that exposes a different history hiding in plain sight. From the first group of people captured in Africa and enslaved on American soil to the resulting racist policies and practices still impacting our country today, Robinson argues that anti-Black racism is not just a series of isolated acts. It is, instead, a deeply entrenched system, in which centuries of racial segregation have resulted in flagrant disparities in American life. 

Clear-eyed, explosive, and stirring, Who We Are is a powerful correction of American history that shines a light on our country’s darkest stain, revealing who we are in an effort to heal our nation.