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A review by cbg_reads
The Accommodation: The Politics of Race in an American City by Jim Schutze
5.0
I’ve been searching for this book since I heard an interview with William Jackson Harper about the play he wrote based on it, but until recently this 1980’s look at structural racism in Dallas has been out of print. With @deepvellum ‘s reprinting, I finally had a chance to dig in to the history of my city a bit more.
Starting with a string of bombings targeting Black residents in white neighborhoods in South Dallas, Schutze tells the engaging and damning story of how Dallas navigated the Civil Rights movements of the 50s and 60s. Instead of following the footsteps of their southern neighbors as they desegregated, Dallas relied on back room deals between the various business interests of the region in a way that helped Dallas miss much of the violence seen in other cities, but all at the expense of real change for the city’s Black residents.
An absolute necessity of a read for anyone who lives in the DFW region or Texas as a whole, Schutze’s book shines a glaring light on the parts of itself Dallas would prefer remained hidden. My only wish is that the reprint included more information about Dallas in the post-1980s eras. The city did erupt in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and I think an update at looking at the special accommodation of Dallas is long overdue.
An excellent nonfiction read that I highly recommend
Starting with a string of bombings targeting Black residents in white neighborhoods in South Dallas, Schutze tells the engaging and damning story of how Dallas navigated the Civil Rights movements of the 50s and 60s. Instead of following the footsteps of their southern neighbors as they desegregated, Dallas relied on back room deals between the various business interests of the region in a way that helped Dallas miss much of the violence seen in other cities, but all at the expense of real change for the city’s Black residents.
An absolute necessity of a read for anyone who lives in the DFW region or Texas as a whole, Schutze’s book shines a glaring light on the parts of itself Dallas would prefer remained hidden. My only wish is that the reprint included more information about Dallas in the post-1980s eras. The city did erupt in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and I think an update at looking at the special accommodation of Dallas is long overdue.
An excellent nonfiction read that I highly recommend