Alfred Frankowski is assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and African and African American Studies Program at Northeastern Illinois University.

• Chapter 1: Post-racial memory and the shadow of despair Chapter 2: Fate and the post-racial limits of memorializationChapter 3: Sorrow as the longest memory of neglectChapter 4: The Cassandra complex Chapter 5: The sublime and a political sense of mourning Chapter 6: Mourning and philosophical pessimism within the post-racial context

This book will change the way we think about memory and forgetting in a "post-racial" society. It will also shape the way we analyze present and future iterations of post-racialism. Through brilliant analyses of the commemoration and erasure of black life and black death, Frankowski develops a conceptual language for engaging with some of the most pressing issues and events of our time, from the election of Barack Obama to the murder of Trayvon Martin, and beyond. -- Lisa Noelle Guenther, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University This is a timely and needed book. The author asks us to think reflectively about what will it mean to cast this period in the history of the United States as a post-racial moment. The violence experienced by black Americans undermines any notions of racial harmony and dims any post-racial glow. The memories we conjure of this period must not avoid the ugly truth of systemic racism. One could not ask for a clearer call for intellectual, political, and moral strength and courage to confront the horrible truths of our failure to do the right thing for all of our citizens; a provocative and insightful work. -- Bill E. Lawson, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of Memphis

Alfred Frankowski is assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and African and African American Studies Program at Northeastern Illinois University.

• Chapter 1: Post-racial memory and the shadow of despair Chapter 2: Fate and the post-racial limits of memorializationChapter 3: Sorrow as the longest memory of neglectChapter 4: The Cassandra complex Chapter 5: The sublime and a political sense of mourning Chapter 6: Mourning and philosophical pessimism within the post-racial context

This book will change the way we think about memory and forgetting in a "post-racial" society. It will also shape the way we analyze present and future iterations of post-racialism. Through brilliant analyses of the commemoration and erasure of black life and black death, Frankowski develops a conceptual language for engaging with some of the most pressing issues and events of our time, from the election of Barack Obama to the murder of Trayvon Martin, and beyond. -- Lisa Noelle Guenther, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University This is a timely and needed book. The author asks us to think reflectively about what will it mean to cast this period in the history of the United States as a post-racial moment. The violence experienced by black Americans undermines any notions of racial harmony and dims any post-racial glow. The memories we conjure of this period must not avoid the ugly truth of systemic racism. One could not ask for a clearer call for intellectual, political, and moral strength and courage to confront the horrible truths of our failure to do the right thing for all of our citizens; a provocative and insightful work. -- Bill E. Lawson, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of Memphis

Alfred Frankowski is assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and African and African American Studies Program at Northeastern Illinois University.

• Chapter 1: Post-racial memory and the shadow of despair Chapter 2: Fate and the post-racial limits of memorializationChapter 3: Sorrow as the longest memory of neglectChapter 4: The Cassandra complex Chapter 5: The sublime and a political sense of mourning Chapter 6: Mourning and philosophical pessimism within the post-racial context

This book will change the way we think about memory and forgetting in a "post-racial" society. It will also shape the way we analyze present and future iterations of post-racialism. Through brilliant analyses of the commemoration and erasure of black life and black death, Frankowski develops a conceptual language for engaging with some of the most pressing issues and events of our time, from the election of Barack Obama to the murder of Trayvon Martin, and beyond. -- Lisa Noelle Guenther, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University This is a timely and needed book. The author asks us to think reflectively about what will it mean to cast this period in the history of the United States as a post-racial moment. The violence experienced by black Americans undermines any notions of racial harmony and dims any post-racial glow. The memories we conjure of this period must not avoid the ugly truth of systemic racism. One could not ask for a clearer call for intellectual, political, and moral strength and courage to confront the horrible truths of our failure to do the right thing for all of our citizens; a provocative and insightful work. -- Bill E. Lawson, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of Memphis