Ron Christie: Acting White: The Curious History of a Racial Slur

From Publishers Weekly: Ron Christie (Black in the White House: Life Inside George W. Bush's West Wing) aspires to construct a historical account of the pejorative "acting white" and dismantle its legitimacy. He traces the roots of the phrase back to Uncle Tom's Cabin, which "planted the seeds of the idea that black inferiority is the result of blacks seeking favor with whites," but he points to the Black Power movement as the real culprit in propagating the "acting white" slur. While figures such as Homer Plessy and W.E.B. Du Bois stand out for their efforts to achieve political representation for blacks, others such as Marcus Garvey criticized those intentions as opportunities for "acting white." Ron Christie cites Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and President Obama as examples of why "hard work, dressing well, speaking well, and ambitiously pursuing a fulfilling life is not a ˜white' thing." However, the book becomes less credible when Christie, a political analyst and former special assistant to George W. Bush, laments his own experiences of being tagged with the slur he now tries to examine. While Christie's frustration is admirable and his references well researched, the book's tone occasionally comes across as desperate and more personally motivated rather than persuasive and objective.



From Booklist: Ron Christie, a conservative accused of “acting white,” explores the historical roots of that particular insult targeted at blacks who are considered somehow racially disloyal. He goes back to Uncle Tom’s Cabin for the origins of such charges and explores the back and forth tensions between historical figures, including W. E. B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, to examine the often confused and contradictory notions of racial loyalty versus individualism. He moves on to examine the lives of black public figures whose authenticity and loyalty have been questioned—Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, Barack Obama—and examines the underlying politics of disagreement with views at odds with those of the majority of blacks. Ron Christie argues that many blacks of heroic stature, from Homer Plessy to Rosa Parks, were “acting white” in asserting their rights. He points to the rise of black-power sentiments during the civil rights era and a growing sense of black identity that encouraged a cultural isolation that continues to this day, one that disdains the mainstream middle-class culture as “white” and, therefore, to be avoided.

"I think that there is a clamor for new leadership across the country not just in Washington D.C." — Ron Christie

Ronald I. "Ron" Christie (born c.1969) is an American government relations expert and Republican political strategist, who has also worked as a member of former Vice President Dick Cheney's staff. He is also the author of two books, and an occasional guest on various cable news programs. He serves as an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University and Haverford College. He is currently the CEO of Christie Strategies, a communications and issue management firm that he founded in Alexandria, Virginia. Christie is a native of Palo Alto, California, and has received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Haverford College and a Juris Doctor degree from the George Washington University National Law Center. At the beginning of his career, he served as counsel to Senator George Allen of Virginia and as senior advisor to former House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich. He began working at the White House in 2001, as deputy assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for domestic policy, advising him on health care, budget, tax and other policy areas. Later that year, he was elected to the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2002, he joined the staff of the President, serving as a Special Assistant to George W. Bush until 2004. Christie was selected by Bush to lead an American delegation to an international conference on volunteerism and civic engagement hosted by Prime Minister Tony Blair in London. Further experience in the United Kingdom included advising the Chancellor of the Exchequer and future Prime Minister Gordon Brown.





After leaving the Bush administration, Ron Christie has been serving as an Adjunct Professor of Strategic Advocacy at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. He also teaches a course on strategic advocacy at his alma mater, Haverford College, where he has been appointed a Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science. He has also authored two books, and has worked as a columnist for The Hill. He is also an occasional guest on CNN and MSNBC, and a panelist on National Public Radio. Ron Christie was critical of the Republican National Committee's activities under Chairman Michael Steele, telling Ed Schultz of MSNBC on his show in April of 2010 that he was "not happy about the leadership that we have seen out of the Republican National Committee in the last 16 to 18 months. I'm not happy about it. ... The leadership starts at the top, and I think that Chairman Michael Steele is on a very short leash, he has a very, very narrow opportunity to show that he can raise the money, that he can be a strong leader for the party. Otherwise, I think perhaps the clock in the back of his head in his office might be ticking".