Debra Dickerson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Debra J. Dickerson (born 1959) is an American author and editor. Dickerson has been most prolific as an essayist, writing frequently on race relations and racial identity in the United States. She served in the United States Air Force from 1980 to 1992 (discharged with the rank of Captain), trained in law at Harvard Law School, and served as a volunteer for the Democratic National Committee.
She credits the 1996 New Republic essay "Who Shot Johnny?" for jump-starting her career. It describes the paralyzation of her nephew in a drive-by shooting and the family's ambivalence and frustration in knowing the shooter was a fellow African-American. Her work has since appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times Magazine, Good Housekeeping, VIBE, Mother Jones, Slate, The Village Voice, Salon and many other publications.
She has published two books, "An American Story", a memoir, and the "End of Blackness". She gained some interest by declaring that by not being a descendant of West-Africans brought to the United States as slaves, Senator Barack Obama is not "black".[1][2]
References
- ^ Dickerson, Debra. "Colorblind", Salon.com, January 22, 2007.
- ^ Stephen Colbert interviews Debra Dickerson, The Colbert Report, comedycentral.com, February 8, 2007.
