es as "the shock of being suddenly accountable on strictly personal terms" (23). He notes that this "occurs most powerfully when blacks leave their familiar world and enter the mainstream" (46), and he recognizes times when he experienced this feeling. In thinking about these situations later, he realizes that the discomfort he felt (being the only black person present in a room, for example) was sometimes the result of his unconscious recognition of his responsibility as an individual. At these times, he could not hide behind his race. Many of the daily experiences he faced caused him to take a hard look at his life and try to understand what was really happening.
He is also especially interested in the effects of public policies, legislation, and society on racism and discrimination. He is particularly critical of affirmative action, "an escapist racial policy, I believe, that offers entitlements, rather than development, to blacks" (89). He argues t
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