These essays explore why the historic conflict between blacks and whites in the United States has become a crisis that divides many African Americans. The changing racial dynamic is not marked by conflicts. between the black middle class and the poor, black men and women, the black intellectual elite and rappers, black politicians and the urban poor, and black conservatives and liberals. Current themes in black identity and current events are brought together in the following essays: (1) "I Believe in America: Understanding a Clarence Thomas"; (2) "Rethinking the Million Man March"; (3) "The Air Jordan Effect"; (4) "Chasing Conspiracy Shadows"; (5) "O.J. Is Guilty"; (6) "The Five Dilemmas of Black Leaders"; (7) "Farrakhan: The Ultimate Dilemma"; (8) "My Gay Problem, Their Black Problem"; (9) "The Crisis in Black and White"; (10) "Afrocentrism: Whose History To Believe"; (11) "The Concrete Killing Fields"; (12) "Hollywood's Booty Call"; (13) "The Return of the Mau-Mauer"; (14) "Bad as I Wannabe"; (15) "The Fallacy of Talking Black"; (16) "The Continuing Crisis of the Negro Intellectual"; (17) "Black Men, White Women, Black Obsession"; and (18) "Overcoming the Crisis in Black and White.""Our Stockholm Syndrome--A Postscript" emphasizes hope that blacks in America can resolve their conflicting ideals. (Contains 138 references.) (SLD)