Surrender, White People!: Our Unconditional Terms for Peace

by D. L. Hughley, Doug Moe

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Aside from late-night TV where issues of race are often discussed in satirical terms, there aren't many books doing the same thing, although D.L. Hughley has ventured down this path a couple of times. As a comedian, actor and host of a very popular radio show, Hughley is a master of biting humor with a large dose of reality. It makes for a compelling show, and in his new book, he has written a contract to white America as a path towards peace and understanding.

THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"Hughley uses his trademark humor to address the stark divisions in society that stem from centuries of white supremacy." —People

Surrender, white people! After 400 years of white supremacy in America, a reckoning is here. These are the terms of peace–and they are unconditional. Hope you brought a sense of humor, because this is gonna sting.

After centuries of oppressing others, white people are in for a surprise: You’re about to be a minority yourself. Yes, the face of America is getting a lot browner—and a reckoning is coming. Black and brown folk are not going to take a back seat anymore. It’s time to surrender your unjust privileges and sue for peace while the getting’s still good. Lucky for America, D.L. Hughley has a plan.

On the eve of America becoming a majority-minority nation, Hughley warns, the only way for America to move forward peacefully is if Whites face their history, put aside all their visions of superiority, and open up their institutions so they benefit everyone in this nation.  But we can still have fun with this right?  Surrender, White People! hilariously holds America account for its wrongs and offers D.L.'s satirical terms for reparations and reconciliation.

But it’s not all bad news, white folks. The upside is that if you put D.L.’s plan into effect, you can FINALLY get black people to stop talking about oppression, discrimination, and their place in America. Now, that’s something we ALL can get behind.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062953711
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/04/2021
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	662,057
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

D.L. Hughley is one of “The Original Kings of Comedy.” He hosts the national radio program The D.L. Hughley Show, which is syndicated in more than sixty markets. His comedy specials have appeared on HBO, Netflix, Comedy Central, and Showtime. His satirical documentary special, DL Hughley: The Endangered List, received the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award. He created and starred in the ABC sitcom The Hughleys. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers How Not to Get Shot and Black Man, White House. How Not to Get Shot was selected as a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards and the Audie Awards. D.L. lives with his family in Los Angeles, California.

Doug Moe is the co-author of two books for D.L. Hughley: “Surrender, White People!: Our Unconditional Terms for Peace” and the New York Times Bestseller “How Not to Get Shot: And Other Advice From White People” (“A satirical but apt addition to the culture’s fraught conversation about race.” - New York Times Book Review).  His book “Man Vs Child: One Dad’s Guide to the Weirdness of Parenting” was named one of Amazon’s Best Humor Books of 2017.  He’s a longtime performer and instructor at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. On TV, you've maybe seen me in "Inside Amy Schumer," "30 Rock" or "Difficult People," among other places. 

Table of Contents

Introduction: Surrender, White People! 1

The Terms of Our Peace Treaty 13

Article I White People Shall Consider Reparations 17

Article II History Books Shall be Aligned 39

Article III We Shall Endeavor to Understand One Another 71

Article IV We Shall Deal with the White Supremacy Problem 127

Article V We Shall be Un-Oppressed 137

Article VI We Are Part of America 209

Conclusion 227

Signature Page 243

Acknowledgments 245

Editorial Reviews

"Hughley uses his trademark humor to address the stark divisions in society that stem from centuries of white supremacy. His solution involves a reckoning with America's history, reparations, and a hard look at oneself." — People

"Brilliance. The book is amazing." — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Dept. of African American Studies, Princeton University (via Twitter)

"A satirical look at white supremacy, which examines racial inequality in the United States across education, health care and the housing market." — New York Times

"A simultaneously humorous and serious take on race relations in the wake of a near unprecedented resistance effort to stem fatal police violence.  ... The author effectively combines his outspoken comedic sensibilities with his longtime experience with political commentary. ... Mixes important statistics and earnest policy reforms with his witty perspective gained from his upbringing in South Central LA and decades of successful comedy tours in front of black and white audiences. Readers will frequently laugh out loud, but there’s far more to this couldn’t-be-timelier book than just jokes. ... Bitingly comedic." — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

"Brilliance. The book is amazing."

Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

"A satirical look at white supremacy, which examines racial inequality in the United States across education, health care and the housing market."

New York Times

"Hughley uses his trademark humor to address the stark divisions in society that stem from centuries of white supremacy. His solution involves a reckoning with America's history, reparations, and a hard look at oneself."

People

D.L. Hughley pulls no punches performing his audiobook about racism, reparations, and the state of race in America. Hughley, an activist/writer/comedian for decades, reveals bitter truths about racism in America that are pretty hard to hear. The framework of the audiobook is a peace treaty between the races and the establishment of reparations. He softens the blows by adding humor to his statements, but there are not enough jokes in the world to disguise the horror of some of his facts about atrocities committed against people of color. He describes the terror of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, when mobs of white residents attacked Black residents in Greenwood killing up to 300, injuring 800, and leveling hundreds of homes and businesses. M.S. 2021 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2021 - AudioFile

D.L. Hughley pulls no punches performing his audiobook about racism, reparations, and the state of race in America. Hughley, an activist/writer/comedian for decades, reveals bitter truths about racism in America that are pretty hard to hear. The framework of the audiobook is a peace treaty between the races and the establishment of reparations. He softens the blows by adding humor to his statements, but there are not enough jokes in the world to disguise the horror of some of his facts about atrocities committed against people of color. He describes the terror of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, when mobs of white residents attacked Black residents in Greenwood killing up to 300, injuring 800, and leveling hundreds of homes and businesses. M.S. 2021 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2021 - AudioFile

2020-06-16
The acclaimed comedian announces the terms of surrender that white America must claim for its sins, under threat of being surrounded as the U.S. becomes majority nonwhite.

“We’re clearly at war,” writes Hughley. “When you can get shot in your own house like Botham Jean or Atatiana Jefferson, what else can you call it? All deaths are tragic, but not all of them are surprising. When dudes are on the streets, running afoul of the law, the propensity for something happening is probably exacerbated. But when cops kill two people in their homes, what else can you call it but war?” In his latest, the author offers a simultaneously humorous and serious take on race relations in the wake of a near unprecedented resistance effort to stem fatal police violence. He appoints himself as lead arbiter, “sole agent,” seeking cautiously to negotiate a peace treaty that serves to establish a lasting peace between “Black folks and their oppressors.” The author effectively combines his outspoken comedic sensibilities with his longtime experience with political commentary (he had his own show on CNN and serves as a correspondent for the network). Neither side leaves the narrative unscathed. Assuredly, white people get it the worst, yet many black readers may call into question what it means to accept “our place in America” if it’s built on what Hughley admits is stolen land and wealth. This follows in the spirit of the author’s previous book, How Not To Get Shot, as he mixes important statistics and earnest policy reforms with his witty perspective gained from his upbringing in South Central LA and decades of successful comedy tours in front of black and white audiences. Readers will frequently laugh out loud, but there’s far more to this couldn’t-be-timelier book than just jokes.

Prescriptively mild and bitingly comedic.

Kirkus Reviews