INTRODUCTION / GERALD EARLY -- FREE AT LAST? A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE ON RACE AND IDENTITY IN AMERICA / GLENN C. LOURY -- SUSHI AND GRITS : ETHNIC IDENTITY AND CONFLICT IN A NEWLY MULTICULTURAL AMERICA / ITABARI NJERI -- THE LAST GREAT BATTLE OF THE WEST : W.E.B. DU BOIS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR AFRICAN AMERICA'S SOUL / ALTON B. POLLARD III -- THE BLACK TABLE, THE EMPTY SEAT, AND THE TIE / STEPHEN L. CARTER -- WHO ARE WE? WHERE DID WE COME FROM? WHERE ARE WE GOING? / STANLEY CROUCH -- CONFESSIONS OF A WANNABE NEGRO / REGINALD MCKNIGHT -- BLACK IS THE NOUN / NIKKI GIOVANNI -- RACISM, CONSCIOUSNESS, AND AFROCENTRICITY / MOLEFI KETE ASANTE -- THE WELCOME TABLE / HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. -- OFF-TIMING : STEPPING TO THE DIFFERENT DRUMMER / KRISTIN HUNTER LATTANY -- JUNIOR AND JOHN DOE / JAMES MCPHERSON -- THE DU BOISIAN DUBIETY AND THE AMERICAN DILEMMA : TWO LEVELS OF LURE AND LOATHING / C. ERIC LI