IN OPEN CONTEMPT
Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space
COMING JANUARY 7, 2025
In Open Contempt
Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space
A stirring journey into the soul of a fractured America that confronts the enduring specter of white supremacy in our art, monuments, and public spaces, from a captivating new literary voice
About the Author
Irvin is a Brooklyn-based writer and professor from New Orleans. His writing has been featured in Guernica, Esquire, The Atlantic, EBONY, and elsewhere. He has earned an MFA from The New School, an MA from Morgan State University, and a BA from Morehouse College. He has received fellowships and awards from the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation, the Research Foundation of CUNY, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Mellon Foundation.
More Praise
“When James Baldwin talked about being a witness, Irvin Weathersby’s In Open Contempt is what he meant. . . . In Open Contempt is an intelligent implication and a courageous achievement.”
—ROBERT JONES, JR., New York Times bestselling author of The Prophets, a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction
“[A] thoughtful tour de force . . . After reading In Open Contempt, it feels impossible to look at any statue or memorial in the same way again.”
—ROBERT SAMUELS, Pulitzer Prize–winning coauthor of His Name Is George Floyd
“This book sings of resilience and rebellion, calling us to reimagine a future where every story, every struggle, and every soul is honored.”
—FREDERICK JOSEPH, New York Times bestselling author of Patriarchy Blues
“A fierce and personal refutation of the monuments that loomed and continue to loom over communities . . . The nation needs In Open Contempt.
—MAURICE CARLOS RUFFIN, author of The American Daughters
“Immersive and incisive . . . Weathersby meditates on the failures and possibilities of public memory, asking how we can radically reassess who and what matters toward justice and collective healing.”
—NADIA OWUSU, author of Aftershocks
“A chiseled and well-hewed work that feels as much like standing before a mountain as it does appreciating a masterful sculpture .”
—CEBO CAMPBELL, author of Sky Full of Elephants