The demise of the 'racial reckoning' that followed George Floyd's death in 2020 occurred without definition, scrutiny or attempts to revive it. In this compelling new book, David Dante Troutt explores the 'what,' 'so what' and 'now what' of this period when much of the US sidelined the pandemic to confront racial inequality. It details how a rare focus on embedded racism shifted toward awareness, leaving deep disparities in wealth, health and policing unaddressed, and how this was overpowered by an enduring conservative backlash. Troutt unpacks how legal doctrine favored colorblindness over inequality, and examines government policies that created segregated zones of racial bargaining in health and wealth. The book also exposes deterrence-proof policing rules and explains the problems and promises of DEI. Reckoning the Racial Reckoning argues that democratic struggles over local resources are essential for creating justice and well-being for Black American communities, and ultimately for all Americans.

‘David Troutt has written a searing and essential account of what the 2020 racial reckoning revealed—and what America chose not to confront. With extraordinary clarity, Reckoning the Racial Reckoning exposes how systemic racism continues to shape wealth, health, and policing, and why awareness without accountability leaves inequality intact. The book challenges us to move beyond symbolism toward the hard work of structural change. A powerful, urgent book for anyone committed to building a truly multiracial democracy.’

Deborah N. Archer - President, ACLU and Margaret B. Hoppin Professor of Law, NYU Law School

‘Clear-eyed and unsparing, this book dismantles a comforting myth—that the nation stood on the brink of a genuine racial reckoning after George Floyd’s murder. By tracing why that moment collapsed, it shows where racial justice actually has to be fought, how it must be pursued, and why the reckoning so many expected never stood a chance.’

Devon W. Carbado - author of Unreasonable: Black Lives, Police Power, and the Fourth Amendment

‘Do you remember back in 2020, when it looked like the American people had finally had their fill of racism? Yet here we are, an eyeblink later, with the Border Patrol roaming Chicago to round up anyone with a skin tone darker than porcelain and companies and schools frantically scrubbing the mere word ‘diversity’ from their websites lest the Trump regime subject them to extrajudicial punishment. David Troutt's book is an essential effort to wrestle with the whiplash and think carefully about why the moment of reckoning precipitated by the murder of George Floyd fell apart in such a nightmarish way.’

Paul Gowder - author of The Rule of Law in the United States: An Unfinished Project of Black Liberation

‘From the insightful and poetic voice of a respected race law expert, comes a much-needed post-mortem of what the brief racial reckoning of 2020 wrought – reflecting the fragility of the stated commitment to racial justice. With this post-mortem, David Troutt powerfully illustrates what has become a restorative justice tenet articulated by Kerrick Arrington – ‘Accountability is not absolution. It is the hard labor of repairing what racism has broken brick by brick until justice stands firm.’

Tanya Kateri Hernandez - author of Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality