Red Emma’s

From cell phone footage of police killing unarmed Black people to leaked racist messages and even comments from friends and family on social media, online communication exposes how racism operates in a world that pretends to be colorblind. In WHEN THE HOOD COMES OFF, Rob Eschmann blends rigorous research and engaging personal narrative to examine the effects of online racism on communities of color and society, and the unexpected ways that digital technologies enable innovative everyday tools of antiracist resistance.

Drawing on a wealth of data, including interviews with students of Color around the country and analyses of millions of social media posts over the past decade, Eschmann investigates the influence of online communication on face-to-face interactions. WHEN THE HOOD COMES OFF highlights the power of the internet as an organizing tool, and shows that online racism can be a profound wake-up call. How will we respond?

Rob Eschmann is a writer, scholar, filmmaker, and educator from Chicago. He is Associate Professor of Social Work and a member of the Data Science Institute at Columbia University, as well as Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.

Marcus Board Jr. is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University. His research focuses on Black radical traditions, Black feminist theories of power, and social justice movements.