Introduction: The paranoid paradoxes of race -- What Dave Chappelle can teach us about American history -- The birth of political correctness, and the white man's newest burden -- De cardio racism : hunting for racial wolves in sheep's clothing -- Racial paranoia's canonical texts -- Peter Piper picked peppers, but Humpty Dumpty got pushed, the productively paranoid stylings of hip-hop's spirituality -- When everyday life becomes a media event.