This book was extremely helpful for the work I was doing on my Masters Thesis, looking at how systemic whiteness is performed in cyberspace.

In the introduction, he starts - the whitenizing of cyberspace..."

Banks then tells the reader the goal of his book:

"This project is an attempt to chart some ways African Americans have struggled to make real difference in a nation whose existence depends on rigorous commitments to technological advancement and exclusions based on race. African American rhetoric as read through a technological lens allows a thorough documentation of that struggle, and ways it can contribute to broader digital and rhetorical theory. It can also help us all-- leaders, activists, scholars, and lay persons involved in dismantling the system supports for racism-- reconfigure a sense of what that collective struggle might mean and how it can be taken up at such a difficult time in American history." (page 2)

On page 3 he continues with

"My understanding of African American rhetoric acknowledges and builds on the focus of the power of the spoken word and Black orators, but also attempts to open it up to all of the means employed throughout Black history-- to value the uses to which rhetors have employed design, visual communication, electronic communication, and performance that are often appreciated by dealt with only tangentially."

If you're looking for a brilliant, coherent and well written book that brings technology, critical race theory, and african american rhetoric to the table, Banks' book is the one.