Race Matters

Rating:
Summary: Race Matters and the White American Male
Review: It is somewhat disturbing to read past reviews of Dr. West's work and find no middle ground. The reviews range from exalting to damning, but the issues are out of focus. As a white American male (veteran AND Republican), I am on the receiving end of Dr. West's criticisms...or am I? This (the reader review section) is where one can see evidence of the racial conflict Dr. West writes about. Self-loathing and guilt manifested as hate and distrust in a zero-sum world...and this is the world most of us were brought up in.

If Dr. West is correct, and the subjugation of the African-American underclass is caused by Corporate White America, then what is to be done? Taxes and subsidies focused on social equality are out of fashion with a majority of White Americans because the question, "who benefits?" is rarely addressed in full. Unfortunately, for most, an acceptable answer is lacking in this particular analysis, but it should be obvious to anyone CHOOSING to read RACE MATTERS, that positive externalities exist on both sides of the racial divide.

As a white American, reading RACE MATTERS is like asking a stranger to identify all the perceived shortcomings and failures embodied in your character. However, walking away and assuming a defensive posture, without ever asking "What can I do to change you perceptions?", is tantamount to failure in itself.

Dr. West's book is an excellent answer to the question most white Americans want answered..."What did I do to you?"
And although I may not agree with every solution or angle of criticism proposed by Dr. West, it most certainly initiates the discourse. This is where the benefit of his book is realized...in the discourse...and in the development of a common social ground.

Rating:
Summary: highlights problems but doesn't give solution
Review: Having read "Soul's of Black Folk" by du bois and looking for a more current analysis of how we have progressed from 1903 to the present, i picked up race matters. Cornell West does a great job presenting the current state of black people, especially in discussing nihilism and how it threatens to destroy our communities and his discussion of black homophobia was long overdue. Well written, well thought out, however in attempting to provide solutions to these issues he does a disservice to the book, and to the reader. Ambiguous proposals like 'politics of conversion (love and care) as a solution to "right-wing cutbacks for poor people struggling for decent housing, child care, health care and education" seems a little bit like blind optimism to me, or a not-very-well-thought out last minute ditch at finding a solution. To talk about the crisis of black leadership without addressing the increasing alienation between the black bourgeoisie and blacks in the ghetto is doing disservice to a major problem that confronts 'race matters today. (the current black middle class, while in a position to prevent the rightwing cutbacks West talks about, increasingly remains silent). I would have given the book 4 stars if West had remained faithful in highlighting the problems facing african americans today, without attempting to offer patronizing (read half-assed) solutions especially becuase i believe he has brought to the table issues that we need to start addressing and maybe collectively, find solutions to.

Rating:
Summary: Keep a dictionary handy!
Review: When you read this book, make sure that your mind is totally void of all thoughts, so that you can fully comprehend exactly what Dr. West is pointing out! Besides needing a dictionary to read it, everything in the book is true, well written and to the point. I especially love the quote from Malcolm X about race relations in America...
"You don't stick a knife in a man's back nine inches and then pull it out six inches and say you're making progress."

Rating:
Summary: I'll keep coming back to it
Review: I read this book from a non-American prespective. As I don't live in America but in Israel, I can't help but read a book such as this while constantly comparing West's analysis to my own environment.
At the beginning of the book, the immediate comparison was to the oppression of the Palestinians. But as I progressed, there was a shift to the situation of the Ethiopian immigrants in Israel. I was amazed at how easily West's words can be applied to the situation of the Ethiopians in Israel. I quoted a few insights from the book to Ethiopian friends, and there was a common feeling as if West wrote the book about them - and not about the American race matters. Of course the difficult chapter dealing with black Antisemitism was interesting as an American phenomena, without direct implications to the Ethiopian situation (here I could go back to the Palestinian issue).
In the end, West's book proved to be a bold attack on racism and racist institutions, and did provide some interesting directions for change. I must disagree with those that were disappointed by West's "failure" to bring up coherent solutions. A book such as this should not be expected to provide a detailed solution layout, but instead give food for thought, and point at the directions which have not been taken yet.
This the book does. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the issue of race and politics.

Rating:
Summary: Race Matters to Dr. West
Review: Dr. West, a legend in his own mind, does tremendous disservice to the Black Community with his writings, and this book is no exception. Simply put, this reactionary and his work are a throwback to the 1960's when Black Rage was the "In Thing" and the White Community was responsible for all the troubles of the times. This constant guilt trip from West is aggravating, nonsensical, and above all, clueless. There's enough Marxist psycho-babble in this book to make Nicky Lenin cringe. Reading West's arguments is similar to watching a trial in a "Kangaroo Court": you only hear the prosecution and never a word from the defense. In the meantime, while all this constant and never-ending so-called persecution of the Black masses is going on, Dr. West continues to collect his fat-cat Princeton salary while bemoaning and lacerating the system that pays him so handsomely.
Yes folks, Race Matters---especially to Dr. West. He makes his living off it. If Larry Summers, the current president of Harvard, is the "Ariel Sharon" of education as West contends, then maybe the Good Doctor should compare himself favorably to Yasir Arafat.

Rating:
Summary: It takes more than one side to fix things
Review: I think someone made a good point by referencing a Malcolm X quote: "You don't stick a knife in a man's back nine inches and then pull it out six inches and say you're making progress." However, was Malcolm X not simply holding the knife in place when he argued for separatism? Sure, his "radical transformation" at the end of his life saw him reverse his attitudes, but others continue with the belief that the white community is saddled with an enormous guilt and sole responsibility for the current state of affairs. Off the subject somewhat, there is another book regarding race in schools, where the author comments on the fact that it is good to see minorities form groups to foster identity-formation. In my and any other pragmatist's opinion, though, this merely perpetuates the fracturing of the human community.

Rating:
Summary: matters as a noun
Review: This book never makes the argument that race matters. It is a series of essays that talk about matters of race. That several of the reviewers here, and people who have celebrated this book in general, do not seem to recognize this, makes me wonder if we have the "Keynes Effect" here. Who has ever read anything written by John Maynard Keynes other than a few one liners, let alone his General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money? Yet Keynesian Economics lives on through the mythopoetics that are caused by the noise created by commentators explaining his thought. The same thing seems to have happened here. Cornell West is an eminent scholar and an inspiring lecturer. He has published volumes of technical work in literary criticism and philosophy. Race matters stands out as a more democratically graspable popular work. This book has become touted as a great read for the average person to experience West's thought. To find fault with this book becomes tantamount to rejecting Cornell West in his entirety. Few people who uphold this book have actually read it; they already hold an urban legend of Cornell West's cause and simply extrapolate a thesis statement from the title. Well, I actually read this book and found the emperor to be naked. It is nothing more than a collection of articles from popular magazines that date from 1987-1992 about very specific issues (matters of race) of their day that now seem very dated and hardly relevant. These essays are neither representative of West's rich thought, nor do they amount to a unified argument that race is a very important thing - something that really matters. Such ideas exist only in the minds of those who have read nothing more that the book's title.

Rating:
Summary: It Sure Does Matter!
Review: Race certainly seems to matter when it comes to foreign immigrants who have made Chicago their "paradise". As a black "baby boomer" female who grew up in Chicago in the 60s and 70s, I never, ever thought that I would have to submit 2 - 5 pieces of identification to qualify for a j-o-b! Furthermore, I MUST BE bi-lingual if I want to qualiy for certain jobs! BI-LINGUAL! BI-LINGUAL! I simply do not understand why I have to speak the language of foreign immigrants, just because they want to work in the city that I was born and raised in! I often wonder if I were to go to Mexico or some other non-english speaking state to live, would they be required to speak English, so that they can interpret what I am saying when I apply for a job?

Economically, race really matters. I have seen with my own eyes social services for Mexican americans living in Chicago created in neighborhoods where blacks have lived for years without any services. Everything from a heavy concentration of medical centers in certain Mexican communities to employment agencies that are headed solely by Mexican americans! Such services NEVER existed for blacks! NEVER! Right now the number of medical centers in MY neighborhood, which is all black populated, is approximately one (numero uno)!

As far as political participation is concerned, I myself stand GUILTY, as charged, of not getting as politically involved as I should. I suspect, like many blacks in my community, I do not understand how my political participation can make a REAL change in my community. The only time I see my alterman or any local political leader, in my decrepit, drug-infested, slum neighborhood is when voting time arrives. This leads me to believe that all local politicians are hypocrites! They only want to introduce themselves to the neighborhood when they need votes! They stick their nice, pretty, colorful placards in the same slum, no-grass-growing ground that they NEVER set foot in! As they say on the movie, "The X Files", "I WANT TO BELIEVE"!

Rating:
Summary: Yes to the critique of black militantism
Review: Are they Black Militants or Black Stooges ? = The government successfully infiltrated certain radical black groups in the 1970's in California with black "moles" and common criminals. These men often talked more militantly than any other group member while secretly helping the racist white authorities set up and destroy those members who were truly loyal to the cause of black empowerment. (This reminds me of the bible verse about false people casting true Christians out of the church.) When these men attained the position of leader, the organization was effectively "hijacked" and from that moment on existed soley to help white racists "seek, locate, and destroy" those blacks who truly cared. After the hijack, these men simply used radical rhetoric to get women into their beds, to "justify" cheating, robbing & even doping up other blacks, to suck money out of any mark, and --worst of all-- to build a wall between black people and anyone who truly cared about helping us --i.e white liberals, Jews, etc. And, going by their current behavior, this is still their goal today.

Rating:
Summary: What is the matter and what is to be done
Review: In this book Dr. West provides an incisive survey of the problems of the African American community and suggests strategies for solving them. It was published in 1994.

One problem is economic. Real wages have declined significantly for the majority in this country since the early 70's. Industrial and manufacturing jobs which once helped the black community have disappeared exacerbating unemployment and underemployment. Declining tax bases and cutbacks in federal services have seen the infrastructure of cities crumble. This has contributed to the breakdown of the black family. It leads to a loss of hope of leading a constructive life and many people adopt a crude form of our country's crude laizze faire ideology. That is to say, they try to get ahead in life by any means possible, maximizing their short term profit and pleasure, no matter what the consequences, no matter what other people get hurt. Dr. West is not a fan of the free market as manifested in the mass media which encourages massive conspicuous consumption and overwhelms one with images of sex and violence, having a negative effect on vulnerable people.

Dr. West argues that a revival of political participation and what others have termed social capital is necessary to create hope in disadvantaged people. Grassroots organizations should be led by democratic, accountable, leaders and educate people on the issues and make them feel that they are capable of changing their lives significantly for the better .

He critiques Malcolm X's version of W.E.B. Dubois's "double consciousness." It was Malcolm, says Dr. West, who was most successful in advancing ideas of black self-worth and self-pride and cracking the dependence of blacks trying to live up to the dominant white perceptions of intelligence, beauty, behavior, etc. and usually failing in their own eyes.

But West is concerned about these negative self-attitudes still persisting. One example he gives is of the Clarence Thomas episode in 91'. Thomas had a dreadfully mediocre career prior to this and supported policies greatly harmful to black people and was obviously chosen by George Bush Sr., despite cynical rhetoric to the contrary, because he was black. Many blacks avoided the grounds on which the congressional black caucus objected to Thomas which was his supreme lack of qualifications. Instead the debate centered on how "black" Thomas might be, helped along by Thomas's own bellowing about his racial authenticity. The Nation of Islam, despite viewing the Republican party as very racist, endorsed Thomas. Anita Hill, a right wing Republican like Thomas, and her dignity were thrown in the garbage. West writes that many blacks seemed not to want to object to a black person for an important position, no matter who, because if they did object on the grounds of his mediocrity, they feared it would reinforce white supremacist beliefs about blacks lacking intelligence.

Another example of blacks reacting not very well to white supremacist beliefs relates to sexuality. A disproportionate number of disadvantaged young black men lacking hope of leading a constructive life, adopt a machismo of sexual prowess and willingness to use violence. Since the myths of black men being inherent sexual studs is so wide-spread, young black men can feel superior to the white race in just this one way by flaunting their sexuality. or so Dr.West seems to say. Black females fall into different but still negative stereotypes.

West argues that only multi-racial, multi-gender and multi-sexual preference organization can lead to substantive black progress. Black nationalism he says can sometimes be very counter-productive. He laments Malcolm X's failure to embrace the hybridization of mass movements. He argues that though black nationalists do a good job in awakening self-pride and racial consciousness in blacks, such things should not always lead to exclusivist nationalism.

He devotes a chapter to analyzing black-Jewish relations and black anti-semitism. He gives factors contributing to the latter inclduing rightward direction of politically active Jews since the late 60's and Black sympathy for Palestinians and strong Jewish suppport of Israel. He notes that some black professionals are upset by the increasing Jewish opposition to affirmative action. Many black professionals in the private sector, he says, would not have been hired had the government not been monitoring company hiring practices. There is no evidence, he says, that whites would not prefer to hire qualified whites over qualified blacks. And support for cutbacks in social services upsets blacks who with few chances to make a decent living in the job market, might sink completely without government support.

Overall, he argues black anti-semitism is a a very irrational reaction to class differences and a rapid climb up on the social ladder for an ethnic group that is now very much part of the white elite, which used to be a "comrade" in the struggles of black Americans. He argues that anti-semtism or homophobia or any other form of bigotry is absolutely unacceptable if Blacks want to get any progress. Espcially bad is when these black ultra-militants sit up and talk about Jewish conspiracies while ignoring economic and other issues that have very serious importance for their audiences. And, of course, he reminds us that anti-semites are far from being only black and many blacks speak out against anti-semitism whatever the media perception to the contrary.

His idea for grassroots black movements that are free of patriarchy, exclusivism, homophobia, bigotry,classim is not completely impossible as it is not impossible for Americans as a whole. He is right that black social progress can best be made in concert with people different races and other backgrounds.