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Summary: This review is to conterbalance the haters on this link
Review: Cornel West reminds me of myself. He didn't use to, however he does now as I read the diatribes against him on these reviews. At times in my university career and now in the work place, it often becomes clear that no matter how sharp you dress and no matter how multi-syllabic your words, there is a disturbing segment of america that will give you the silent treatment, study ou out corner of eye (xenophobic-like) and outright second guess you where they wouldn't a white person. My field is Psychology, so empiracally I've got the stats that support my findings that one co-worker saves their cheerful hello for the white secretary across from me (i'll add a secretary whom acts as though she doesn't even want it), while another has to almost apologize on more than one occassion for jumping the gun on what she assumed was an error on my part. Like Dr. West, I think we both appreciate assimilation and acculturation like anyone else, get it at times, but are taken aback when we see race matters and us versus them mentality prevails where it really is uncalled for. West also speaks candidly about self hatred which is another area that does not so much heavily rely on the statistics which West detractors are quick to examine.
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Summary: Penetrating and Hopeful
Review: Cornel West must be my hero. When I read "Race Matters", it of course confirmed what I deeply believe- that racism and bigotry are so very wrong- and it also helped me work through some nagging issues that I've had about race relations (FYI- I am white):Issue: I'm a hard worker and I've had to work for what I got. What's wrong with asking blacks to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps? Thought: Of course people have to be responsible for their own actions. But can we as Americans deny the almost insurmountable obstructions that as a society we've put up against blacks, beginning with slavery and then on from there? And how about all of the incredibly hard working blacks that have done everything that "successful" whites have done and have still not been able to prosper because of this discrimination? Issue: I have a number of Eastern Eoropean collegues, good people, who emigrated to the U.S. in the 70's and 80's, and who now are very successful. How did they come to the U.S. and prosper in such a short time? Why can't blacks do the same? Thought: Although they are "foreigners", they are still white. And unfortunately, having a black underclass allows others to not be the underclass themselves. I also found that the intros to each chapter (excerpts from great African American works, e.g., W.E.B. Dubois, James Baldwin, Malcomb X) gave me some great ideas on my next readings. Cornel West is a very strong thinker, and unswerving in his pursuit of the truth. All of his beliefs are founded in strong research and analytical thought, and if you choose to diasagree with him, you'll have to work hard to clearly say why. In the end though, Cornel West is a spiritual man who is fighting for a world where all people, regardless of their race or religion or ethnicity or gender or sexual orientation, are treated fairly as equal human beings. Like I said, he's my hero.
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Summary: A Contemporary and Honest View of Race in America
Review: Having been assigned to research Dr. West's philosophical views, I was only required to learn a cross-section of his thougts. However, once I started skimming through "Race Matters", I was very intrigued with what the author had to say. Dr. West addresses what he calls black nihilism, Nihilism is based in the influences of the capitalist market economy and lack of solid leadership in the African-American Community. The economy has left many with an inability to love themselves and each other. Material possessions take the place of others. The lack of quality leaders has led to a moral crisis among African-American youth. As a result, the youth do not value education, their families, or life in general. Dr. West's statement about leadership is dreadfully true, as their are no leaders comparable to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X. Instead, this generation's best leader is Jesse Jackson. Dr. West further points out the problems of black leadership, ethnic pride, affirmative action, black-jewish relations, and the most interesting entry is black sexuality. The one regret I have about this book is that it is not well known, especially among African-American youth. With the strong thoughts of Dr. West, I am convinced that he is an excellent leader in the black community through his writings.
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Summary: A pragmatic commentary on the importance of race in america
Review: There are very few like cornel west, who boldly attack the issue of race head on.He is absolutely brilliant in his assesment of the current state of affairs of person,s of color in the U.S. Most importantly is his lack of pretence in looking at the dynamics of color and it,s importance(or the lack there of)in the everyday life perople of color.Dr West is almost a craftsman with words, he makes it extremely easy to understand why things are, what they are. He explores the dynamics of culture, the dynamics of status, the dynamics of a mixed society as it relates to colored folks. A must read for all persons looking to learn more about race, politics,culture and how they are all woven together into an imperfect fabric.
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Summary: Passes the test of time, unfortunately!
Review: I first read Race Matters in 1995. I just re-read it in anticipation of hearing West speak in person. Out of curiosity, I checked out these Amazon reviews to see what others thought of West's book. Several of the reviews confirm much what West says in Race Matters. As I see it, this creates an even more compelling reason to buy and read this short book. According to West, discussions about the plight of African Americans tend to be divided into two camps, the "liberal structuralists" and the "conservative behaviorists". West then adds: "Unfortunately, these two camps have nearly suffocated the debate that should be taking place about the prospects for black America." (p. 18.) Debate certainly seems to be gasping for air in some of the Amazon reviews of Race Matters. In chapter 2, West outlines what he calls the pitfalls of "racial reasoning." This chapter alone is worth the price of the book because of its cogent treatment of the underlying racial reasoning on both sides of the Clarence Thomas debate. It is quite obvious that several of the reviews posted on Amazon have failed to heed West's call to "replace racial reasoning with moral reasoning." (p. 38.) To my surprise, the ad hominem attacks against West in some of the reviews are reminiscent of the 50s and 60s-Communist, Marxist, get a haircut, rich guy, etc. Theses are the same emotionally based attacks that appear in the referenced Solon article by David Horowitz. The strong feelings raised by West's discussion seem also to have caused certain reviewers to overlook some of what West actually says. For example, West does mention Hispanics (p. 12, 44), he does criticize both Louis Farrakhan and Malcolm X (p. 42, 60, 68, 109, 114, 146-148), and he makes no "gross error" when discussing the rate of increase in black youth suicides, versus the absolute rate. (p. 24.) In my re-reading of Race Matters I was again struck by West's ability to address issues that are often difficult for some of us "liberals" to address without a considerable level of discomfort. But West makes a good case for the fact that these issues need to be addressed candidly and compassionately if we are to overcome the hopelessness and lovelessness that has befallen so many Americans. Reading Race Matters the first time helped me regain some hope at a time when I was particularly pessimistic about race relations in America. I thank West for that. And after seeing him on TV, with the always entertaining Stanley Crouch, I'm looking forward to hearing him in person. And finally, I'm glad I read Race Matters again. As both the one star and five star reviews suggest, it is still very relevant. Unfortunately.
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Summary: self-serving Marxist twaddle
Review: Race Matters confirms Cornel West's stature as the pre-eminent African-American intellectual of our generation. -Henry Louis Gates Jr. We are living in one of the most frightening moments in the history of this country. -Cornel West, Epilogue to the Vintage Edition (1994) of Race Matters The fact that Henry Louis Gates Jr. could make that statement about a book which is premised on this ludicrous assertion by Cornel West must be profoundly depressing to anyone who cares about black America. No one can, or should, deny the long and horrible history of racial oppression in this country. Racism is still a reality and, though it can never be expunged entirely, we should vigilantly seek to limit its impact on the life of our nation. But, by any objective measure, you would have to say that the last fifty years have seen a tremendous amount of progress in the area of racial relations. It is simply ridiculous to compare the status of black Americans today to that of blacks fifty, a hundred or two hundred years ago. And to argue that this is a uniquely dangerous moment in the history of black America is to virtually beg to be dismissed, which Cornel West should be, as a kook and a crank. Cornel West has built his entirely unjustified reputation as a serious philosopher on a bizarre blend of Christian rhetoric and Marxist doctrine. He is defined, for the most part, by his robust criticism of liberal and conservative approaches to the problems of the black community, his dismissal of the current crop of black political leaders and writers, and his own steadfast refusal to offer any ideas or solutions of his own beyond the most general platitudes and completely discredited Marxist cant. But there's a method to his lack of a constructive message : his willingness to lash out at everyone else (except Tony Morrison, for whatever reason), enables him to portray himself as an independent thinker and his simultaneous willingness to identify problems but not to propose remedies, enables him to exploit those maladies, even exacerbate them, for his own purposes. You can get something of a feel for his modus operandi in his discussion of nihilism, which he identifies as a central threat to black America : The proper starting point for the crucial debate about the prospects for black America is an examination of the nihilism that increasingly pervades black communities. Nihilism is to be understood here not as a philosophic doctrine that there are no rational grounds for legitimate standards or authority; it is, far more, the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness, hopelessness, and (most important) lovelessness. The frightening result is a numbing detachment from others and a self-destructive disposition toward the world. Life without meaning, hope, and love breeds a coldhearted, mean-spirited outlook that destroys both the individual and others. Nihilism is not new in black America. The first African encounter with the New World was an encounter with a distinctive form of the Absurd. The initial black struggle against degradation and devaluation in the enslaved circumstances of the New World was, in part, a struggle against nihilism. In fact, the major enemy of black survival in America has been and is neither oppression nor exploitation but rather the nihilistic threat--that is, loss of hope and absence of meaning. For as long as hope remains and meaning is preserved, the possibility of overcoming oppression stays alive. The self-fulfilling prophecy of the nihilistic threat is that without hope there can be no future, that without meaning there can be no struggle. The genius of our black foremothers and forefathers was to create powerful buffers to ward off the nihilistic threat, to equip black folk with cultural armor to beat back the demons of hopelessness, meaninglessness, and lovelessness. These buffers consisted of cultural structures of meaning and feeling that created and sustained communities; this armor constituted ways of life and struggle that embodied values of service and sacrifice, love and care, discipline and excellence. In other words, traditions for black surviving and thriving under usually adverse New World conditions were major barriers against the nihilistic threat. These traditions consisted primarily of black religious and communal networks of support. ... What has changed ? What went wrong ? ... None of us fully understands why the cultural structures that once sustained black life in America are no longer able to fend off the nihilistic threat. I believe that two significant reasons why the threat is more powerful now than ever before are the saturation of market forces and market moralities in black life and the present crisis in black leadership. Okay, I buy a certain amount of this analysis : yes, the biggest problems in urban black America are the decline of the church and the end of the nuclear family, the two institutions most responsible for providing community support to people. But what's this about no one understanding what happened to them ? The 60's happened. The Great Society, which West lauds elsewhere, happened. Government stepped in and tried to replace existing institutions, most disastrously by creating economic incentives for people not to work and to have children out of wedlock. At the same time, the cultural Left, of which West is now a part, sought to free morality from its religious tether, with the entirely predictable result that moral standards lost their validity. Yet where does West place the blame ? He points at black leaders (we'll give him that one) and at free markets. But is there anywhere in the United States where capitalism was more restricted by government regulation than in America's major urban areas ? Mind that this book was written before the GOP took over Congress and passed Welfare Reform, and before Republican mayors took over several of America's biggest cities : as the past few years have demonstrated, it actually turns out that when you restore law and order and bring market forces to bear on black inner cities you can increase employment, reduce crime, and reduce teen pregnancy. What West was doing was contributing to the problem, by suggesting that it was hopeless. He had no positive alternatives. Here he is describing the choice between liberal and conservative policies : The liberal notion that more government programs can solve racial problems is simplistic--precisely because it focuses on the economic dimension. And the conservative idea that what is needed is a change in the moral behavior of poor black urban dwellers (especially poor black men, who, they say, should stay married, support their children, and stop committing so much crime) highlights immoral actions while ignoring public responsibility for the immoral circumstances that haunt our fellow citizens. Yeah, okay, there is a moral dimension, not just an economic one, to the problem. Conservatives have identified some moral solutions. But at the point where West's analysis would lead a more open-minded person inexorably toward those solutions, he instead chooses to focus on blaming someone for the circumstances as they exist. It turns out he's quite right about the problem with black leadership, as his own failure shows. These leaders, like West, are so busy parceling out blame for the past, they have no time to work on solutions for the future. Would that this were the only example of such willful backwardness in the book, but most of the essays are filled with similarly retrograde notions. There's a profoundly silly one called, "Black Sexuality : The Taboo Subject," which assumes that whites still view blacks like they did Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird : like it's just one easy step from breaking up a chifforobe to having their way with our poor, innocent women : White fear of black sexuality is a basic ingredient of white racism. And for whites to admit this deep fear even as they try to instill and sustain fear in blacks is to acknowledge a weakness -- a weakness that goes down to the bone. Social scientists have long acknowledged that interracial sex and marriage is the most perceived source of white fear of black people -- just as the repeated castrations of lynched black men cries out for serious psychocultural explanation. Castrations of lynched black men ? We all recall the tragic murder of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas, but we're not exactly in the midst of a castration epidemic. Equally inane, though considerably more harmful, is his take on affirmative action. While acknowledging that such programs are counterproductive, because they make even worthy beneficiaries feel like they are cheating to get ahead, he advocates maintaining them simply as pay back for past discrimination. What is it finally that West calls for as his solution to the problems of black A
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Summary: Passionate voice of civil rights
Review: I was lucky enough to hear brother West speak while I was a student at Northwestern University. I don't think I've ever been so awed by a speaker as I was with him. You feel all the time you are in the presence of this generation's Martin Luther King. He was so gregarious: he shook every hand, took pictures with admiring men and women, and signed books. I think it is hard for someone like West to translate that enthusiasm and charisma on paper. For sure, West is one of the most interesting thinkers in the U.S. today. Although this book may not come close to hearing one of West's speeches (I've read many dissappointed reviewers), it is nonetheless a great book and it certainly opened my eyes to issues I hadn't thought about. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Major disappoint!
Review: First of all, what was he saying? I couldn't interpret what he meant in his book. I was just reading a bunch of words written down on paper. No disrespect to him but it wasn't worth my time to be reading.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This is my first encounter with Cornel West, who is described on the back cover as the "preeminent African-American intellectual of our generation." For the reasons listed below, I am very disappointed with this book; the space allotted to reviews hardly allows me to describe fully all of the ways in which West errs, but let me list a few. West appears to use three types of "evidence" to present his case: 1. The first type of "evidence" is the frequent use of unsupported statements. There are no citations, footnotes, or reading list in this book. This lack of intellectual accountability allows West the luxury of making statements that would not pass muster in a decent high school term paper. For example, West states that Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill, and other conservative Republicans supported policies that resulted in "the unleashing of unbridled capitalist market forces on a level never witnessed in the United States before that have devastated black working and poor communities." This sweeping statement is clearly debatable: on what basis is he saying that black and poor communities were "devastated"? Were the market forces truly "never witnessed before"? What of the Gilded Age, the Roaring Twenties, and the post-World War II boom? If blacks really did not participate in the economy of the 1980's (and West offers no evidence that they did not), one must ask: why not? Recently released statistics show that blacks have clearly benefited from the economic expansion of the 1990's. 2. The second type of "evidence" used by West is error. He is simply wrong on multiple points of fact. For example, in Chapter 1, "Nihilism in Black America" West states that suicide was formerly uncommon in young blacks, but "... now young black people lead the nation in suicides." The statement is wrong, as five minutes of research in a university library would demonstrate. The standard American text on public health is Maxcy-Rosenau-Last Public Health and Preventive Medicine. The thirteenth Edition of this text was published in 1992, the year before West's book, so it was available to him as a reference. That text states that "White males are at the highest risk of suicide." (p. 1084) Not only that, but black females have rates of suicide lower than that of both white males and white females (The National Vital Statistics Report for 1998 confirms that these facts have not changed). West's gross error clearly undermines his thesis. Could West possibly have confused suicide with homicide? There is no question that young black males have the highest rates of committing homicides, and homicide is the leading cause of death among black men aged 15-34 (p. 1037). 3. The third type of "evidence" West uses is, quite literally, Fiction. Twice in the chapter "Nihilism in Black America," West refers to novels by Toni Morrison to try to make a point that really requires a concrete example or anecdote. I have read a lot of non-fiction over the years, but I have never before seen a serious writer use fiction in this way to try to support an argument. In addition to the above problems, superficial thinking and sloppy logic permeate this book; a few examples are listed below. West consistently fails to view racial conflicts from anything other than a black perspective. For example, West lists Jews' resistance to affirmative action as one of the main areas of conflict between blacks and Jews, but he does not give a reason why Jews oppose it or even try to view the issue from the Jewish point of view. If he did, he might have considered that perhaps Jews oppose affirmative action because it represents a form of discrimination in favor of one particular group and that one cannot discriminate in favor of one group without discriminating against others. The form of aggressive affirmative action favored by West quite often leads to quotas. Jews remember all too well the days when quotas limited the number of Jewish academics who could be faculty members at elite universities and of Jewish physicians who could be granted admitting privileges at leading hospitals. It is this legacy of discrimination, and resulting general distrust of quotas, that I believe has limited Jews' acceptance of affirmative action. Also in regard to affirmative action, he apparently thinks only some blacks should benefit from it. He states in Chapter 2 that "black people could have simply opposed (Supreme Court nominee Clarence) Thomas based on qualifications and principle." He must believe that only black, conservative Republicans should be judged on merit, and that affirmative action should be reserved for those who have sufficient "black authenticity." West believes that only whites can be racist, whereas he calls the same impulses of blacks "xenophobia." However, he goes on to say that "Although this particular form of xenophobia from below does not have the same institutional power of those racisms that afflict their victims from above, it certainly deserves the same moral condemnation." His labeling of certain behaviors and beliefs as racist if exhibited by whites and as xenophobia if exhibited by blacks truly points out a distinction without a difference. In the chapter Black Sexuality: The Taboo Subject, the taboos are apparently so great that West cannot even clearly state them. On every page, non sequiturs abound, such as this howler: "The major cultural impact of the 1960s was not to demystify black sexuality but to make black bodies more accessible to white bodies on an equal basis." Several months before reading this book, I had read an article by David Horowitz on Salon.com, entitled "No Light in His Attic." It is a critique of the overall career of Cornel West and not of a specific book. I found Horowitz' article abrasive and somewhat mean-spirited. He clearly considers West to be an intellectual lightweight. When starting to read this book, I was willing to give West the benefit of the doubt, but, having read Race Matters, I fear that Horowitz may be right.
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Summary: Race Does Matter!
Review: Great educational book. Cornel West writes with conviction and to the point. He has opened my eyes to what America needs more of today: Acceptance and appreciation of all people of color. His book is not one sided. It is fair in addressing race issues in America. I highly recomend this book.
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