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Rating: 
Summary: Essays Needing To Be Read
Review: "Authentically Black" by John McWhorter is an extension of his book "Losing the Race" and in this text he zero ins on some important issues in American black culture. There have been many fine reviews of the book. Well, then write another review? First, a previous review in June 04 must be corrected, in telling that the author should spend more time in the "hood" presumes to know too much about the author; after all, maybe the author does spend a lot of time in the hood. Secondly, such a statement in no way negates the message and arguments presented in the book. As an example, I do not have to travel to Gettysburg to know some fundamental facts and truths about the battle that took place. In addition, while living among a subset in an overall culture is helpful in understanding the conditions of which one lives and in developing a heart for the people one comes to live with, it does not negate the solutions to the problems.
Although there are some passages in the book I disagree in part with such as his chapter on the "N" word and general broad swipes he makes about certain things, it is worthy of great respect. I think his chapter on Profiling is very good, but I do wish he would have put a little more responsibility on the neighborhoods themselves; he tends to place some of the blame on the war on drugs, but I don't think he provides a cogent argument against eliminating this policy or even the prospect if it should be eliminated. This should have been drawn out a little further, possibly in two chapters. With this aside, the chapter is otherwise excellent. He writes about "getting past" the race issue and it is here that the chapter succeeds.
His chapter on the "reparations movements" is probably the best essay I have read on the subject. Even though the author David Horowits devoted an entire book on the subject, I think this chapter is more direct and he shows how a re-payment in sorts has already taken place in the 1960s welfare movement instituted by President Johnson.
His chapter on "We Don't Know Our Own History" is simply outstanding. He makes a perceptive and insightful observation that white America has become "blacker" in the years which is evident in such things as music (his examples are from Elvis Presley to Britney Spears). This, he asserts and I concur, is a form of flattery.
Another very strong chapter is on Black Academics, which is largely focus on the Prof. Cornel West incident at Harvard a couple of years back. I remember at the time thinking exactly what McWhorter writes. The author here is dead on in dealing with the subject. His last chapter is too short but very powerful. It involves three people who are examples of black leadership and that the black community should not be looking for pone black leader - but I assert, by writing about three black people, of whom he is not always in agreement on all items, he demonstrates that each black person themselves should be leaders. They can all make a difference if the can get past being the puppets of the leftists agenda.
Lastly, McWhorter is unfairly, I think labeled a conservative. Although he is not a leftists, he like many people, holds to some conservative views (against reparations) and some liberal ones (pro-abortion, although to what extent I do not know). With some reservations about a couple of places, I am still giving this book five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Authentically Real!
Review: Black co-workers I have had always seemed to me to exhibit a strange position in regards to affirmative action. No one believes, of course, that they themselves need the affirmative action boost to get ahead ("I can do it by merit, thanks!") but people are equally convinced that others DO need that boost. But when everyone I consult seems confident that they themselves can get jobs on an equal playing field, it is hard to see who all of them think the beneficiaries are. Everyone seems to think it is the other guy. This is part of what McWhorter calls the 'new double consciousness.' Privately, and to themselves, blacks are wont to talk about self-empowerment and individual achievement. But in public, the tune changes. Socially, racism makes those nice-sounding things impossible and while blacks might achieve sometimes, it is seen as the exception, not the rule. Personal optimism and can-do-ism turns to public pessimism and victimology. Like affirmative action, the private belief that I personally can do better for myself by my efforts is quicly abandoned when we deal with policy issues. McWhorter writes this book in conviction that this new double consciuosness must be abandoned. Racism is not dead; there ARE still many legitimate problems like profiling. But this does NOT mean that blacks are doomed to ho-humming pergatory on earth or that obstacles cannot be overcome with effort. Nor does it mean that programs that give blacks handouts for being black amount to much more than 'liberal' white people hopinig for the quick fix so as to quelch (or mask) their guilt. McWorter is not as conservative as most black conservatives like Connerly or Sowell. He does not expect it all to be a miraculous pulling up by ones own bootstraps; nor does he expect blacks to snap their fingers and 'get over it.' Rather, he offers many constructive, if unpopular, suggestions on how to alleviate what is shaping up to be a bad situation. My favorite articles in this collection are: "The New Black Double Consciousness" - McWhorter exposes what the phenomenon is and why blacks will play the victim card in public discussions by talk about strengh and stoicism in private. "Aren't You In Favor of Diversity?" The affirmative action movement in academia is dissected. McWhorter argues that until blacks are held to the same standards as whites in terms of academic achievement, then academic success will fail to take a real hold as an achievable (and achievable it is) value in the black community. Learning should not be a 'white' thing, but a 'person' thing. "We Don't Learn Our History" - McWhorter examines how black history is taught (mistaught) and argues that the problem is largely that blacks are taught the success stories as exceptions that hold no real weight in the real world - a pessimistic view that leads to needless despair. "The New Black Leadership" - the author takes the likes of Jackson and Sharpton to task for talking a good game (and lining their pockets with the victimology card) while failing to actually DO anything. From there he profiles activists like Star Parker and John Bryant who actually ARE helping blacks 'on the ground' but don't get credit as black leaders because they are conservative. These are just some of the best. The whole book is excellent and, though it is probably not what many want to hear, McWhorter is writing about what we AS A PEOPLE should hear. He does it well and whether you think you will agree with him - especially if you don't - this book is one you should have in your collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Valid tho incorrect.
Review: I decided to pick this book up when I was waiting for my movie to start. I have read book after book after book from the black political left, and so when I saw this guy's book, I decided to pick it up. See, I saw him on HBO debating against Dame Dash about hip hop, but I caught the tail end. I must admit that I did pass judgement on his "blackness" based solely on his demeanor and speech pattern (not his syntax, but pattern/accent.) But I said to myself that this couldn't be right. I'm not too far off myself, being a california black academic who was always told he "spoke white". So I got "Authentically Black", as Loosing the Race was not there and I was therefore unaware of it.
QUESTION: Why is it that in Liberal California, these negroes feel an overwhelming need to be conservative for no damn reason??!? I figured that if I read this guy's work, SOMETHING WILL MAKE SENSE and help give my own leftist vies some sort of perspective. Sorry, no. This man has me academically by 15 years (him finishing college in the mid eighties, me finishing Morehouse in the late nineties) and you'd think that in that time, he'd know how to research things or at least observe society and his own surroundings. As I try to read through this work, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt at every page-turn, he never ceases to amaze me. On page 28, I was forced to grab my pen and fill the pages with ink, which upset me because I didn't spend this money to have to correct someone who just by sheer numbers should be my academic superior. But on page 28 I just could not take it, where he says that profiling is necessary to protect the black community. He makes the self-defeatist presumption that it must be okay because it is the little black boys who are pushing the drugs. OF COURSE IT IS, that's all who's there. That still doesn't explain why I get hustled by cops all over Southern California and profiled for the same thing, though I'm an attorney and damn near thirty! It also doesn't take into account the complexion of the people who are the real problem. Id suggest he sit down with congresswoman waters, but judging by his books and how he almost lies about some other author's intentions and efforts, he'd probably be so rude to her in presuming her stance that she'd slap him. (Or at least want to. I've met with her on many occasions.) He'd likely call her an opportunist and move on.
He also has the habbit of "supporting" his ludicrous points by noting two or three bad examples from his conversations with students. Usually, he'll say things like "I asked black people xyz and they are left without an answer" or "such and such happened and they chalked it up to racism, when it clearly was not, but so and so was so upset by it!" Some girl was waiting for a bus and a man dropped a quarter in her cup assuming she was homeless, or so she presumed and she was distraught. Okay, citing the overly dramatic black girl is not going to bolster your points, but makes one wonder how weak your point is that you have to (a) ask idiots questions about race, and (b) use the worst examples available as proof. Time and again he asks idiots.
Speaking as a man born and raised in the Bay Area in the community around where this man works and lives as one of "those kind of people", I can't help but to feel this man is just trying too hard to fit in, and it is not entirely rare in Bay Area black politics. He uses the propensity of negroes in that area to be able to get any kind of white woman they want as a sign that race relations are getting better, disregarding the fact that it's always black men and white women. I have yet to determine his propensity, but if I were a betting man, I would be able to pay back my loans and a housenote wagering on HIS desires for white women, which would not surprise me.
But enough of this point by point dismantling of his views. I'll do that as I prepare to write my work about the black political left using the dismantling of the works of black conservatives as a conduit through which to do so. Potential names are "Negrodicious Tendacies" or "You're Just Not Like The Others!" or "Why Are All the Black Professors Left Sitting By They Gyatdayum Self??!?" Instead, let us look at te most offensive premise of this man's "work":
Blacks are self-proclaimed victims in a world wherein racism is merely "residual", but keep up the image of victimology to make whites feel guilty so that they can give us - wait for it - hand outs and social programs. Guess what: I agree we as Blacks will die of starvation if we wait for the Larger Society to give us what we are either OWED or are EARNED (for nothing is a "HAND OUT" in america, you will always pay for it somehow if not already). But what planet did he grow up on wherein Blacks in private talk about how good they have it? I grew up almost exclusively around black professionals and millionaires amidst links, boules, masons and Jack & Jillers, and even WITH all the success and money in the world, the majority view - yes, even in N. California - was that things were worse. No, this is not just some act to make whites feel guilty and give us stuff, because none of us needed white hand outs. We already had money. In fact, we knew that problems were severe, because in no way could we buy our way out of racial problems. My father had to budget in time for being pulled over by cops whenever he left to go somewhere due largely to his fondness for expensive german engineering. Let us not get into the racism we as a people face in Law Offices and Medical Offices and Corporate America day in and day out. This cat needs to get out of the office, Turn on some Boots Riley and just look around at his people. Maybe sit and talk with them. We're not as stupid as he thinks, even though we came from the less intelligent and civilized west africans of which he speaks. Maybe he might want to check out a little something about Afrikan history. You know, since he's at one of the biggest UNIVERSITIES ON THE PLANET! I'm sure he can find a book or two on the subject that he can breeze through in a couple days. Maybe a Van Sertima here, a Yochanan there, garnished with som Diop and Mwalimu Baruti. I won't tell him about Marimba Ani. He may run and start protecting his beautiful white women...
For a more academic/less ad hominem review, wait for the book. There will also be a rap soundtrack made for it. I got Ward Connerly and Shelby Steele harmonizing on the hook...
Rating: 
Summary: "Thought-provoking and insightful"
Review: I have not completed all of the essays in this book, but it asks some difficult questions about the role of politics in black life and the role of blacks in politics, as well as the "cult of victimology." Are blacks victims? More important, do American blacks wish to play the role of victims in public life? For how long? As a teacher (white) in an ethnically diverse urban school system, I found many of McWhorter's arguments ringing true. I asked: Am I too easy on blacks and hispanics because they are "disadvantaged"? Doesn't going easy on them further disadvantage them? Reading this book, I couldn't help but recall the time when I asked a black woman advocating for affirmative action: "What are your criteria for success?" In other words, when do blacks and other minorities stop assigning themselves the role of victim? She didn't have an answer. I don't either, but I do know that the role of victim is both psychologically debilitating and addictive -- a point McWhorter makes trenchantly in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Looks at issues not normally touched upon but still limited
Review: I have read both Losing the Race and Authentically Black (the former is the better of the two). I felt Authentically Black just reinforced the points that McWhorter made in LTR and that perhaps the book was an effort to capitalize off of the success of LTR. I certainly agree with many of McWhorter's pts. There is an overemphasis on victimazation in Black America. We often don't value the achievements we have accomplished and we often don't know about those achievements at all. There are things that we can do for ourselves such as valuing education and intellectual curiosity. However, what Mr. McWhorter fails to acknowledge is that there is still institutional racism in America and that whites have an obligation to to put an end to to it since they are the ones that benefit from it. The success of black people and all people of color is a two way street although McWhorter seems to think that it is a one way street. I would recommend the book to get an idea of conservative black ideology but I think this book picks too much at black people's problems and not enough at possible solutions.
Rating:
Summary: Speak Truth to the People!
Review: I must say that this book was very "interesting." I think that John McWhorter does an excellent job of identifying some of the Black issues, but I think he doesn't give enough answers. This book seems to spend alot of time dissecting left-wing views, but it doesn't leave us with many solutions. I personally believe that John McWhorter does a good job of providing right wing ideology, and since he's Black---he just says he's not conservative. His writing seems to display otherwise. While reading the book, I can recall thinking, "He'd make a great White male Conservative." Everything seemed to be black or white......no gray. I am one for a balance, and this book seemed to be tilted more to the Conservative Anglo-Saxon men. Nevertheless, I learned alot, and thank John for his conservative views. I believe that alot of our issues in the Black community start with us, and we need to start challenging each other and holding people accountable. However, I feel that there are still some macrolevel components that have a major impact on our community. I would encourage John to truly spend some time in the hood, to make sure that he isn't being one-sided.
Rating:
Summary: reading between the lines
Review: I really enjoyed the book, mainly because (1)the author tells it like it is (2)he points out some things about african american history, and so-called black leaders, that have led many astray for years (3)he offers solutions, by given " real people examples " which in turn should encourage readers who have not done so, to " take the responsibility yourself " to change things.
Again, great book, hats off to the author for saying what many don't want to hear. Thanks for the extra motivation...
Rating:
Summary: Inertia of low group self-esteem
Review: John McWorter claims that large numbers of blacks think racism remains a determining force in America, and that black advancement depends on maintenance of a victim image and white guilt. John suggests that, correct or not, these views have paradyne entrenchment in the black community. John does not suggest that reverse racism plays a part. I suspect that there is some truth in John's views. What appears to be happening is that low group self esteem has a self fulfilling component. The image that blacks have of the race is perhaps one instilled by generations of inferior class privilege. The image has much inertia, and it will take time to change course. That great personalities like Colin Powell contradict the image are as yet insufficient to have much affect. What is needed is large scale preaching to blacks that they possess equal potential; that progress can be made by individual confidence and hard work. In case this is not convincing, the best way to change negative attitudes toward one-self is to excel.
Rating:
Summary: Whisper in the Dark
Review: This book sums up what I have wanted to express for years. I agree wholeheartedly that we are doing ourselves a huge disservice by perpetuating the "victim" mentality.
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