Black Pride and Black Prejudice

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat enlightening but it fails to pull the trigger.
Review: I have read about 2/3 of the book so far. It appears to me that the authors are trying to find some answers to genuine questions and even go as far as to admit that they were suprised by some their findings. Their data were based on surveys polling approx. 600-700 blacks in the Chicago area (home of the Nation of Islam) and, as the title whets our curiosity, the overarching thesis of the connection between racism and racial pride on the part of blacks has no corelation.

I must admit it suprised me but I believe that they pulled punches in interpreting some their data. For example:

According to their survey about 1 in 4 blacks believe that AIDS was invented by white doctors and released on the black population. Not a majority but a significant portion. In a fit of apologetics (or so it seemed) they went on to mention the ammount of whites that believe in angels or UFO abductions citing whites' penchant for beliefs in outlandish conspiracies. A pointless paralell. According to the CDC there are about 814,000 cumulative cases of AIDS in the USA. Of those 313,000 are black. If you do the math 40% of all AIDS cases are black yet blacks make up only 12% of the population. The idea of a white medical conspiricy behind AIDS is pernicious because whites are not dying at alarming rates from UFOs and holding this belief may in fact ADVANCE the spread of AIDS. Even Will Smith stated in an interview that the alleged conspiracy is true. They do mention that a probable cause for embracing this ideation is the obscenely unethical and amoral "testing" of syphilus on the Tuskeegee airmen. Still in all, the guys who did it were found out and it was only a handfull of blacks made subject to it. Mind you, whites (among other races) are dying from AIDS, too. I think some better explainations about the above are needed.

What is good about the book is that it goes against what the demagogues like Jackson, Farakkahn and Sharpton have always been spewing - that blacks and whites are very different. "Untrue" posits the book. We have way more in common than differences- that blacks and whites are usually just as likely to be as universal (and racist) as the other.

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat enlightening but it fails to pull the trigger.
Review: I have read about 2/3 of the book so far. It appears to me that the authors are trying to find some answers to genuine questions and even go as far as to admit that they were suprised by some their findings. Their data were based on surveys polling approx. 600-700 blacks in the Chicago area (home of the Nation of Islam) and, as the title whets our curiosity, the overarching thesis of the connection between racism and racial pride on the part of blacks has no corelation.

I must admit it suprised me but I believe that they pulled punches in interpreting some their data. For example:

According to their survey about 1 in 4 blacks believe that AIDS was invented by white doctors and released on the black population. Not a majority but a significant portion. In a fit of apologetics (or so it seemed) they went on to mention the ammount of whites that believe in angels or UFO abductions citing whites' penchant for beliefs in outlandish conspiracies. A pointless paralell. According to the CDC there are about 814,000 cumulative cases of AIDS in the USA. Of those 313,000 are black. If you do the math 40% of all AIDS cases are black yet blacks make up only 12% of the population. The idea of a white medical conspiricy behind AIDS is pernicious because whites are not dying at alarming rates from UFOs and holding this belief may in fact ADVANCE the spread of AIDS. Even Will Smith stated in an interview that the alleged conspiracy is true. They do mention that a probable cause for embracing this ideation is the obscenely unethical and amoral "testing" of syphilus on the Tuskeegee airmen. Still in all, the guys who did it were found out and it was only a handfull of blacks made subject to it. Mind you, whites (among other races) are dying from AIDS, too. I think some better explainations about the above are needed.

What is good about the book is that it goes against what the demagogues like Jackson, Farakkahn and Sharpton have always been spewing - that blacks and whites are very different. "Untrue" posits the book. We have way more in common than differences- that blacks and whites are usually just as likely to be as universal (and racist) as the other.

Rating:
Summary: more junk science
Review: im not going call these men racist or bigots, because there not. i belive there reasons for doing this book were valid enough, however, i think its another example of, 'well if some negroes can be prejudice, that negates white racism.' now i dont know if thats the authors motivation, but its a tacit argument i see being used more and more by certain folks. its the "they can go into a bank and eat at any restaurant, so now racism is not a problem." thats what i felt when reading this book. also, i feel there studys showing higher levels of "anti-semitism" in the black community are grossly exerageted.
i lived in san diego, and all my white frinds were extremly "anti semitic". i dont know if they hated jews, but always were saying things that would be deemed "insensitive"... my white friends they would constanly say things like "don't be a jew, give me some" which means they wanted you to share whatever you had. they always made little comments like that and i would be schocked they were so open with saying such things. i never heard any of my black friends say anything of this nature. i have heard black people say when talking about something "well you know hes a jew", but nothing beyond. now that statement implies something, but no one would verbalize what its suppose to mean.

this is why i cant trust there "data". you never know if someone is lying no matter how scientific the study is. if someone asked you a question about disliking blacks or jews, do you honestly think that someone will admit so, even if it is supposed to be anonymous. hell no. then racist people go and say, look at how high the anti semitism level is in the black community.
[on a side not i suggest you read the book my cornell west and rabbi lerner:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452275911/qid=1038014099/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/104-6489853-4203118

also, i am not and have not considered myself an "afrocentrist", but there total refusal to investagate any claims of the "afrocentrist" is pathetic. [by the way, when they used the term 'afrocentrism' it always seemed to be conveyed in a negative tone as though its tottaly invaild position to hold such beliefs.] they try to negate any claims by saying there cospiriacie theorist, and that the more education a black person has, the more likely you are to belive such things. maybe educated blacks belive such things because they have studied them, and historical evidence can prove such things.
{on a side note i suggest you search books by CHEIKH ANTA DIOP since he was one of many that has done extensive sceintific research in this field}

i dunno if i liked this book. it seemed a little one sided and somewhat suspicious. sure, 2 white men can do a book on black america and its culture, but i feel they are short sided and dont throughly explore why black people have the views they do. i also feel that the anti semitism was greatly exagerated. because jesse jackson or al sharpton said something that was anti semitic 20 years ago dosent mean they still are, or that all black people are. why dosent he quote some other christian evangelist like phill grham and his numerous anti semitic and anti everything remarks.

this book was ok. i dont think the authors mean any harm, i just dont agree with most of there data, though some of its truthfull.

as a counter, i suggest you read that book by cornell west and rabbi learner, as well as "race matters" by cornell west which is an excellent book.