Rating: 
Summary: A must read for understanding who we are as Americans
Review: If you are to read one book on American culture this year, let it be this one. This is the clearest, smartest and most accurate description of race, and racism, in America and it should be required reading for every student throughout the country. Working years in urban high schools, being white and seeing hopes and dreams grow and then be dashed with so many of our kids, I have struggled to understand the nature of our culture and who our kids are, and why they behave as they do. This book is the first that really makes perfect sense, and I will give it as a Christmas gift to as many people as I can afford. I hope Tatum provides a followup that focuses on our hardcore, urban poor kids, really the most misunderstood, feared and forgotten in this sad but accurate commentary on our culture. There is still so much to be said, and she is able to say it clearly and wisely.
Rating: 
Summary: that's just what she was talking about!
Review: (...)This book does an excellent job of describing the ways that racism exists today, and moreover, tactics for overcoming it. By stating that racism may be a "white problem," Tatum is not calling all of us racists, she is saying that the problems that still exist today can best be solved by those who hold the power. Acknowledging your (my) privilege takes courage, but it needs to be done. ML King was great, but he got what he was looking for and things are still dangerous, schools and busineses are still segregated, and angry whites are still ultra-defensive and refusing to help change things. There's another part of the puzzle, and Tatum is giving us a guide.
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Summary: Wonderful book!
Review: This book was absolutely amazing. It helped me out in so many ways. What I noticed in the reviews is that many people hate the book because of its lack of research. What you need to understand is that racism is seen not in the form of "how many people have been called a nigger" but in the subtle conversations and interactions that people have on a daily basis: interactions that the U.S. Census Bureau cannot track. As a psychologist and teacher, her information comes from experience with hundreds of adults and kids alike in a variety of seetings--quite frankly, experience is by far the best foundation of authority. She explores the psychological development of race for people of color as well as whites and discusses how this development impacts interracial relations. When she speaks about Hispanics and Asians she states that she cannot adequately speak of their experiences or define them. She makes it clear what she does and does not know and leaves it up to the reader how to interpret the information.I enjoyed this book because it is just REAL. No fancy language, no bombarding with statistics, just an open and honest discussion about race. Her definition of racism as an attitude AND a system open the way for greater understanding. My only problem is that she doesn't give both sides of the issue. Yes, there is a system of privilege in this country, but that doesn't explain some of the negative attitudes some people of color have and their self-destructive behavior. I recommend this book as the first step into understanding race and race-relations--not the end all and be all of race exploration.
Rating:
Summary: The best book I've ever read that explains race relations
Review: I have over 200 books on the subject of race in my personal library, but none are more insightful, provocative, and potentially unifying than Beverly Tatum's masterpiece. As soon as I finished it, I started over and read it a second time. Tatum provides the best definition out there on racism. This alone should help whites understand why blacks, so often feel that racism is so pervasive. She has illiminating discussions on subjects like racelessness (the tendency for blacks to pretend that the world is color blind in order to curry the favor of whites), white racial identity, and black racial identity. She borrows from the work of Cross to explain how racial identity goes through five stages. As I reflected on my own racial pilgrimmage, she could not have been more accurate. Her chapter, I'm not ethnic, I'm normal, is worth the price of the book. Her chapter on white identity and affirmative action, makes the most cogent case I've read about the need for goal oriented affirmative action as opposed to process oriented affirmative action. In fact, she actually draws on actual social scientist research to make this case. She provides a psychological, accurate, understandable, pragmatic and succinct understanding of why blacks sit together in the cafeteria. There is a saying that says "when you throw a stick into a pack of dogs, the one that screams the loudest, is the one that got hit."... Beverly Tatum's book, inevitably will produce dissonance in the eyes of anyone who does not see racism as a very serious problem in our society. Anyone who has studied cognitive dissonance theory knows that dissonance must be dealt with: One can either castigate and nullify the author, or they can learn from her decades of scholarly research and practical applications to what remains America's most intractable problem. A must read for every American. If you work in a multi-racial setting, this book will help you understand the races like no book I've ever read. Read, listen and learn: America will be a better place if all Americans read this book and engaged in honest dialogue with a member of another race about the book. I cannot recommend it highly enough. I am in the education field, and the white teachers on our staff have credited this book with enlightening them on the subject of race relations like no other book ever did. We are launching a multi-racial group discussion, using this book as a springboard to help bring the races together. Read, enjoy, and keep talking about race. Seldom is race discussed with members of another race; Consequently, we stay blinded by our ignorance year after year, decade after decade. If I had paid $1000 for this book, I would have gotten a bargain!
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Summary: Describes the day-to-day impact of racism
Review: I highly recommend this book to everyone, particularly white people who think the issues of race relations are straightforward. The book is quite up-to-date and taught me a lot even though I've worked on issues of racism and diversity for years. The best part for me was the description of what it's like to grow up as a racial minority; how a member of those communities is affected and reacts to the many messages that become increasingly obvious but of which the majority population is pretty much ignorant. I don't put as much faith as Tatum seems to in the ability of talking and educating to change society, but she really understands the problems of everyday racism.
Rating: 
Summary: DON'T GET BRAINWASHED!
Review: In Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, author Beverly Tatum analyzes the dynamics of white identity through Janet E. Helms' six-stage model concerning white racial identity development. Regardless of whether these women are rightfully qualified to be producing such analysis (neither of them could ever fully understand white identity because, simply, neither of them are white), they nonetheless jump to outrageous conclusions that suggest that white identity is that of self-depreciation, self-reproach, and self-reproof. In addition to systematically and continually bashing white disposition, Tatum develops her theories on how white identity is unhealthy unless the final stage of Helms' model, "autonomy" (achievable generally by a mid-adult age), is reached. Do whites really have to go through life-long, drawn out stages or processes before they achieve a healthy sense of their own race? Tatum and Helms would not only favorably concur - through their miserable propaganda they would sadly affirm that whites hold their ethnicity in contempt. Upon thorough scrutiny, one should question whether this material is really, as it claims, contributing to any sort of anti-racist ideology or movement. Unfortunately, evidence to the contrary flourishes as Tatum embraces the negative and abrupt. Racism, defined correctly as "The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others," is a relevant and broad problem plaguing American society today, and Tatum is addressing the problem in all the wrong ways with her misconceptions about white people. Racism, clearly defined, and situations with advantages based on race are definitely occurring in America, but Tatum crosses the line when instead of addressing the issue fairly she starts pointing the finger at whites and manipulating definitions of words to serve her own purposes. For example, Tatum states: "A major benefit of this racial identity development process is increased effectiveness in multiracial settings. The white person who has worked through his or her own racial identity process has a deep understanding of racism and an appreciation and respect for the identity struggles of people of color" (113) - so she wants her readers and students to use her arbitrary words and agree with her misleading discourse and ideology so they can understand black people on a greater level? Well maybe she should stop to think that it surely goes both ways - one might not understand white identity development and identity struggles because one is not white. Lord knows the anger that would vent from the black community if a white author directed such blatant insults and negative assumptions at the dynamics of black racial identity development. Do whites and white racial identity deserve such little credit? Should one go as far as to start insulting whites people's identity or identity development, whether it is racial identity or identity in general? Tatum states: "Because of the white culture of silence about racism, my white students often have little experience engaging in dialogue about racial issues" (196). This is not my experience and I find myself not belonging nor ever belonging to any of these six stages. The concept of Helms' entire model is flawed from the get-go; human identity issues should not be subjects of categorical dissection and their complexities and intricacies should not be abruptly summarized into six short-but-sweet categories. Unfortunately that is exactly what Helms is doing in her model; and the consequence is that we have material that is undermining human disposition. In several instances Tatum herself inadvertently admits exceptions to the chronology of the model; and also admits variables and complexities omitted from the model "'What do you say to your father at Thanksgiving when he tells those jokes?' These are not just the questions of late adolescents. The mature white teachers I work with ask the same things" (109). Tatum writes: "it is at just this point (the pseudo-independent stage) that white individuals intensify their efforts to see their whiteness in a positive light" (108); but why not earlier? I saw my whiteness in a positive light long before I reached age 18. Somehow Tatum gathers the audacity to repeatedly demean white identity as she suggests whites hold themselves in racial contempt - without illustrating why (I assume she believes whites hold themselves individually responsible for racism committed in the past or even the present by other whites). Using her students' seldom-compelling reflections as evidence, she hardly proves her naysaying implications such as "Whiteness is still experienced as a source of shame rather than a source of pride" or "Self-conscious and guilty about ones own whiteness, the individual often desires to escape it by associating with people of color" (106-107). Tatum constructs her ideas using her arbitrary definition of racism: "a system of advantage based on race" (9), and Helms' six-stage model is inherently problematic because it is representative of this made-up definition as well. For example, whites allegedly going through the "pseudo-independent" stage supposedly have an "intellectual understanding of racism as a system of advantage". Additionally, those in the first or "contact" stage (generally 3-6 year olds) recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of [their own] group; which is viewed as a mistake by Tatum and Helms, but is in reality quite accurate. Obviously, the validity of this six-stage model is debatable simply because this arbitrary "definition" of racism is predominant throughout the stages and the book in general. Thinking of racism in this way is a misleading approach and Tatum even speaks herself in rebuke of thinking of race as a superiority/inferiority issue "We all must be able to embrace who we are in terms of our racial and cultural heritage, not in terms of assumed superiority or inferiority, but as an integral part of our daily experience in which we can take pride" (107). This book IS NOT anti-racist, in fact, although Tatum would like to say black people are never racist (...). DON'T GET BRAINWASHED! SEE THROUGH THE PROPAGANDA!
Rating:
Summary: Ack!
Review: Beverly Tatum has written here one of the worst books I have ever had to read in my college career. She thinks that by redefining racism she can make all Whites out to be racist and all Blacks out to be victims. She doesn't talk of the huge ratio of Whites who aren't racist. In fact, it seems that her book is just a platform for her to propogate her own life experiences as dogma for everyone. Her book goes on for several chapters only based on her personal experiences - her selective choice to only notice things that help her arguments. I remember the first time she actually used research...almost 100 pages into the book, I paused in surprise that she actually went outside her world to someone else's experience. Based on her selective research and life instances...if I was writing this book I could say that because of my life experiences (as an upper class white 22 year old) - I could claim that racism is almost dead. Which I know is wrong because I reach beyong my life experiences. Beverly Tatum talks of lying to her children about the slave trade. The wonderful part is she doesn't point out to the reader she is lying, hoping we aren't educated enough to catch it. She complains about Scar in the "Lion King" poisoning our children with racism because he was a darker shade. She complains about how her elementary school teacher was racist...because on picture day she would tell Tatum she was very pretty. Beverly acts upset that the teacher didn't tell her this everyday, and complains about her oppressed black beauty. Several of examples in her chapter, "The Early Years," are tweaked to fit what she wants to see. People will give her counter examples to racism and she counters by saying, "I suspect," "I wondered" not effectively countering any argument. She just "suspects" hidden racism on the part of whites, conveniently using good rhetoric to slide aside opposition that a White person might not actually be prejudice. In fact, she makes sweeping generalizations about Blacks, Whites, Asians, Latinos etc...that I feel she is prejudice. Lumping everyone into these racial categories de-individuates the individuals. Isn't that the whole definition of racism? Not with Tatum's new definition in chapter 1. For her only Whites can be racist - and she is clear to say whatever she wants. Tatum's book is one of the poorest examples of what can be published. It was probably only published because she would claim racism on anyone who turned her down for lack of research. But I think this book is increadibly prejudice and biased. By telling me all blacks fit into one category and all whites fit into another, now probably I'm more succeptible to prejudge someone without knowing them. Thanks Tatum!
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Summary: Universal language
Review: The one thing that stood out to me in this book was when Mrs. Tatum decided to hijack the english language to suit her own purposes. Apparently the dictionary definition of Racism wasn't appropriate for what she wanted to say so she changed it from "prejudice (pre-judgment) based on race" to "a system of advantage based on race." This makes it very easy and convenient for her to attack white people whithin the context of North America. This might be applicable but in my opinion the best way to deal with racism is through open communication and in order to have open communication everyone has to be using the same language. If she prefered her definition then she should've created another word to fit it, people do it all the time. At least creating a new word will prompt the question "what does that mean?" By changing the meanings of existing words you hinder the communication process because no one can be sure what you mean. The other problem with her definition is that it's not globally encompassing. I myself, personally, encountered a "system of advantage" in another country which is predominantly white. I too am white and yet I felt at times that I was being kept away from higher positions because I wasn't originally from that country. However Mrs. Tatum uses her new definition to state that blacks, and other minorities can't be racist. My question is this; change the context to say, Japan as an example, does that mean I can't be racist because I'm not Japanese and don't benefit from their system of advantage or can I still be racist because I'm white? Does it mean you can only be racist depending on what part of the world you're in? Food for thought. My final statement is this; I'm a college student and this book was required reading for one of the courses I took and I was disgusted that it ever made it into the curriculum. Unfortunately, those without a university level ability to comprehend the english language and can't see what it is Mrs. Tatum has done will eat this up, believe it and perpetuate it. Personally I think she has done more to hinder the fight against racsim than help it.
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Summary: How does this garbage get published?
Review: "Race baiting in America" should be the title. There is no insight. The perspective begins with "we are the victim." You cannot resolve real issues scientifically with this type of emotional blather. This author does not even cover the concept of "familia." People naturally tend to go to the most familiar to their own ways and culture and we have evolved that way. That is reality but not covered here. Race issues have to stop being covered with victimization mentality. Blacks are not as weak as this author would have you believe. Most readers of this will have a sense of feeling better about themselves with do-gooder causes. But that mentality divides and does not produce a color blind society. I refer back to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s writingsgs which are still right.
Rating: 
Summary: very short sighted
Review: This is simply a book of left wing Misinformation. If you are black, then your best bet is to not even read this book, it will do absolutely NOTHING for discovering your racial identity. If you want to achieve that, then this is what you do: 1) Throw away your Baptist and/or Muslim beleifs. These religions stemmed from Judaic and Arabic world veiws...NOT AFRICAN. Furthermore, Jesus ins't black, he was semetic (which is neither black or white, it is arabic, so he was "brown" and probobly had a hook nose). 2)Do some ACTUAL research in African Culture, Mythology, Folklore, Religion, and Language. You don't need to twist the facts around to validate your monotheistic beleifs and pretend that they are apart of your race and culture. THEY ARE NOT! Do some research. African Paganism and Culture has a wondrous and rich heritedge and this is often dodged by cowards who are afraid of throwing away their bible because they might end up burning in Hell. 3)Stop blaming white people for your problems. You know how you ended up in America? One black tribe would defeat another black tribe and then sell them to white people. And if you are white don't think you can escape criticism either!
You also need to do some research into YOUR heritedge. Go get some books on pre-Christian religion, mythology, culture, and religion, and throw away that stinkin bible...as I pointed out before it is Jewish/Arabic construct that is eating away at your identity. In reality, it is natural for people to seek out others who share in a race, culture, and religion. All races have suffered because of universalistic religions and ideologies. This does nothing to promote pluralty or "multi-culturalism", but actually promotes MONOCULTURE. By understanding that each race and culture is special and unique we can get past "racial hatred" and actually promote "racial appreciation". This book is simply another form of racism filled with utterly rediculous statements. The Lion King was NOT anti-black in any stretch, in fact the protagonists had African names and the voices were of African American people. If anything, the movie was pro black because it seemed to touch on the rich and complex ideas surrounding nature from an almost African pagan lense. Stop being victems and really try to do something for your race and culture instead of pointing fingers at everyone else. This single reveiw does more to solve the "racial problem" than all of the neo-marxist, left wing crap in the world (and the same can go for the "Christian Identity" white power morons).
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