Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America |
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Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America
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by John McWhorter
Sales Rank: 22550
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List Price: $13.95
$11.16
At Amazon
on 8-7-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 320 pages
Published by: Harper PerennialEdition: 1st Edition July 31, 2001
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0060935936
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0060935931
Book Dimensions:
8 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
Weighs: 9 ounces
Product Review
For the past two decades, an academic cottage industry has developed to analyze--and some would say overemphasize--the social and educational problems of African Americans. Such writers as Dinesh D'Souza, Shelby Steele, Armstrong Williams, and Ken Hamblin have all contributed in this area; now add to that list John McWhorter, a Berkeley linguistics professor and the author of Word on the Street, an examination of Ebonics and Black English. The basic idea he presents in this occasionally insightful if flawed book is that African Americans are not advancing socially as a result of victimology, separatism, and anti-intellectualism.
According to the author, victimology "has become a keystone of cultural blackness to treat victimhood not as a problem to be solved but as an identity to be nurtured," while "separatism encourages black Americans to conceive of black people as an unofficial sovereign entity, within which the rules other Americans are expected to follow are suspended out of a belief that our victimhood renders us morally exempt from them." Anti-intellectualism is a belief that "school is a 'white' endeavor." McWhorter suggests that only blacks embrace such opinions, placing most of the blame on them while underemphasizing the institutional racism that facilitates such views. Needless to say, McWhorter has no love for the likes of Al Sharpton, Hazel Carby, June Jordan, or Patricia Williams and their ilk. His chapter on Ebonics, his specialty, is the most nuanced, though certainly not the final word on the matter. And though some readers will be turned off by his use of tired anti-affirmative-action, right-wing clichés, anyone interested in the education of African Americans in the post civil rights era will find Losing the Race a worthy read. --Eugene Holley Jr.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Are African-Americans using past racial injustices as an excuse for not working to take advantage of contemporary opportunities? McWhorter, a linguistics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, thinks he has the answers to this question and othersAand he points the finger directly at the black community. Starting with the premise that white racism is no longer the threat it once was, McWhorter singles out "the cult of victimology" and the glorification of white racism as a major cause for several social crises afflicting African-Americans. Offering little that has not been said previously by conservatives like Pat Buchanan and Shelby Steele, McWhorter uses a cookie-cutter approach to explain away recent race pressure points such as the arson directed against black churches, the high proportion of black inmates in America's prisons, the practice of racial profiling and police brutality. In each case, he finds fault with the African-American community's interpretation of these situations, accusing African-Americans of hypersensitivity to racial bias and a reluctance to relinquish the past. Victimology, as well as separatism, in his words, "gives failure, lack of effort and criminality a tacit stamp of approval." Most disturbing, his suggestion that a cultural trait drives the low scholastic performance of black youth borders on the views of those who consider heredity the cause of blacks' poor performance on standardized tests. Like many of the new black conservatives, McWhorter spends much time going after liberal columnists and social critics, attacking both their intent and message. Even his closing segmentA"How Can We Save the African-American Race?"Asounds more like a well-worn campaign speech than a call to initiate a dialogue on race in the African-American community and the nation. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
This is unquestionably the best piece of factual non-fiction scholarship I have ever read. John McWhorter hits the nail right on the head in eloquently explaining the three "cults" that plague us as Black Americans - Victomology, Separatism, and particularly ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM. As a young Black man whose dearly departed mother instilled in him the value of education at an early age, who did well in school, and who was viciously ostracized and ridiculed by his Black peers for "actin' white" as a result, reading LOSING THE RACE represents the ultimate validation for me. The fact that so many Black young people see not only academic success, but a mere love of learning as something "not BLACK" is a CULTURAL problem I have witnessed my entire life. I realized in reading McWhorter's book that I am not alone. The many anecdotes he gives poignantly and accurately explains the Black American self-induced psychological phobia of anything scholarly: how Black freshmen accepted at Berkeley after affirmative action was repealed (i.e. because of their high academic prowess and not their skin color) were looked upon as "OREOS" by the Black preference-benefitting upper-classmen; how when he was growing up one of his childhood friends had his little sister slap him for correctly spelling the word "CONCRETE"; how, while in graduate school, after engaging the professor in a discussion on the Swahili verb TO BE - a subject of dear interest to him - some other Black grad students approached him afterwards asking "whether or not he was a TRUE BROTHA." While reading, I had flashbacks of my own childhood experiences of being dissed almost daily by my own "people" for being smart and having the audacity to actually ENJOY school. For years I have grown sick and tired of liberal "blacker than thou" pseudo-intellectuals who claim to have MY best interests at heart as a Black American. They blame all of our problems on racism, constantly making us out to be victims - even 30-plus years after the Civil Rights Movement! Yet, they are never willing to turn the microscope on us as Black Americans and how we should take responsibility for the ways in which we do ourselves in, but are quick to try to censor, berate, and/or brand as a "traitor" someone like McWhorter for doing so, all for the so-called crime of "airing our dirty laundry." If I, the youngest of six children and the product of a broken home in inner-city Cleveland, OH, can graduate high school VALEDICTORIAN, become the first college graduate in my family, earn a master's degree, and ultimately become a diplomat for the U.S. government, then what in God's name is wrong with (suburban) middle-class black students - as the author clearly points out in his discussion of Shaker Heights High School - who attend the best schools, with top-notch teachers, guidance counselors and other educational resources, have college-educated parents and therefore no excuse NOT to succeed, yet STILL choose not to apply themselves, blow off the importance of education, care more about being popular than being smart, and then later on want to turn around and blame "WHITEY" for all of the opportunities that they missed? The three "Cults"as accurately explained by the author are what's wrong. Furthermore, for those Blacks who fear that this book will serve as "further ammunition for racist Whites to use against us," I say that such an arguement is a copout. We need to stop worrying about what white people think of us and start getting our collective house(s) in order. This book NEEDED to be written, and I applaud Professor McWhorter for having the guts to write it as passionately and critically as he has. It serves as a much-needed wake-up call for the entire Black community.
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Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America
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