49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yes, professor, January 29, 2003
This review is from: Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority (Hardcover)
If I were the kind of person who got into bar fights I'd want Professor McWhorter to back me up because he's as scrappy as a welterweight boxer. In Authentically Black he's on the attack. McWhorter fearlessly in a series of essays says a number of things the "silent majority" regular black people think and say in private.
Some of the essays are serious, others are quite funny. McWhorter pokes fun at poet Amiri Baraka, and Jesse Jackson. He demolishes Randall Robinson's arguments in The Debt and takes on pompous Donald Bogle and Cornell West with ease. McWhorter calls a fool a fool and challenges a number of racial assumptions. He slaughters every sacred cow I can think and does it with glee.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eye-Opening, November 13, 2005
McWhorter considers himself a moderate black man. He is an academian in linguistics, but his second career is in writing and speaking about black issues. He has written a series of essays about the current problems facing blacks in America, many of which have been previously published. In this book, he expands on these essays, giving us a profound overview of the victimization attitude which contributes to the resistance to deracialization of blacks here in the USA.
I have a black friend who likes to play the race card at the drop of a hat. This leaves me with nothing to say, unless we both are willing to have a lengthy private conversation, which may or may not be productive. McWhorter has covered in this book topics I would like to discuss with my friend - has said it much better than I could - and has done it from a personal, studied, and comprehensive vantage point. Below are short excerpts from the chapters of this excellent book, mostly in his words.
Chapter I - Many blacks are careful to portray a pessimistic public outlook in order to "keep whitey on the hook." Privately, their silent mainly middle class majority wish they could have just one generation that didn't absorb this complex cultural victimization attitude. One generation would do it.
Chapter II - Racial profiling is a fact. Other than inconvenient examples of thoughtless inconsideration - which are just as easily overlooked - this remains the last bastion of overt racism. Yet a young black male usually did it, a problem that began with the war on drugs. A powerful and thoughtful analysis, advocating that a cultural bias (within the black community) against real achievement and education works against blacks.
Chapter III - The reparations movement - re: Randall Robinson's book, "The Debt." With the advantages legislated in by Johnson, blacks have been given all the boost they can expect. "Most blacks about fifty or younger tend to tacitly process affirmative action...as a 'reparation,' although they would not put it just that way...The fact that Robinson and the reparation crowd cannot see the alternative views as even worthy of addressing indicates their true interest - assuaging the sense of inferiority to whites that gnaws at the black American soul."
Chapter IV - Review of Bogle's "Primitive Blues," or playing the "can you find the stereotype" game. Bogle blames the TV industry since all shows are not like his preferential type (Cosby), criticizing all actors involved no matter how they perform their role. McWhorter gives the optimistic view, reflecting how the TV industry is well on its way toward an integrated and "deracialized" future.
Chapter V - Diversity - "There comes a point where a people can only achieve at the same level as the ruling group if the safety net is withdrawn."
Chapter VI - McWhorter analyses the "N" word from all vantage points: "Once we have done the right thing for ourselves - which is what interests me - the word will no longer seem so interesting." A fascinating chapter.
Chapter VII - African History - "Black Americans would benefit more from a conception of history focusing not on Africa but on the US: blacks in America speaking english, worshipping a Christian God, living with whites, in a post-industrial society." This chapter then gives a brief essay of McWhorter's idea of what black history should be.
Chapter VIII - Black academics and doing the right thing.
Chapter IX - A seething indictment of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton; then a thoughtful presentation of new black leaders who are quietly doing the right things.
This is a superb book that builds interest gradually until it can barely be put down. If you're not black, there is probably much that has escaped your notice. Having read "Authentically Black," I now possess a vastly better understanding of the situation and recommend this book be promoted to the top of your list.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
45 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority, March 11, 2003
This review is from: Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority (Hardcover)
I first must admit that prior to seeing an interview with John McWhorter on television in March 2003, I had never heard of him or his books. I was so enthused and validated by his interview that a couple of days later I purchased this book and his book "Losing the Race". I have long been frustrated by the negative manner of thinking that is seemingly handed down from generation to generation as though it's a badge of honor, by my fellow black Americans. I have not completed Authentically Black, but I am still compelled to write this review. Primarily because I feel that it is imperative that this book be purchased by as many black or bi-racial Americans ASAP! This book is a must read and it is one that I will have my younger children read as they grow older. Internalized oppression/victimhood is holding our race captive. Ideas, thoughts and beliefs set forth in McWhorter's book, are principles that may not be adopted for another 25 years. Which is a sad commentary.
It is so refreshing to read a young black author who is not afraid of having "tomatoes" thrown at him and who is verbalizing thoughts that I have had for awhile now, but not being as articulate as McWhorter, I couldn't quite verbalize my thoughts. Now I have a book that does just that.
Thanks John McWhorter for being brave and willing to break out of the mold. More of us are following.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
