Authentically Black [Mass Market Paperback]

John McWhorter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2004

The critically acclaimed book from the bestselling author of Losing the Race and The Power of Babel

John McWhorter is one of the most original and provocative thinkers on the issue of race in America today. In Authentically Black McWhorter argues that although African-Americans stress hard work and initiative in private, they have assumed the mantle of victimhood in the eyes of the public and have thereby created a distorted meaning of what it is to be "authentically black." McWhorter takes on this mentality and its debilitating implications—in topics ranging from rap music to the reparations movement, to the portrayal of African-Americans on television to racial profiling— injecting new ideas and a fresh approach into the nationwide debate on race. Authentically Black is a powerful and important book that will inform and influence the opinions of Americans across all racial and political spectra.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

McWhorter, a linguistics professor, ventures again into his sideline as a black public intellectual as he did in his earlier work, Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America (2000), this time examining the direction--or misdirection--of black leadership in America. His working assumption is that black leaders--wedded to the political left, the Democratic Party, and affirmative action--are out of step with the times. He argues that the civil rights era is dead, and appropriately so. The new battleground against racism requires individual rather than collective action. McWhorter criticizes the icons and issues of black leadership from Randall Robinson on reparations, to Jesse Jackson's shakedown of lucrative deals for his friends, to Al Sharpton for perpetuating notions of victimhood. McWhorter's criticism of this old vanguard of the civil rights movement is formulaic in the mode of the Republican right wing. However, his real contribution to the debate regarding new directions for racial progressiveness is his emphasis on the positives of black endurance and progress. Despite its partisan slant, this is a worthy book. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Bill O’Reilly with a Ph.D." -- Black Issues Book Review

"McWhorter writes elegantly and covers plenty of turf . . . which ranges from rap music to reparations . . . [An] important book." -- The Wall Street Journal

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Gotham (January 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592400469
• ISBN-13: 978-1592400461
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,300,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, professor, January 29, 2003

By 

Kimberley Wilson (VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-Opening, November 13, 2005

By 

The Spinozanator "Spinozanator" (Harlingen, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Authentically Black (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

46 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority, March 11, 2003

By 

Dwayne I. Ingram (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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.