Customer Reviews

Black and Right

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As I once heard Jesse Jackson say, "The rising tide lifts all theboats." I see Stan Faryna in the role that Walter Mosely played in the case of Paul Coates and Black Classic Press. Few people outside of a small circle of blacks knew anything about Paul Coates and Black Classic Press... Coates' book towed other black books out of the back waters and into the main headwaters. I suspect that "Black and Right" will do this too.

This is an important book showcasing some of the new voices from the black right. It is so important, "Dunbar on Black Books" is giving this book a great deal of attention. We published an interview with Stan Faryna in the May issue of "Dunbar On Black Books." We also plan to have annotations of selected chapters of this courageous new book in four or more forthcoming issues.

This kind of attention to a single book is unprecendented in our pages. Since the first issue of "Dunbar On Black Books," we have cited some 428 books, but we have not given such attention to any other book. That is how important "Black And Right" is, and at a time when Americans may be ready to seriously discuss race relations!

This is an excellent collection of essays from black conservative scholars, activists, public servants, writers and students who refuse to be sucked into modern-day black groupthink. Upon reading this book I felt encouraged and invigorated in my own newfound conservative beliefs as a black man in America. What is particularly refreshing about this book is its non-conformist tone: the essayists are strong-willed people who do not need the "acceptance" of their liberal black peers - or the black community as a whole for that matter! - and who are not afraid to openly challenge today's black so-called "leadership." Furthermore, they have logic, objectivity, erudtion and empirical facts on their side, something most black liberals are sorely lacking.

This is a great piece of work, and I highly recommend it.

Better than home-made sweet potato pie is a book that you're proud to own and glad you read. Black and Right is that kind of book.

A book about the real issues important to our progress has been wanted for a long time. I'm impressed by the talent in Black and Right.

I enjoyed Justice Clarence Thomas' essay, "No Room at the Inn." The interview with Ezola Foster was fascinating. She is a wise woman.

The other essays were also of high quality. Thank you all for this special gift, and congratulations!

Having been captivated by the intriguing premise of the book, I thought I was going to be reading powerfully written essays on public policy by a plethora of talented black conservative writers; sadly, that simply wasn't the case. Rather, what I got was brief, contrived, and tepid columns that were, by and large, a waste of time. While the book had a few well-written articles with interesting perspectives, it simply didn't meet my expectations -- not by a stretch. Rather disappointingly, most of the articles were incredibly short and took the following simplistic format: Introduce the topic with an eloquent quote from someone else, gloss over niceties requiring insight and critical analysis, effuse tragically lame and inefficacious platitudes, and rehash hackneyed conservative talking points on policy issues. For the most part, there was no real thinking from these writers.

One of the highlights of this book was Clarence Thomas's article, "No Room at the Inn: The Loneliness of the Black Conservative." Not only was it well written and insightful, but it is always wonderful to hear the perspective of a black man that climbed to such political heights by simply adhering to a conservative ideology that instilled in him that he could be whatsoever he wanted to be, so long as he maintained a solid work ethic and took personal responsibility for the decisions he made.

The other article that I found compelling was Steven Craft's, "A Setback Is a Setup for a Comeback." Craft is one of the few writers who clearly thought out his ideas and, consequently, he managed to generate unique points that resulted in an intriguing read. His recital of his life story was interesting because it provided a case study of how liberalism as an ideology is deleterious to humanity. Not only does liberalism encourage incentives that are manifestly antithetical to personal achievement, but it also catalyzes hatred in the black community towards the apocryphal "oppressive white man," and this serves as an ever-convenient scapegoat to avoid addressing the crux of the problem: blacks' lack of personal responsibility.

Interestingly, the idea that I found most gripping was his innovative approach to how the criminal justice system can deal with the problem of recidivism: by focusing on spiritual regeneration from a Christian perspective. As a born-again Christian, I come from the school of thought that there is no religion, practice, or activity that can be more transformative than Christianity -- when truly embraced. This was an excellent article not only because its writer thought outside of the box, but also because it presented an argument that is often skirted by Christian conservatives dealing with criminal justice policy on the national stage.

As stated in the title, this book was illuminating in spots, but ultimately dissatisfying. Perhaps the book would have been considerably better if it had employed brand-name black conservative firebrands to write powerful and longer pieces, as opposed to having a few heavyweights mixed in with a cornucopia of no-name writers. Please understand, I am not against using no-names for such compilation books; however, such people should be undiscovered heavyweights, not people who are undiscovered for a reason.

This gets two stars.

My advice: Read Dr. Thomas Sowell for some real intellectual stimulation.

For the past few decades, right-leaning minorities have beensubjected to de facto censorship, as a result of a media culture thathas marginalized them just as effectively as - if not more so than - they have silencened their white conservative brethren. Now, via Stan Faryna's groundbreaking book, those conservative minorities who have heretofore escaped media attention will rise up from anonymity and take their rightful place as shapers of American political debate. A wonderful vindication of the efforts of Booker T. Washington, George Schulyer and all of the valiant conservative minorities who "paved the way" for our current recognition.

Conservatism has been called a white thang for a long time.Black conservatives exist; we are more in number than you think. It'sjust we had to keep it on the down low. This book ain't non-phat. It's in the zone about all of those issues that we've taught ourselves not to talk about. It's right where we have to be. Are you OUTRAGED by gang warfare whose bullets snuff out the lives of four-year olds? Are you OFFENDED by fatherless homes perpetuating poverty and draining community resources? Are you FRUSTRATED by the role of government in fostering dependence rather than independence? You want Black and Right!

One of the most insightful, daring, challenging book wriiten on how the Democratic party has dimantled the Black American Family.

We learn the truths of how Al Gore and Democrats fought vigorously to find their place in the black community and how LBJ's new society pumped billions of dollars and despair into one time stable communities.

It tears away at the stereotypes of republicans, conservatives, religious leaders and takes a clear look at the problems and what solutions are needed in the Black Communities!

It exposes the negative side of governments programs and what effects Great Society economics, abortion, drugs, alcohol have had on the black community.

These Black writers are to be applauded for standing up for their beliefs and challenging the liberal power structure!

Black and Right: The Bold New Voice of Black Conservatives in America
Edited by Stan Faryna, Brad Stetson, and Joseph G. Conti
Praeger Publishing, May 1997
ISBN # 0-275-95342-4

For the first time in a book of academic value and easy accessibility, several black conservative voices now disclose their experience, their history, and their vision for tomorrow. Essays by Gary Franks, Glenn Loury, and Justice Clarence Thomas are just a few of the prominent writings featured in this timely and supreme line-up of writings by the new black leadership and other experts. These essays can be found in the paradigm-shattering pages of Black and Right: The Bold New Voice of Black Conservatives in America.

Anticipating America's renewed fascination with the heritage, future, and voice of black America, Black and Right promises to be a significant contribution without equal for American studies, thought, and political life. "Black and Right is one bold, giant step in the noble undertaking that will impress an inspired understanding of black America upon the minds of all Americans," explains George Mason University Law School Professor Joseph Broadus, a contributor to Black and Right.

"This important collection of essays presents the emerging leaders of a new epoch in the saga of African-American Liberation. For too long, the Left beat the dominant publicity drum, while in its heart the black community has marched rightward. Now, new voices articulate those old dreams in a tone no longer muted by the protective coloration of political correctness," said Professor Broadus.

Edited by Stan Faryna, Brad Stetson, and Joseph G. Conti, Black and Right tells the unheard story of the devastating impact that dependency and group thinking have had upon the black community. As Dr. Walter Williams, John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University, argues: "If one deliberately set out to sabotage black socio-economic progress, he could not have found a more effective means than many of the government policies started in the sixties and seventies."

"Black and Right is the long overdue antidote to the harmful conventional wisdom that formed the justification for those policies," claims Dr. Williams. Indeed, this book is not just a cry in the wilderness. "It discloses concrete solutions that illuminate the road to the Promised Land," says Stan Faryna, co-editor of Black and Right and Director of Research for the New Coalition of Economic and Social Change, an Afro American think tank in Chicago. Black and Right recommends a high moral road of unlimited opportunity for all Americans.

Diann E. Cameron, C.S.W., Director of Counseling Programs at The Albert G. Oliver Program, Inc. and contributor, comments: "Black and Right brings an important viewpoint to the public square. It is a viewpoint that was once ignored in the mainstream media. These voices reflect a common sense and intelligence that is shared by black Americans across the country."

"Though the elites of popular culture imagine that blacks do not believe in strong families, less bureaucracy, lower taxes, more choices in education, and personal responsibility, these are precious beliefs that come from the fabric of the black community - a fabric that is centuries old," Cameron explains.

A story of black America has been long told by the Left; however, the full story has been eclipsed by their loud and terrifying rhetoric. Black and Right invites the thinking person to know black America in a refreshingly thoughtful manner.

Last month, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) reintroduced a bill to establish a Black American museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C. as part of the Smithsonian Institution. The Congressman said he was reintroducing this bill to highlight the significance, urgency, and importance of such a museum. "The story of black people in America has yet to be told in its entirety," he said.

Contributors and editors of Black and Right could not agree more with the spirit of the honorable John Lewis' remark. The full story of black America must now be told.

Get Rep. J. C. Watts on the phone and ask him why he doesn't have an essay in "Black and Right!" This book is an outstanding collection of essays. Powerful, intelligent, and compelling voices remind us to look up and move forward.

Though strong and exciting recommendations, the advance praise by famous columnists (Cal Thomas, Walter Williams, Father Neuhaus, et al.) is surprisingly modest. This book is an important contribution to American thought and political life. I salute the contributors and editors of "Black and Right." The analysis, confession, drama, heritage, reflection, and story of these thoughtful black Americans puts this book on my top 100 book list.

Call the Washington Post! Let them know that American politics will never be the same again. Heritage Foundation's Adam Meyerson is mistaken: "Black and Right: The Bold New Voice of Black Conservatives in America" is not a tremor; it is a major earthquake registering 10 on my Richter scale.

This fantastic book will rescue a civilization that was going down in flames. It tears down the wall of racial division, it puts faith and reason back into the Culture and Constitution, and it gathers us all together as we finally advance in making the Dream true!

It is difficult to take a book such as this one seriously when it gets so much of the history and politics of black American so wrong? Rather curiously (and mindlessly in my view), it attempts to continue the long-running debate between Booker T. Washington and WEB Du Bois without first recognizing or acknowledging that it was Du Bois' paradigm of confronting a racist society that in large part led to the Civil Rights movement and the generation of progress in black social and political affairs as well as improvements in racial laws in particular and race relations more generally; improvements that these authors simply "pocketed" as if they had always been a given of American society?

These authors present no countervailing proof or evidence that Booker T's approach had any result at all other than the embarrassment he received for his speech as a "compromiser" at the 1895 Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition?

But from there the author's problems seemed only to get worse. Not only is it true that among the black conservative heavyweights (Tom Sowell, Shelby Steele, Glenn Loury, Larry Elders, and Robert L. Woodson) only Clarence Thomas gave permission for one of their reprints to appear in this volume. Thomas' reprint is the lead article. It, as does the rest of Part 1 of the book is a curious non-substantive lament about why black conservatives are seen as "being put upon" as victims within the black community? This is hardly a ringing endorsement of conservative substance, which one would assume the rest of the book was to be about? But then as the reader begins to dig further into it, one can see why the other black conservative intellectuals may not have wanted to "sign-on" fully to this project. [At least Elders and Steele did consent to interviews that appear as articles but which take a rather different approach than the rest of the book.]

The substance of the book is built up on a fatally flawed premise: The convenient (and ultimately demeaning) ruse of a (non-existent) dichotomy between "black conservatives" and "the rest of the black population." This "reject category," (the rest of the black population), which is seen as being the exact negative opposite of the qualities defining black conservatism, is given the demeaning title of the "liberal civil rights establishment." The qualities attributed to black conservatives are: being family-centered, thrifty, self-reliant, religious, believing strongly in education. desiring smaller government, welfare reform, believing in personal initiative, lower taxes, and importantly, that there is no more racism in America.

The opposite, or the other side of this dichotomy, of course is the "reject category" (all the rest of blacks) of: welfare-cheating, criminal, atheistic, homosexuals deadbeats, who are always playing the racial victim card? QED.

If the reader accepts this false partition then he is inexorably sucked into a self-serving but empty monologue of "inside baseball" among the '"outliers of the black consevative movement" that has no basis in American racial reality. And as was the case regarding their invocation of Booker T. Washington, the authors apparently failed to notice that except for the fact that "non-conservative blacks" believe that there is still quite a bit of work left to be done on the Civil Rights agenda, the two groups, Black Conservatives and and "the rest" are identical. Thus, as one would expect, the authors' "straw-dog" won't hunt. And the substance, what little there is, does not advance the ball one inch farther down the field towards black progress.

So, far only Glenn Loury from the black conservative camp has written eloquently, non-ideologically and thus honestly about issues of race. The rest, including Shelby Steele (who at least can write) are little more than political hacks, whose only consistency is that they continually genuflect in the direction of the racist status quo. One Star.