12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Moving Rhetoric and Great Passion but Disappointing Analysis, April 23, 2003
I am very interested in the issue of reparations andpurchased this book based on the dust jacket blurbs and looking at the table of contents. While I found it very informative in some respects, I was quite disappointed and had to struggle to rate it three stars. My disappointments concerned three different issues, discussed below following a description of the book.
This is a collection of essays accompanied by thirty eight pages of documents with relevance to the reparations issue. The book is organized thematically, with sections providing historical context, a legal overview, organizational initiatives, opinion pieces, and alternative methodologies. Many of the selections are quite short; at one extreme some are heavily footnoted and scholarly in format, at the other extreme some are conversational in nature. The book is quite easy to read, and while I read it in its entirety (but not in sequence), each selection stands on its own. Its strength is that Raymond Winbush, the editor has provided in one place a meaningful and diverse introduction to the literature on the subject for those who are interested in the arguments supporting reparations. He includes many of early advocates of reparations articulately presenting the case.
My first complaint is that its strength is also its weakness. This is not a book that examines the issue in an unbiased manner, but rather a sermon being preached to the choir. Despite the book jacket proclaiming that the there would be sufficient counterarguments to provide balance, this is definitely not the case. There are only three such articles (Armstrong Williams, Shelby Steele, and John McWhorter) presenting a countervailing point of view, and they are among the briefest in the collection, totaling 27 pages out of 366. In my view, this is indicative of the same sort of tokenism rightly decried by civil rights advocates. Winbush clearly had the right to produce a pro reparations book, but don't sell it under false pretenses and advertise it as representing both sides of the debate. There is no meaningful debate between these covers.
My second criticism is that despite the apperance of scholarship, most of the articles lacked real substance and analysis. They were wonderful at presenting historical context and had substantial descriptive and in many cases emotional content, but this cannot substitute for academic rigor. Advocacy, no matter how forceful and heart felt, cannot effectively replace convincing argumentation. Because of their accurate depiction and understanding of the evils and horrors of slavery, many of the authors in this collection are such true believers in their cause that they have lost all objectivity. For instance, Tim Wise concludes that "innocence ... in the mouths of persons born in the United States is beyond interesting ... it is stunningly infantile ... [it ] is [in fact] beyond the comprehension of the rational mind". This sort of rhetoric may make one feel good and win loud cheers from your allies but is unlikely to help you engage the interest of those undecided in the legitimacy of your claimed remedy for the agreed upon historical injustices.
My third disappointment was very articulately summarized in various ways by Armstrong, McWhorter and Steele. The essence is that the reparations argument is based on three assumptions, all of which are often assailed as racist in other contexts. First, that blacks are basically a homogeneous group rather than individuals. (This is of course necessary for class action lawsuits or political redress to be successful.) Second, and most destructive, that blacks cannot escape their victimhood caused by the continuation of pervasive racism in America today. Third, that blacks are Africans forced to live in America, not Americans.
I will not take time to comment on the historical inaccuracies and popular misconceptions in some of these articles, because while disappointing they are not central to the discussion in any instance. This book is worth reading both for background and revealing the mindset of the advocates. E.g. one of the most interesting articles was originally published in Harper's Magazine, and is a fascinating discussion among four of the top class action lawyers in the country. They unwittingly reveal the weakness of their legal case through the following interchange; they "love big stuff', don't want to lose on a technicality", need to find "elegant solutions to major national social problems", will "need help politically... since we don't have the law squarely on our side" and thus the first question should not be who are the plaintiffs, but "Who are the defendants,i.e. who pays?" That is, if they can find some deep pockets and earn their fees, then they'll try to build a case that appears to solve the major problem of slavery and residual racism. If you want a book that examines the current state of race relations in America in a much more hopeful and helpful light and provides real insights and decries the cult of victimhood, I suggest that you read the essays in AUTHENTICALLY BLACK by John McWhorter (see my Amazon review of 3/20/03) in addition to this book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Book For Every Syllabus and Reference Library, March 2, 2003
One of the tragedies of a society established on various human atrocities is that belief systems and myths are invented to avoid ugly truths which bring about faulty reasoning, simple minded ideas and a stream of miscalculated behaviors. All of this has resulted in disasters leaving this society befuddled as to why certain problems won't go away, or, get worse. Winbush's book, *Should America Pay* nothwithstanding, the comments and debates on reparations remain subject to this society's disastrous thinking, ideas and behaviors. ONE example is the notion that welfare makes up for reparations, therefore, reparations has been paid.
While this and several other miscalculated ideas continue to be debated, Winbush's *Should America Pay* serves as a tool through which historical realities, facts and documentation can deliver information, clarity and understanding to those who seek to learn and discuss with sincerity. Because there is an opposite and equal reaction for every action, this topic demands the same level of truth and justice as the intense suffering from the atrocities existed and exists. This collection of presentations by scholars, researchers, historians, and activists bound in *Should America Pay* paves the way for the truth and justice required for intelligent resolve.
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