Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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94 of 98 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still indispensable, April 26, 2001
Although a slim volume, Sowell's Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality? is one of the most important books on the subject ever written. One by one, the standard platitudes about discrimination and poverty fall before Sowell's relentless statistical assault. Discrimination causes poverty? How about the Chinese minority in Southeast Asia? Discrimination against the Chinese minority is actually written into the Malaysian constitution. And yet the Chinese minority still dominates the economy. Likewise, Japanese-Americans were discriminated against so badly that 120,000 of them were forcibly relocated during World War II. Yet by 1959 they had equaled whites in income, and by 1969 were earning one third more. Politics is the only way for a minority group to advance? To the contrary: the general pattern in the United States has been for a group to become wealthy first and only then to enter politics (if at all). The Irish, on the other hand, who placed such emphasis on political action, lagged behind other ethnic groups. The book is absolutely filled with information like this. Moreover, Sowell also discusses the perils of attributing income disparities to "racism" and "discrimination." I had to laugh when I read the critical reviewer below who claimed that Sowell's book was "simplistic." Whatever criticism one might make of it, no one who actually read the book could describe it that way. In fact, I'm a college professor who assigned the book to my students, and their general complaint was actually that it was too complicated! Sowell's whole point is that it is the current "civil rights" establishment that is simplistic-all statistical disparities between groups can have only one cause: discrimination. Sowell demonstrates how utterly untenable-and, yes, simplistic-such a suggestion is. Finally, the suggestion that because Sowell holds such views he can't "really" be black: that's an accusation this brave scholar has had to endure his whole life. Apparently, all blacks are supposed to hold the same opinions. I'd say that's pretty simplistic. In short: I am not aware of any other book on this subject that is so relentless in its demolition of tired myths about affirmative action and civil rights.
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62 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Outstanding Perspective On A Sensitive Subject, August 6, 2000
Thomas Sowell is one of the most articulate and intelligent authors today. His books are well-researched, politically unconventional, and highly persuasive. In this work, Mr. Sowell confronts the "rhetoric" of the civil rights establishment and contrasts it with the "reality" of American society and American law. The liberal establishment, according to Mr. Sowell, made a key blunder in the late 1960s. After the civil rights revolution became public policy, many assumed that there would be "statistical equality" between whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians in all categories from family income levels to loan-acceptance rates. Needless to say, this did not happen during the heady days of the civil rights revolution. Even in the year 2000, this equality still has yet to occur. The only explanation, according to activists, is systematic racism. It would be nearly impossible for Americans to believe that - nearly 50 years after the Brown decision - we still live in a systemically racist society. But that is precisely the rhetoric that is force-fed to the American public. Mr. Sowell, on the other hand, states that discrimination does not explain the statistical variance. For example, Asian-Americans outperform Anglo-Americans on virtually everything from SAT scores to PhDs. Surely no one would claim that American society discriminates against whites in favor of Asians. We must take other factors into account if we are to explain this mystery. Family size, age, educational courses chosen, and savings rates are just some of the myriad ways that our races distinguish themselves. When we control these factors, there is absolutely no divergence between the races. An African-American male and an Asian-American male of the same age, with the same education, in the same occupational field earn the same amount of money. The same is true of Hispanic men and white men. Incredibly, these statistics have been consistent since the 1960s when America was still supposedly a "racist" country. Of course, there were racists in the 1960s just like there are racists today. But Mr. Sowell points out that our nation is - contrary to the conventional wisdom- remarkably color-blind. This would shock most Americans initially but is largely consistent with daily experience. The vast majority of Americans are not racist and would resist the suggestion that they are secretly prejudiced. Mr. Sowell's studies reflect this hidden truth. The author also makes important points concerning the feminist movement. Once you control for all other factors, a man and woman earned the same income during the 1960s, even before the feminist movement. Men and women still earn the same paycheck today, even amidst the whirlwind concerning "pay inequality." If there is a moral to Mr. Sowell's story it is that the original civil rights movement has become a hideous deformation of itself. The original movement was fought for the right reasons - equality before the law - and was remarkably successful as these statistics reveal. But - like most revolutions - this one didn't know when to quit. The political goal of "equality of opportunity" became perverted into "equality of results." The prescription of affirmative action, largely unnecessary, has only alienated the vast white majority and did nothing to close the quality-of-life gap between whites and blacks (crime, drug use, single-parent families, etc.) On the other hand, it has certainly fattened the wallets and enhanced the profiles of public figures who make a healthy living denouncing the racism of American institutions, bullying private corporations, and winning elections. In their hearts, most Americans - white, black, Asian, and Hispanic - suspect that these activists are wrong. This book will solidify their conclusions and renew their pride in our multicultural and progressive society.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jesse Jackson's nightmare, May 11, 2004
Although written 20 years ago, Thomas Sowell's book about the Civil Rights Movement reads like it was penned last month. Unlike many academics that simply take social policy at face value and support any policy that sets out to help, Economist Dr. Sowell measures the success of initiatives against their purported intentions. This is a great formula for honest education, but it doesn't win many friends in academia. Sowell demonstrates how discrimination alone does not result in poverty. He points out the success of the Chinese minority in many Asian countries where discrimination against the Chinese is written into the constitution. He also points out the many hardships put towards Jews in history and their accumulation of wealth despite the hardships. He shows some curiosity in how striving for equal opportunity in America eventually became affirmative action. He has the same curiosity about how de-segregation became busing. He then takes a hard look at the special cases of women and blacks. Since the book was set at the 30th anniversary of Brown v. The Board of Education and the 20th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Sowell examines the conditions of education and economics before and after those important dates. He finds just the kinds of facts that will be detested by the Civil Rights industry. Dr. Sowell concludes that Civil Rights have become an easy way to gain favor with whatever new initiative someone might design. Now everything is a Civil Right and every new plague known to man is not usually the result of a denial of Civil Rights. The question no one but Sowell asks is how can we expect an equal outcome in the world when humans all have different experiences and abilities? His conclusion is that the Civil Rights movement was important when Jim Crow insured unfair treatment, but now the term Civil Rights has been perverted to mean anything that gains some group or another power. In essence, the current reality of Civil Rights is, in fact, rhetoric. You may not understand the full impact of what Civil Rights mean today if you don't read these 140 pages. It gave me a new outlook.
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