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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Provocative, November 8, 2001
As a white man, Big Little White Lies, at first, made me feel extremely uncomfortable. In this small, yet intense book, I felt picked on, interrogated, accused, and angry. Then I thought that this is how African Americans must feel all of the time. Although there are things I don't agree on with her, she made me feel how racism makes me unconscious on the impact of my whiteness. As heated as I was reading it the first time, I found a lot of things about myself that she said as being true. I realize that even a liberal man like myself can be a contributor to racism in the same large scope as a proud and blatant racist. She mentions how racism isn't as harsh anymore as KKK sheets and burning crosses, instead its more refined, or what she calls white people as being "sophisticated racists." I found it interesting that she placed all "non-Black people of color" as white. By doing this, she gained my respect because she doesn't spare anyone from racial scrutiny, especially her own ethnic group, Arab Americans. She draws the conclusion that children of slaves and children of immigrants-which is essentially everyone else- do not share the same experiences,thus,the same outcome. I found myself arguing with this book. As long as you can get past being offended, this book is exiting, passionate, stimulating ,and highly recommended reading.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting book !, March 2, 2007
Throughout history dominant races and cultures have imposed their will, way of life, moral and aesthetic standards and even their genes on the conquered and the weaker element in their new territories. Racism is as old as humanity, although it might've been called by a different name. Man's pathological narcissism and quest to become god has engendered in part modern racism. It is fears of the new, fears of the unknown that produce in people fears of other humans that are not familiar to them. Racism helps people regain a sense of pseudo-control over their uncontrollable lives.
Every dominant race and culture has appointed itself as the supreme one, and the rest had to follow. In contrast to the bible, the meek shall not inherit the earth, but shall perish like an insignificant bacillus. Racism like human destructiveness is part of the human character.
Racism is also a great political tool to create divisions among the masses in order to dominate them, in addition, down grading people to sub-human levels justifies their eradication. Ironically, racial purity is a pure myth that has been engendered and propagated by shrewd political leaders and elites to advance their political agenda. Humanity has been interbreeding for centuries and the idea that one race is purer or superior to another is ludicrous, but works well politically. Let's not forget the recent single origin hypothesis which states that anatomically all modern humans evolved in Africa between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago. The illusion of belonging to a superior group helps compensate for the person who feels like a bacillus, and in lieu the group membership leads him to feel like a giant by appealing to his or her narcissistic prejudices. Group narcissism is key factor in racism. It is fueled and perpetuated by politicians. Racism and fear go hand in hand. Fear is a primitive feeling that incapacitates and renders people impotent. It is a natural response for self-preservation. By connecting fear to racism and artificially inducing it in people, weakens the masses, manufactures consent, and makes racism a mechanism of pseudo-self-preservation. Unfortunately, racism is here to stay! It will only cease to exist when humanity self-annihilate and totally perish!
Chehade has written a delightful book about racism based on her own perceptions and experiences. Her book is thought provoking, sensitive, intelligent, and interesting.
Chehade has done a great deed in openly discussing a critical issue like racism that has engulfed every society. She confronts our denial about its existence, and urges us for self-awareness and for change.
Chehade is livid about the condition and the hypocrisy of the human race. She addresses the political issues that has plagued and maintained the status quo of racism. Her essay is idealistic, uplifting as well as frightening, because it exposes the dark side of humanity.
She also discusses the identity crisis that immigrants face by latching to whiteness and distancing from blackness. However, this survival process which Chehade has bitterly criticized is a natural element that every new population that is introduced into a new environment would have to face. The idea that immigrants identify with the dominant culture is not new, whether it is Poles, Arabs Jews, Italians, or Irish.
Per example, the Ashkenasi Jews deny their Mongolian/Khazari heritage and desperately as well as obsessively attempt to identify and associate themselves only with white Europeans, especially of Germanic descent more than the German people would, despite the fact that six millions Jews were slaughtered by their beloved Teutonic nation. The Jews were the dominant figure in Germany financially, politically and on every level. The German leaders had to down-grade them first, then, massacre them next because they could not compete with them. That makes the Jews superior to the Germans not their inferiors. The feeling of inferiority and vulnerability in humans promote their self-hatred, otherwise it becomes directed toward others in what we call the phenomenon of racism. Racism is part of the human character as much as the internal feelings of inferiority and self-hatred.
A natural compensation for inferiority is the creation of the illusion of superiority. The two elements are dependent on each other for survival.
People who want to be someone else including their assassins, tend to practice the inner mechanism of self-hared, but can also externalize it by becoming racists.
Nowadays racism is profitable for the elites in the Anglo-American establishment, because it leads to conflict, and conflict makes money. The establishment has even gone a step further in the classification process of races by wanting to eliminate the word "Caucasian" and by replacing it with "white" as the new classification, because white would have a direct connation with people of European descent, while "Caucasian" included the people from North Africa, the Middle-East, and India. However, the Indians were stripped of their Caucasian classification privilege in the late seventies in the Untied States and they were given their own classification, since there is a billion of them, although anthropologically they fit the Caucasian profile.
Finally, Chehade's book makes a great reading. However, her tone throughout the essay is mostly angry reflecting her struggle with her own identity as an immigrant. Her defense of blackness would be admirable and sincere if it did not stem from her own self-hatred and her own confusion with her identity. The book is more of an emotional experience than an objective one. It lacks scientific and anthropological evidence, and it is politically naïve. However, it is worth reading. It might help generate some thinking in the brave reader's mind.
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4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best books on racism, February 3, 2003
Chehade doesn't leave any sacred ground for racism to hide. She bravely contronts racism on every level. I loved her bluntness and her willingness to write about issues that so many people outside of the African American community do not see or want to deal with. She is no joke. People who are in any way interested in solving racism NEED to read this book and find out just exactly what kind of beast we are all living with.
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