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Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era Hardcover – March 3, 2008

by Houston Baker Jr. (Author)
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 19 ratings
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Houston A. Baker Jr. condemns those black intellectuals who, he believes, have turned their backs on the tradition of racial activism in America. These individuals choose personal gain over the interests of the black majority, whether they are espousing neoconservative positions that distort the contours of contemporary social and political dynamics or abandoning race as an important issue in the study of American literature and culture. Most important, they do a disservice to the legacy of W. E. B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., and others who have fought for black rights.

In the literature, speeches, and academic and public behavior of some black intellectuals in the past quarter century, Baker identifies a "hungry generation" eager for power, respect, and money. Baker critiques his own impoverished childhood in the "Little Africa" section of Louisville, Kentucky, to understand the shaping of this new public figure. He also revisits classical sites of African American literary and historical criticism and critique. Baker devotes chapters to the writing and thought of such black academic superstars as Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, and Henry Louis Gates Jr.; Hoover Institution senior fellow Shelby Steele; Yale law professor Stephen Carter; and Manhattan Institute fellow John McWhorter. His provocative investigation into their disingenuous posturing exposes what Baker deems a tragic betrayal of King's legacy.

Baker concludes with a discussion of American myth and the role of the U.S. prison-industrial complex in the "disappearing" of blacks. Baker claims King would have criticized these black intellectuals for not persistently raising their voices against a private prison system that incarcerates so many men and women of color. To remedy this situation, Baker urges black intellectuals to forge both sacred and secular connections with local communities and rededicate themselves to social responsibility. As he sees it, the mission of the black intellectual today is not to do great things but to do specific, racially based work that is in the interest of the black majority.
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  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Columbia University Press
  4. Publication date
    March 3, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    6.3 x 0.91 x 9.03 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0231139640
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0231139649
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Baker, an esteemed scholar of African American literature and culture, is deeply frustrated with the state of—or, rather, the lack of—racial activism today. Part of the blame rests with contemporary neoconservatives, who Baker claims have sabotaged the civil rights and black power movements by promoting racial injustice under a banner of social equality. But Baker is most bothered by prominent black intellectuals who purport to advance the civil rights movement even though, in Baker’s eyes, their ultimate aspirations and resultant political strategies diverge radically and even counterproductively from those of Martin Luther King Jr. In fiery chapters on each scholar, Baker lambastes Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, Shelby Steele, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and others for disingenuous politics, centrism, and above all the vainglorious pursuit of academic and political influence at the expense of the broader “black majority,” who still suffer from social and economic injustice. Mourning the loss of black unityborn of the communal struggles of the 1960s, Baker expresses his disappointment by pulling no punches with his fellow scholars, a sure recipe for equally harsh rebuttals. --Brendan Driscoll

Review

Baker succeeds in making his case... How fitting that Baker offers not just words here but action too. -- Erin Aubry Kaplan ― Los Angeles Times

A courageous book, raising much needed questions in this our brave new world. -- Lolis Eric Elie ― The Times-Picayune

I highly recommend this exceptional work of scholarship, for it is worth the price of the ticket. -- Hanes Walton Jr. ― Political Science Quarterly

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Columbia University Press; First Edition (March 3, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0231139640
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0231139649
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.3 x 0.91 x 9.03 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 19 ratings

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Houston A. Baker

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Top reviews from the United States

  • John L. Hudgins, PHD
    5.0 out of 5 stars Right on Time!
    Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2008
    Baker has done an outstanding job in analyzing the current crop of neo-conservative Black Writers. The work is well documented with quotes and significant background information on Steele, McWhorter, Gates and others. At a time of significant change in the country a review of the work of significant "Black" public intellectuals (Jesters) is long over due. A very good read for anyone interested in a serious discussion of contemporary (public) Black "Intellectual" thought.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • Irami Osei-Frimpong
    4.0 out of 5 stars Heroic work
    Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2008
    There is a great deal of money and esteem to be made by making white people feel good about themselves. Bill Cosby made a fortune during the 60s, 70s, and 80s not talking about race. Raisin in the Sun is extraordinarily popular because it depicts a middle class black family who wants nothing more than to act like a middle class white family. This all goes to explain the high profiles and lavish praises rained upon guys like Stephen Carter and Shelby Steele. Thankfully, there are people like Houston Baker. There are those who care about the black masses and understand that capitalist democracy, American style, isn't an upright moral system.

    White supremacy, in body and in mores, pervades the land, and too many black public intellectuals, citizen-soldiers typified by King and able to improve the quality of the entire nation, and have instead, taken the easy pay and kudos available to any scholar who can make white people at ease with the hard work, low pay, institutional alienation which marks too much of the black majority.

    In 1968, Harold Cruse fleshed out the problems and responsibilities of the Negro intellectual, and too few scholars have followed in his example. Thankfully, Houston Baker takes on these issues, and American culture, with charm, clarity, and insight, and does not shy away from a thoughtful treatment of the black majority.

    His sections on King and Carter were extraordinarily strong, and the entire book portrays an compelling picture of the role of the black intellectual, and how easy it is to renege on that awesome responsibility.
    13 people found this helpful
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  • Esu
    3.0 out of 5 stars A Little Too Easy
    Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2009
    In this book, Houston Baker reclaims his radical credibility at the expense of several moderate and neoconservative African-American intellectuals. And on one hand, I find his critique to be inspiring. First of all, he eloquently reminds us that Dr. King was a tougher activist than we sometimes remember him to be. In the opening chapters and throughout the book, Baker posits as his ideal for the black intellectual Dr. King's integrity and indefatigable commitment to justice, his populist commitment to all people and his willingness to enact the sacrifices necessary for a leader to bring people to act. And he reminds African-American academics (of whom I am one) that, if we imagine a socio-political ideal to our scholarly work, we must remember that such work must be as committed as possible to a large percentage of black people, most of whom we may never see in our classrooms. Get out of the ivory tower and its televised seminar rooms: a helpful demand.

    On the other hand, though, Baker sometimes makes his argument a little too easy on himself. While he consistently offers incisive critiques on the actual arguments of the people he examines, too often he bases this criticism on the self-serving assumption that a black person is conservative only to please white people. Here his argument shifts from ideological analysis--at which he is often quite good, and wherein he can make persuasive cases about how a mainstream institutions of cultural authority prefer and reward certain kinds of work from black folk--to a criticism of assumed motivations of individuals. There is a long history of black people calling each other out in this way, and at times it is valid. But what too often happens is that dissent within the community is squashed. I am no defender of the McWhorters of the world, some of whom do seem to be interested in profiting from their conservatism more than doing rigorous thinking and writing. And some of their arguments actively and purposefully misconstrue how social power operates and are not more objectively substantiated than Baker's book, despite one previous Amazon reviewer's implication to the contrary. But I am a defender of black conservatives' ability to claim their beliefs as sincere ones, even as I vehemently disagree. It is too easy to take potshots at people with whom we disagree and to misconstrue their motivations. Baker would have done better to focus more on dynamics of power than on sometimes petty critiques of the sometimes deserving targets of his ire. McWhorter's discussion of hip hop, for example, does lack the kind of rigor that would make his concern about victimization valid. He underestimates the creation of personae and the agency people derive from performed aggression. Still, instead of close readings of individual books by individual writers, which is what Baker does, he would have made a more powerful case with a positive example and a greater engagement with common conservative themes and common institutional issues.

    White supremacy is hardly a phantom--its effects are subtle and insidious, from educational curricula to biased drug laws. And Baker's zeal for intellectuals to confront this power is admirable, as is his call for privileged blacks to align themselves with "the black masses." But he does slide too easily into that comforting portrait of "the man" that prevents him from making the best use of his considerable intellectual gifts. Still, his well-written book is well worth reading, both for its insights and for its shortcomings, both of which reminds us of how we all can be better.
    14 people found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    1.0 out of 5 stars Self aggrandizing
    Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Unnecessarily verbose, loquacious, and zero data points
    One person found this helpful
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