Looking back at my beliefs as a young man, one thing that astounds me is the almost unbelievably naïve views I had of American blacks. They were just like us, except, well, except oppression. No doubt like many, my own thoughts of them often involved helping them, specifically because they were black and therefore morally worthy of help. Would not that sheen of moral goodness emanate from me?

My beliefs now are significantly less sympathetic. I have come to the painful conclusion that, although some individual blacks will make it in our society, the race as a whole will not. I further believe that this has essentially nothing to do with whites, legacies of racism and slavery, or white privilege. Rather, it is because of blacks themselves.

This change did not come about because of anything I read in a book. Instead, it was the result of innumerable interactions I had with blacks that led to a change of heart. The list goes on and on, but for me, it was early instances (at least that I saw) of what I now consider the most noxious aspect of black culture: their reflexive racial solidarity for any black against whites, which has been on full display the past couple of years during which blacks rioted in St. Louis in support of a criminal thug, and in Baltimore, where they reflexively sided with a heroin dealer with a rap sheet as long as my arm over law and order. To point out the painfully obvious, the stability that the law would bring to their own community is considerable. But they made the choice, so reflexively that it likely required no thought at all, for the criminal instead, with any morally honest person admitting that it was solely on the basis of skin color.

Sure, there are certainly some good and non-dysfunctional blacks. But, to quote one contributor to this book, no society takes on the characteristics of its exceptions. And unfortunately, I have had too many experiences with blacks to think the socialized, civil and productive ones are anything but an exception.

This book contains the stories of others who, like myself, simply encountered a tipping point at which their experiences with blacks simply could not be squared with more sympathetic beliefs, nor with the happy face talk of diversity constantly pushed upon us. Broken down into sections on the workplace, professions, institutions, prison, the legal system, and the community at large, these are the individual stories of individual people who could no longer accept the charade. Many of the statements and ideas shine through with personal recognition for the reader:

-A teacher observes that so many blacks are not receptive to education beyond the mere basics, and states the folly of trying to teach them abstract concepts such as property rights or democratic citizenship.

-In prison, where very few blacks show the slightest remorse for their crimes, instead continually blaming “the man.”

-Prison fights in which the blacks, consistent with innumerable instances in the outside world, seldom fight fairly one-on-one, but instead attack a single person en masse.

-Prison guards who simply do not have the time or energy to do all the paperwork it would take to enforce all the rules, including against such disgusting but widespread behavior as public masturbation, especially in front of white or Hispanic women. (this reminded me of my elementary school in which, if rules were applied evenly, would have seen the principal’s office literally overflowing with black kids day after day).

-A public defender noting the stunning inability to see things from someone else’s perspective, and failure to understand the pain they are causing others, which goes a long way to explaining why there are so many black criminals.

-An incredible lack of common sense, like wearing a baseball cap with a marijuana leaf to trial on a drug charge.

-A professor who lived in black Africa for years noting the common failure among blacks to understand wealth creation (how many times have I heard blacks complain about no jobs in their communities in a manner that assumes that jobs are not a reflection of the communities in which they are located, but instead something that exists, is possessed by others, and is given to them).

In many ways, FACE TO FACE WITH RACE is a painful book. In a different sense, it is extremely cathartic. Perhaps our society is not filled with people who can look reality straight in the face and pretend it does not exist. Perhaps diversity will reach a tipping point when it reaches the elites who can now live comfortably away from the realities of their ideals. Perhaps. But for now, all we can do is tell our stories.

A sobering account of the reality of race differences. This book is a collection of stories by people who have lived among, worked with, or attempted to educate blacks. Clearly, their experiences cannot be extrapolated to all blacks. Unfortunately, they are likely true for a disconcertingly large percentage of (particularly urban) blacks. It is not possible to read these firsthand accounts and simply dismiss them as the rants of a few racists.

My bookshelf holds a copy of the US Constitution and a copy of the Communist Manifesto. These choices are not of themselves political statements, but rather fundamental documents that any politically literate person should have. In the same spirit, Face to Face with Race is valuable no matter what your beliefs are with respect to racial politics. It is a collection of stories from the "front lines", contributed by persons ranging from hard core liberal attorneys to a white prison inmate. Understanding the contents is fundamental homework regardless of whether you agree with the picture the book paints or not. And of course, there are many volumes written from the opposite perspective that one should likewise read and understand. The stories in this book are not dressed up, embellished with editorial commentary, or pretty. They are very illuminating, and valuable material for any balanced discussion of racial matters in the U.S.A.

This book is still with me, more than a month after finishing it. Its premise is what happens when we live in denial due to ideology about actual performance levels among certain groups. What are the social costs being paid right now in the USA? This book is the first honest look at this issue. I see the recent artificial, constructed protests in the USA against alleged racism and the police through the prism of the book. It simply gives voice to a different ordinary person from an ordinary job who worked alongside people who cannot do the work, and were placed there through artificial means (affirmative action). The accumulation of ordinary voices simply describing their experience in plain words becomes overwhelming, the reality and truth of it is undeniable. So it leads you to consider what went wrong? The speakers in the different chapters don't speculate or theorize. That's left to us. My own theory is that it comes from the disintegration of important institutions in African-Americans' lives (public policy and popular culture destroying religion and the family). Culturally, though, we just can't accept that this is the reality. I see TV & movies with their middle class black characters now as a kind of cartoon-like denial of reality. Cries of racism become the mantra to disguise the painful, sobering truth. This is an important book which likely won't be read enough.