Internal Constraints (Black Professor at Berkeley Takes on the NAALCP! John McWhorter!)

Reasononline ^ | October 2001 | Cathy Young and Michael W. Lynch

[Recovering_Democrat]

This article, first published in October of 2001, was likely lost in the ether of the War on Terror.

McWhorter was a guest of Bill O'Reilly tonight, and the professor challenged the dying ideology of the NAACP. He even wrote a book about the foolishness of victimization, which he talks about here.

Check out his first childhood memory above. Unbelievable.

McWhorter is analagous to Abraham's nephew Lot in Genesis: even in the Sodom and Gomorrah of Berkeley, a good man can thrive.

[Support Free Republic]

SHOW ME THE MONEY !!!

[Recovering_Democrat]

If all schools quit using race as an admissions criterion, there would be a bleak 10 years where there would not be as many black kids on elite campuses as we might like. There would still be a good number, though. It's not as if black students are so utterly, uniformly awful that Harvard could not find any black students for its freshman class. Yes, the numbers will fall. But during that 10 years, word would get out in the black community and in the education community that black kids have to do as well as everybody else. Black people have shown that they can rise to any obstacle. We're not allowed to rise to any obstacle when it comes to academics. We're always given these lowered bars.

Right on the money. Too bad the SCOTUS didn't read these words.

[Unknown Freeper]

bump for later

[hoosiermama]

Tag! you're it. Here's one to pass along.

[Arpege92]

"Every tune anybody tells me I'm articulate, it's technacally racism, because I would not be told that if I were white."

Pure "BS" IMHO!

[fish hawk]

Saw him on O'Reilly and was very impressed. He held his own considering the opposition was a motor mouth air hog. Wish there were thousands more like him around.

[sistergoldenhair]

BTTT

[Tamzee]

One statement he made bothered me a bit... he sounds like he is somewhat hurt by well-meaning people telling him he is articulate and that he finds it unintentionally racist. I've done a great deal of public speaking and it doesn't matter how brilliant a person is, it takes a special talent and amazing focus to be articulate and confident in front of an audience. I'm always impressed when I see someone is well-spoken and relays a message effectively without a prior written speech or rehearsal.

I greatly admire Dr. McWhorter for many things, one of which is his fantastic manner in presenting his message to a TV audience.... but that is not a compliment at all rooted in black versus white stereotypes, that is compared to the majority of the public which couldn't even remember their own name in front of millions of people ;-)

[Arpege92]

I have always thought Alan Keys was an excellent speaker, unlike myself. Alright, somebody call the NAACP and report me....a white woman such as myself is forbidden from complimenting a black man!

[Welsh Rabbit]

"A group of black kids, none older than eight, asked me how to spell concrete," writes McWhorter. "I spelled it, only to have the 8-year-old bring his little sister to me and have her smack me repeatedly as the rest of the kids laughed and egged her on. From then on, I was often teased in the neighborhood for being 'smart.'"

Geez, that really sucks. I have even more respect for him now; if it had happened to me, I'd probably have developed a lifelong habit of shunning academic activities (like so many others have).

[evilC]

Well compared to Jesse Jackson talking about "pawk chops" he probably is!

[mhking]

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[Southack]

Scarborough is on right now decimating the NAACP over their coddling of Castro even though Castro employs the most anti-Black, racist policies in all of North America.

[A_perfect_lady]

A BUMP for my hero of academe. I really like McW.

[radiohead]

i don't know about it being 'technically' racist, but i can tell you from personal experience, that white people often refer to articulate black people as if their articulation was a surprise.

i'm not talking about being an articulate orator. that is a skill and i agree w/tamsey here.

what i am talking about are interviews w/whites where the topic is a black person - even if you don't know it immediately. every black in america knows that as soon as a white person says, "and he was so articulate...", the person being referred to is black.

i'm not calling anyone a racist, i'm just saying that i don't see whites refer to other, regular, non-orating, whites in the same way.

chris rock has a comment about 'articulate' blacks and colin powell in his routine. not only is it very funny, but it is also right on.

this is just my opinion as an educated black woman who's experienced and seen the phenomenon many times. you're free to see the world as you wish.

[StatesEnemy]

Ummm... how does this:

The genesis of McWhorter's book lies in his first childhood memory. It was 1968 and playtime in West Mount Airy, an integrated Philadelphia neighborhood. "A group of black kids, none older than eight, asked me how to spell concrete," writes McWhorter. "I spelled it, only to have the 8-year-old bring his little sister to me and have her smack me repeatedly as the rest of the kids laughed and egged her on. From then on, I was often teased in the neighborhood for being 'smart.'"

Jive with this:

McWhorter managed to overcome the teasing, even if he was never really able to leave it behind. Educated at Rutgers and Stanford, he is, at 36, a tenured linguistics professor at the University of California at Berkeley

[Luis Gonzalez]

Hey!

I've been hearing reports all day indicating that Castro may be hospitalized in serious condition.

Haven't been able to confirm anything, it's not as easy as it used to be to get confirmation as it was before the crackdown.

[Tamzee]

this is just my opinion as an educated black woman who's experienced and seen the phenomenon many times

Ouch. I have to bow to your view, then, if you have seen the word "articulate" used with a careless and silly expectation of otherwise due to race. I'm sorry to hear that and it must be very aggravating and disappointing :-(

I based my thought on using that word frequently myself complimenting friends who suffer through public speaking and interviews... the last time I remember speaking the word was to a white woman named "Jayne" :-) When I see someone speaking to an audience or camera, I remember how it feels and am always impressed when it is pulled off with coherent sentences, style and no stuttering LOL

[Recovering_Democrat]

Well, my math says he was born in 1965. Why does this strike you as unusual?