Booknotes: "Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority"

C-Span / Booknotes.org ^ | 3.2.03

[mhking]

March 2, 2003
Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority
by John McWhorter

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—from the publisher's website

Picking up where the bestselling Losing the Race left off, this penetrating and profound collection of essays by the controversial thinker and passionate advocate for racial enlightenment and achievement explores what it means to be black in America today.

According to the author, nearly forty years after the Civil Rights Act, African-Americans in this country still remain "a race apart." He feels that modern black Americans have internalized a tacit message: "authentically black" people stress initiative in private but cloak the race in victimhood in public in order to protect black people from an ever-looming white backlash. He terms this the "New Double Consciousness" in homage to W.E.B. DuBois' description of a different kind of double consciousness in blacks a century ago.

Within this context McWhorter takes the reader on a guided tour through the race issues dominant in our moment: racial profiling, getting past race, the reparations movement, black stereotypes in film and television, hip-hop, diversity, affirmative action, the word nigger, and Cornel West's resignation from Harvard.

With his fierce intelligence and fervent eloquence, McWhorter makes a powerful case for the advancement of true racial equality.

A timely and important work about issues that must be addressed by blacks and whites alike, Authentically Black is a book for Americans of every racial, social, political, and economic persuasion.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

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[billhilly]

I hope this is what the prose suggests.

[mhking]

I hope this is what the prose suggests.

I'm watching McWhorter on C-Span's Booknotes now - I'm very impressed. I'm an unabashed McWhorter fan after reading Losing the Race though.

I'm gonna have to read this one - I may even try to get him for my April RadioFR segment.

[nkycincinnatikid]

bump

[marron]

I have been ruminating on the apparent fact that Democrats and leftists by and large are obsessed with race, while Republicans by and large are indifferent to race as an issue.

The enormous damage done to Black Americans has three sources. (1)The obvious original cause which is the circumstance of their forced migration to the Americas, and the organized repression for a century after the Civil War. (2) The application of socialist solutions for economic poverty, which has done damage to families, with the consequent damage to the culture. (3) The moral crisis in American culture, reflected in the decay in personal and social mores.

Points 2 and 3 are not restricted to the Black community, are characteristic of the society at large, but the Black community has been most vulnerable to damage caused by these factors. But where they now are, the society at large is headed.

The only solution is a step change in the culture, which will encourage people to, first, see themselves as individuals and not simply members of a group, and secondly, which will lead people to accept responsibility or blame for who and what they are, rather than hiding behind supposedly impersonal forces.

This is true of society across the board, and not simply of any subgroup within the country. And it is true, even when you are legitimately a victim, perhaps especially when you are a victim. Apparently impersonal forces may be responsible for your circumstance, but if you lay the responsibility for fixing your life on those same forces, rather than on yourself, you are finished.

I have noticed that in recent years people who are not in fact victims paint themselves as such just to be taken seriously. You could call this the Jerry Springerization of America; but I hear it all the time. When someone wants to be taken seriously he first has to tell you all the pain in his life. I can't help but think, a cowboy wouldn't do that. To insist on seeing yourself as a victim, even when you are one, is to rob yourself of your own dignity.

White or Black, when you no longer see yourself in terms of your race, there is no longer any room for you in the Democratic Party. And, white or black, when you no longer see yourself as a victim, but rather as a protagonist in your own drama, and an active agent placed by God into a drama much larger than your own, there is no longer any room for you in the Democratic party.

[mhking]

For the most part, I agree with you - the single caveat being in the root causes. While you point to three definite issues that many blacks have, as far as I am concerned, the only legitimate one -- and one that can be overcome while not neglecting the past -- is number one.

Numbers two and three are key parts of how and why the Democrats and liberals keep blacks down and ignorant.

[A_perfect_lady]

I may even try to get him for my April RadioFR segment.

He's in New York, how would you link up? By phone?

[Rytwyng]

"authentically black" people ... cloak the race in victimhood in public in order to protect black people from an ever-looming white backlash.

Er, excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but the victimhood game is precisely what's CREATING the white backlash.

[mhking]

He's in New York, how would you link up? By phone?

Yep...

[marron]

Just finished watching McWhorter on TV. I am well impressed with the man, I am embarrassed to say I was not familiar with him until now. I would like to read some of his work. Have you read him?

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

ever-looming white backlash

What does he mean by this? A backlash against what? And why is it ever-looming?

[Tamzee]

I saw him on television recently... he's phenomenal :-)

[visualops]

I will add that, what should be personal pride in one's private courage (.i.e. true self-esteem) has become public celebration of personal obstacles (i.e. vanity and false self-esteem). Those personal obstacles, (which should be overcome by a variety of means, including self-control, strength of character, determination), instead become the public 'victimhood', expected to be solved by the public, rather than oneself. In addition to harm done by socialist 'solutions', the black community has been done a further disservice by some extraordinarily poor leadership. I believe it's critical that the leadership (and this really applies to us all), are those that lead by example. Ideally, taught properly, one need be able to discern the difference.

[marron]

I will add that, what should be personal pride in one's private courage (.i.e. true self-esteem) has become public celebration of personal obstacles (i.e. vanity and false self-esteem).

I know this is sliding away off topic, but I have been noticing this among people in general, not just ethnic minorities. Actually, I have begun noticing it primarily among White people, who more and more seem to feel that, to be taken seriously, they have to first establish their bona fides as a true victim before commenting on whatever is the topic at hand. Its as if unless they can establish that they too are some kind of victim, they are not qualified to speak.

Of course, usually the trials enumerated are quite pedestrian. I hate this. Obviously, if your personal battles directly impinge on the subject at hand, and the point is that you are speaking from personal experience, it is a necessary part of the conversation. But if the point of it is just to establish that you too are a victim of life's inequities, out of this twisted idea that only in this way will you be taken seriously, I find this undignified. Whenever I catch myself doing this, I stop it immediately. But I am disturbed that this has become so common, a kind of personality tic for so many people.

Trials are important in shaping you, and what dignity you have often comes from the fact that you have overcome, or at least have been steadfast in the struggle if you have not overcome. Not in your victimhood, which unless it is something really beyond the norm only robs you of your dignity.

I'm not really referring to racial issues here, so this is off topic. Its just something I have been observing in people, and particularly white people, over the couple of decades.

[mhking]

I am well impressed with the man, I am embarrassed to say I was not familiar with him until now. I would like to read some of his work. Have you read him?

His earlier work, "Losing the Race" was a minor best-seller. It's worth seeking out in paperback, if you get the chance.

[mhking]

What does he mean by this? A backlash against what? And why is it ever-looming?

Twofold: first, a perception (however faulty), ingrained by decades when whites did not value black success; Secondly, a backlash among blacks - the awful accusations and lambasting that follows "acting white." It's unfortunate, and pretty damn sad.

Much of it is discussed in McWhorter's earlier work.

[boop]

It is interesting, and sad, to see what happens to this man. He is not even conservative, but just for committing the unpardonable sin of questioning liberalism he is denigrated by fellow blacks. He is very intelligent and asks compelling questions. Too bad he is crucified by those people he simply wants to enlighten.

[visualops]

Well, I don't think it's totally off topic.
The perception that special "needs" require special treatment, encourages everyone to have special needs. This seems to have been embodied in victimhood, since that illicits sympathy, and creates the impression one is more "deserving" of that special attention. Perhaps that is a natural defense against what would normally dissuade one from taking the 'easy way out' (i.e. conscience, pride, and self-worth). Race is at the forefront of the ever growing list of "special needs" or "deserved preference".
I don't think it's off topic, because how we as a society deal with racism (real or perceived), and the other challenges we as Americans face, impacts every aspect of our lives and us as a people, regardless of color.
So far, it seems to me we have tangled ourselves in a web of lies. We better start finding some truth to base the future on, or it'll be a future none of us will want.

[visualops]

I meant my last post to be to you both.
(that's what I get for FReeping on my lunch hour lol)