Chapters 5-8 Race Matters

5. Sentences Summarizing the Reading

Cornel West urges black liberals to do more than accept movements such as affirmative action that was put into place in the mid 1900s. Saying that the root of so much chaos in the black race is a complete lack of self-love and too much poverty, he urges that people must not only talk, but do. Redistributive measures with no support can’t be successful. Later in the reading, he discusses Malcolm X and his manner of dealing with what he saw wrong in America. He spoke to blacks with a rage against the inequality and hoped his rage would inspire them to change.

4. Key Quotes

1. “The urgent problem of black poverty is primarily due to the distribution of wealth, power, and income – a distribution influenced by the racial caste system that denied opportunities to most “qualified” black people until two decades ago” (93).
2. “Yet, in the heat of battle in American politics, a redistributive measure in principle with no power and pressure behind it means no redistributive measure at all” (95).
3. “Rather, Malcolm believed that if black people felt the love that motivated that rage, the love would produce a psychic conversion in black people; they would affirm themselves as human beings, no longer viewing their bodies, minds, and souls through white lenses, and believing themselves capable of taking control of their own destinies” (136).
4. “ Needless to say, Michael Jackson’s example is but the more honest and visible instance of a rather pervasive self-loathing among many of the black professional class. Malcolm X’s call for psychic conversion often strikes horror into this privileged group because so much of who they are and what they do is evaluated in terms of their wealth, status, and prestige in American society” (138).

3. Key Terms

1. “Psychic conversion” (143) – what Malcolm X hoped would take place in the mind of black Americans and change their way of life
2. “affirmative action” (95) – redistributive measure that attempted to solve inequalityin the mid 1900s
3. “progressives” (93) – people who promote redistributive measures

2. Connections

1. “The more xenophobic versions of this viewpoint simply mirror the white supremacist ideals we are opposing and preclude any movement toward redistributive goals” (99).
* At the school that I work at, many parents have taught the children not to like white people, especially Baylor students. They feel that they have been hurt and that their lives have been negatively affected by Baylor students that they cannot see the good in any of them. Because of this fact, I had to work pretty hard to get the children to accept me and learn that not all white people are out to hurt them and take from them.
2. “ The difficult and delicate quest for black identity is integral to any talk about racial equality. Yet it is not solely a political or economic matter. The quest for black identity involves self-respect and elf-regard, realms inseparable from, yet not identical to, political power and economic status. The flagrant self-loathing among black middle-class professionals bears witness to this painful process” (97).
* This made me think of a beginning scene in the musical Rent. Benny used to live with the rest of the group, but he married a rich girl. When he did so, he gained ownership of a tenement building where he had once lived with his friends, and he promised them a free stay for a year. Come December, however, he knocked on their door demanding the year’s rent, which they clearly did not have. When they begged mercy because he was their friend, he leaned on his Range Rover and made it very clear that their pitiful circumstance was nothing of his concern. Though this is a musical, it is also a sad, true representation of the world. Too often, people forget where they come from and where their people still are. Just because you escape a bad situation doesn’t mean that you should forget about hose still in it. You should fight for equality of everyone so that they can be just as happy.

1. Question

• What can you, as a teacher, do in your classroom to attempt to erase the contempt that may exist between black and white children due to circumstances and beliefs that their parents may have put into place?