Race Matters through Chapters 4

5 Big Picture Sentences
In his book Race Matters, Cornel West sheds some light on the complex problem of race in America. He explains both the liberal view that more governmental intervention is necessary and the conservative behaviorist view that says that the way black people live needs to change. West, however, thinks that nihilism is the most important element in the problem; what black America needs is “cultural revitalization and moral regeneration.” He goes on to analyze what he calls “the crisis of black leadership,” looking at the reason for this lack of black leadership, the different types of political and intellectual leadership, and what must be done to fix it. Lastly, he looks at what caused the rise of black conservatism in America and offers a well-rounded look at its pros and cons.

4 Key Passages
pg 38 – “The fundamental aim of this undermining and dismantling is to replace racial reasoning with moral reasoning, to understand the black freedom struggle not as an affair of skin pigmentation and racial phenotype but rather as a matter of ethical principles and wise politics…”

pg. 53 – “You don’t stick a knife in a man’s back nine inches and then pull it out six inches and say you’re making progress.” – Malcolm X

pg 73 – “It is, indeed, one of the basic moral blindspots of American conservatism that its intellectual and leadership energy have never been focussed in a proactive way on America’s racial-caste legacy. This represents a fundamental moral crisis of modern American conservatism… On the other hand, American conservatives have, throughout this century, often embraced freedom movements elsewhere in the world… but always firmly resisting a proactive embrace of the black American civil rights movement as a bona fide freedom movement fully worthy of their support.” – Martin Kilson

pg. 82 – “White racism, though pernicious and potent, cannot fully explain the socioeconomic position of the majority of black Americans. The crisis of black liberalism is the result of its failure to put forward a realistic response to the changes in the economy.”

3 Key Terms
Nihilism – “the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness, hopelessness, and (most important) lovelessnesss” (pg 22-3)

blackness – “either the perennial possibility of white supremacist abuse or the distinct styles and dominant modes of expression found in black cultures and communities” pg 43

humility – “the fruit of inner security and wise maturity. To be humble is to be so sure of one’s self and one’s mission that one can forego calling excessive attention to one’s self and status.” (pg 59); necessary for a black political leader

2 Connections
On page 24, West is asking what has happened to create this crisis of race in America today. He asks, “What has changed? What went wrong? The bitter irony of integration?” This immediately made me think of what we had read in The Shame of the Nation, especially the chapter Kozol called “Dishonoring the Dead.”

Recently in American Educational Thought we discussed different historical schools of thought concerning the education of African Americans. This was actually very helpful in reading the chapter about leadership, where West mentioned both Washington and DuBois. On page 64, he criticized “race-distancing elitists,” saying that they saw themselves as “the talented tenth.”

1 Question
West made the point that the problem does not lie with African Americans; it lies in “the flaws of the American society” (pg. 6). And just as Martin Kilson said, we love making projects out of other people’s freedom. Why haven’t we fixed the problem under our noses? The one we created?