Race Matters Countdown Paper Pt. 1

5 Sentences of the Big Picture

"Race Matters", addresses a number of issues of importance to black America. Covering a range of topics including affirmative action, black sexuality and the crisis in black leadership, West's discussion presents a gloomy assessment of efforts within recent decades to overcome institutional obstacles to black achievement, such as the legacy of slavery and the persistence of white racism. Chapter one introduces his theory of nihilism in contemporary African American communities and how it is a social disease that permeates African American communities and can only cause destruction to ourselves and youth. Chapter two speaks of the racial reasoning in the Clarence Thomas debate. Chapter three West discusses the crisis of Black leadership and in chapter four he demystifies the new black conservative.

4 Key Passages

1. Chapter One pages 26-27

“Like all Americans, African Americans are influenced greatly by the images of comfort, convenience, machismo, femininity, violence, and sexual stimulation that bombard consumers. These seductive images contribute to the predominance of the market-inspired way of life overall others and thereby edge out nonmarket values-love, care, service to others-handed down by preceding generations. The predominance of this way of life among those living in poverty-ridden conditions, with a limited capacity to ward off self-contempt and self-hatred, results in the possible triumph of the nihilistic threat in black America.”

2. Chapter Two page 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, and to combat the black nationalist attempt to subordinate the issues and interests of black women by linking mature black self-love and self-respect to egalitarian relations within and outside black communities. The failure of nerve of black leadership is its refusal to undermine and dismantle the framework of racial reasoning.”

3. Chapter Three page 70

“To be a serious black leader is to be a race-transcending prophet who critiques the powers that be (including the black component of the Establishment) and who puts forward a vision of fundamental social change for all who suffer from socially induced misery.”

4. Chapter Four page 83

“Nevertheless, black Americans have systematically rejected the arguments of the new black conservatives. This is not because blacks are duped by liberal black politicians nor because blacks worship the Democratic Party. Rather, it is because most blacks conclude that while racial discrimination is not the sole cause of their plight, it certainly is one cause. Thus, most black Americans view the new black conservative assault on the black liberal leadership as a step backward rather than forward. Black liberalism is indeed is inadequate, but black conservatism is unacceptable.”

3 Key Terms

1. page 22: Nihilism- is to be understood here not as a philosophical doctrine that there are no rational grounds for legitimate standards or authority it is, far more, the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaningless, hopelessness, and (most important) lovelessness.

2. page 56: Quality leadership- is neither the product of one great individual nor the result of odd historical accidents. Rather, it comes from deeply bred traditions and communities that shape and mold talented and gifted persons.

3. page 78: Affirmative action- In this regard, they simply want what most people want, to be judged by the quality of their skills not the color of their skin. But the black conservatives overlook the fact that affirmative action policies were political responses to the pervasive refusal of most white Americans to judge black Americans on that basis.

2 Connections

1. In resistance to nihilism in the market, my mom didn’t allow my sister to play with dolls when she was little because of the image it portrayed that beauty was important, that that you had to have that complexion, that hair length, and the fashion. Also, my mother felt that having children parent dolls at such a young age would lead to younger parents. Taking care of a doll is not equivalent to raising a baby. My mom also didn’t allow my brothers and I play with toy guns and water guns because she felt that it would instill violence at a young age. I appreciate her not allowing us to play with those toys.

2. In high school, I was one of the few active males at my school and community. I was a leader in community service and raising awareness about HIV and domestic violence. One reason there were few male leaders at my school because you had to sacrifice social popularity and be considered lame and an overachiever. Another reason is that the community didn’t want to take the leadership because we live in a time where we depend on someone else to stand up for what the entire race believes in.

1 question

1. How much different does America view poor black Americans and middle class black Americans. Does race still matter?