Reviews for Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America

The average rating for Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-10-02 00:00:00 Jerrod Hall Ouch. This is a pretty critical book of black America, the thesis basically being: now that U.S. society has removed so many barriers to black success, the real institutional racism is self-imposed, including among middle- and upper-class students. I was predisposed to disagree with this argument but as he runs through statistics and anecdotes to support his views, I found it more and more compelling and aligned on my own observations. These include: * A dominant cultural trait of outwardly saying school is important but not loving learning for learning's sake (something that is present in mainstream culture as well). The utilitarian approach to school (e.g. just doing enough to pass the test rather than reading for fun) for fear of being pegged as white means that you never really absorb the material and put yourself at a disadvantage in the long run. * A belief that most black people are constantly subject to discrimination despite actual life experience subtly makes you hold yourself back because you expect to fail. I think there's a lot of truth in the idea that if you expect that people are jerks that you will find that they are jerks, whereas if you believe that people are fair you will have a lot more friends and generally be treated fairly. A wider reading of history in the U.S. and current conditions in other countries makes it hard to believe that black people, like orchids, can only thrive under perfect conditions. The book is 10 years old now but I think the arguments are still relevant. The good news is that life is a lot easier for black Americans that it was 50 years ago but changing a culture doesn't come easy. I could see that a black student absorbing the author's arguments would risking having no black friends. Weaknesses of the book: * His afterword acknowledges that he could have anticipated some counter arguments better. * He repeats himself a bit but the writing is not too dense. * Probably too much reliance on personal anecdotes given his criticism of black intellectuals for doing the same thing. * Too much focus on his academic world. More discussion/arguments regarding working adults would make book more relevant.

Review # 2 was written on 2007-04-01 00:00:00 Laurence Bassett A black American linguist, a professor at UC Berkeley, examines ways in which African American culture undermines the chances for success of individual blacks, as well as for the race, as a group. Biting criticism, delivered in intensely articulate prose. A favorite of mine.