The Myths That Divide Us: How Lies Have Poisoned American Race Relations

by John Perazzo

To effectively refute any lie, however large or small, it is first necessary to be properly informed. Toward this end, "The Myths That Divide Us" stands as a most important boo on the subject of America's enduring national dilemma -- race. This treatise offers -- in a clear, logical, and intrepid manner -- powerful evidence that the most serious social and economic problems afflicting black Americans are not due to societal racism, but rather to the tragic disintegration of the black family. By taking this position (which the author supports with hundreds of references to vital sociological, historical, and contemporary research), Perazzo's work differs markedly from the vast majority of books on race. While noting that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. declared as early as 1965 that the civil rights movement had already achieved its principal goals, Perazzo asserts that King's successors have nonetheless done everything in their power to keep alive the false perception that American society mistreats the black community in a host of ways, both overtly and covertly. "They contemptibly use their personal agendas to keep fueling the fire of racial enmity," he says. Perazzo contends that civil rights crusaders evaluate matters of race by two sets of standards. For instance, one chapter of his book discusses how these leaders relentlessly drew worldwide attention to the evils of South African apartheid during the 1980s, yet have said virtually nothing about the far greater atrocities perpetrated against black victims all over the African continent. Another chapter details how civil rights leaders have loudly denounced the white enslavement of blacks that occurred in a bygone age (and have gone so far as to demand that reparations be paid collectively to present-day blacks), yet they have remained silent about the black-on-black slavery that pervaded Africa since time immemorial. Indeed, these leaders refuse even to denounce the modern-day slavery that currently exists in some African nations. Closer to home, Perazzo demonstrates such major points as -- Notwithstanding civil rights agitators' irresponsible charges to the contrary, white racism in the United States has declined dramatically since the middle of the 20th century, to the point where the black Harvard sociologist Orlando Patterson has said that America "is now the least racist white-majority society in the world." -- Contrary to popular belief, the American criminal-justice system treats black defendants no more harshly than white defendants. -- Affirmative action has heightened racial tensions while doing almost nothing to improve the economic condition of black Americans, and is merely a variation of similar failed policies elsewhere in the world. Perazzo further details research which shows -- Fatherlessness, not race, is the most accurate predictor thaty a child will end up in poverty or in prison. -- Black full-time workers today earn slightly more than white workers of the same age, sex, and IQ. -- College-educated, black working couples earn more than similar white couples in every age group and in every region of the country. This book does not tread lightly in its assessment of those individuals currently recognized as the foremost civil rights leaders in the United States. It exposes them, without apology or euphemism, as charlatans who prefer to sermonize rather than educate; who deliver hackneyed platitudes rather than knowledge; and who substitute elaborate exhibitions of moral preening, for reason.

Genres: Sociology

Paperback

First published December 1, 1999

About the author

John Perazzo is the project managing editor of Discover the Networks (DtN), a right-wing online organization focused on investigating the Left. DtN's director is David Horowitz, often co-author to books by John Perazzo. Discover the Networks is associated with FrontPage Magazine.

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sobering, vindictive, an over-handed refutation of most claims of American racism. Graphic & depressing while also exhaustive & thorough. This book strangely confirms stereotypes by illustrating w/ample evidence the stark differences in academic performance, and it makes painfully clear the patterns of crime. On one hand, Perazzo asserts that all are equal in the realms of effort, hard-work, & merit. Yet on the other hand are his deliveries of instances wherein it’s damnably alright to have all the techies, white-coat lab scientists, lawyers & physicians be of one hue and from one echelon of society. I took from his wordy, 470 page book, that things are the way they are because that is just how they are, and that things can, should, and will change, eventually, for the greater good, but that no artificial efforts or half-hearted attempts or misguided policies or embittered, victim-based philosophies should be acted upon, for such endeavors will end in vain and will likey cause resentment, antipathy, learned hopelessness, laziness, and a heap of even more domestic problems. Sorta pro-caste system vibe…

It’s a hard book to read. Perazzo exhaustively catalogues every racial matter from affirmative action to single-mom households and crime. Particularly unsettling are the endless descriptive instances of murders, torture, mutilations, massacres, pogroms, & other barbarous acts of horror that (strong) men have inflicted upon (weak) persons. The book should come w/a warning for the reader: disturbing, graphic images ahead. The author hams it on. It was also keenly painful to admit many of the facts that were presented, such as the rarity of white-on-black violence in comparison to the greater probability of black-on-white violence.

Perazzo had no light work in writing this book and it seems as if he meant to ‘lay it all out there’ for future scholars to pick at. The writing is rough, w/a chip on its shoulder, and much of it is reiterative: a hundred-plus statistics that prove that White America is not systematically oppressing nor actively seeking to limit the prospects of Black America. I think it needed to be written more succinctly. Books like these w/subject matter that is difficult to swallow but somewhat educational & bitterly medicinal need to be accessible to lay readers. A 400-page non-fiction book is uninviting. I also thought that there should’ve been a less subjective tone for there was an incessant “But what about us?!” barking with phrases like “…and if a white man did that he’d be harrangued, castigated, and XYZ’d all up & down the street.”

There was missing the voice of sagacity & wisdom. Perazzo laid it all out there on a spread, chapter by chapter, but seemed hardly to understand the reasons for which (Afro Americans) cry, weep & wail. For example, he mentioned somewhere in the latter chapters Orlando Patterson and his perspective on the influence of plantation slavery on families, the stigma, and its consequence of broken homes today, and Perazzo basically disclaims all of that in one swipe to such extent that he nullifies entirely the effects of slavery on modern black men today. This revealed some shallow waters, for it is beyond Perazzo to comprehend the psyche of (black & brown) men today. And cinema, another example, where Perazzo makes it seem like all has been good & fair in film, TV, etc. but gave off an air of shortsightedness or, in other words, his argument came up short on this, for I find most toys, cartoons, films, just about all of it, posters & billboards & book covers, to have been largely representative of no other color but that of Caucasian America. An ethnic studies professor brought in one day an elementary text book for social studies, its front cover featured European knights & royals, American partiarchs, and the back featured all the colored folks of the world as peasants, field workers, & warriors.

Overall, this book needed deeper insights. Most of the keen quips come from economist Thomas Sowell who so lucidly & casually describes the crux of a matter. I’d like to have heard more of a psychological analysis to better understand victimhood, as he so passionately railed against. Why does it feel good for some people to wallow? He dispelled all the myths, and what’s left in the clear is that which we’ve been scratching our collective heads about all this time: what’s wrong then? Grades, prisons, abortions, murders, illiteracy. I still shake my head because the cause of suffering and of wrongs & transgressions has much to do with the spirit, and all is under the sway of a divine world, of higher, more angelic, & celestial underpinnings. Perazzo could’ve delved into why humans inflict harm on others or subjugate them. Is there a predilection toward dominance? How has religion mattered into the course of prosperity for some ethnic groups? Perazzo touches on missionaries and those natives of the colonial areas who learned English but stopped short of musing on how important language is to success. He didn’t attribute Chinese success to their treasure trove of historical canons & achievements but instead gave off a bigoted vibe by saying “Why can everybody else figure it out but you boy?” The script for Japanese is highly complex and instructive in itself, and I think that any child who has been taught to read it will have relatively high cognitive function. Likewise for children who learn Greek, Hebrew or Latin, for they’ve relation then to the Holy Torah and The Gospel. Esteem for some ethnic communities is high for some. The West Indies, Great Britain even—such places are small. It’s just different, and perhaps easier to gel together as a community when you’re from some small, oppressed island nation.

The book does nonetheless expose the underperformance of many Afro Americans. Whatever it is, IDK, language, religion, divine retribution or the most subtle, unseen manner of systematic, white hatred of all who is black, there has clearly been a problem. And yet, Perazzo does manage to provide evidence of the substantial progress. The writing’s a bit coarse, crude, & even rude. He’s got formed opinions about the likes of prominent civil rights activists & leaders {Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, Cornel West, Spike Lee}. The reading feels like being pulled along by an irate Perazzo into debate after debate, with him storming the doors of every conference room, forum, & hall to boldly declare “Oh and this other thing that They say is racist is a bunch of—“!