Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority

by John McWhorter

A new collection of thought-provoking essays by the best-selling author of Losing the Race examines what it means to be black in modern-day America, addressing such issues as racial profiling, the reparations movement, film and TV stereotypes, diversity, affirmative action, and hip-hop, while calling for the advancement of true racial equality. 40,000 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Essays, Race, Social Issues, Cultural

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

John Hamilton McWhorter (Professor McWhorter uses neither his title nor his middle initial as an author) is an American academic and linguist who is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he teaches linguistics, American studies, philosophy, and music history. He is the author of a number of books on language and on race relations. His research specializes on how creole languages form, and how language grammars change as the result of sociohistorical phenomena.

A popular writer, McWhorter has written for Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Politico, Forbes, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Daily News, City Journal, The New Yorker, among others; he is also contributing editor at The Atlantic and hosts Slate's Lexicon Valley podcas

Reviews

[Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, let's get this straight right up front: I am not inclined to agree with someone who acknowledges that he is aptly associated with the characterization black conservative. This being said, I really do appreciate John McWhorter's effort in this compilation book ... even though I often disagree with him. This is a worthy effort to re-consider a number of issues that affect Americans, especially African Americans, and often to inject some common sense into the debate. For this reason, this book should be read ... and argued with respectfully.

There are numerous strengths in the author's approach, including the aforementioned and refreshing tendency toward common sense and toward debunking current "wisdom." I actually enjoyed learning of McWhorter's take on the numerous issues that he addresses in this compilation because of his approach, even if I didn't necessarily agree with him.

This is a good thing, because there are several significant weaknesses in his approach, the most disturbing of which is a tendency to set up unrepresentative straw dogs and then to demolish them. I don't think that he is purposely misleading in his framing of a number of issues, but I am clear that he often characterizes situations idiosyncratically (to put it kindly). To put a fine point on it, if I characterize your position in significantly more extreme terms than you do, it's easier for me to dismiss your viewpoint and not address/analyze it seriously, which McWhorter does several times. This is disappointing and it tends to happen in ways that make the characterization of him as a black conservative stick (because it parallels the disingenuous approach that modern American social conservatives often use).

Overall, though, this is a worthy effort that adds serious alternatives to the debate about a number of issues facing African Americans in particular (and other, often poor or working class Americans in general). I appreciated McWhorter's take on these subjects and was grateful for the opportunity to reconsider my own views in light of his. His stimulation of the debate is a contribution worthy of appreciation and consideration. Accordingly I recommend this book to caring, thinking people of all philosophical stripes and will appreciate their contributions to our collective dialogue.

[Beardo Gomez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although now an older book the issues haven't much changed since 2003. McWhorter lends a more considered, thoughtful and coherent representation of a lot of my own beliefs. He manages to effectively communicate some of the major reasons why a certain type of thinking, still as prevalent in 2015 as it was in 2003, serves to hinder the type of progress it so desperately claims to seek. And he does so compassionately. Very easy-reading, would highly recommend.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays by the author previously published, but brought together in book form. I loved it.

1 The New Black Double Consciousness

2 Profiling and “Getting Past Race”

3 “What Have You Done for Me Lately?” The Reparations Movement

4 The “Can You Find the Stereotype?” Game Blacks on Television

5 “Aren't You in Favor of Diversity?” White Guilt and University Admissions

6 The Unbearable Lightness of “The 'N' Word”

7 “We Don't Learn Our History!”

8 Black Academics and Doing the Right Thing “They Don't Care What You Know Till They Know That You Care”?

9 The New Black Leadership

I will most likely read this book again.

[Helen]

I would really like someone else to read this so that we can discuss it. It changed how I think about school vouchers.

[Sherrell · Rating 1 out of 5]

So disappointed in Professor McWhorter.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

My third McWhorter book, but this time it wasn't about language. I find him generally reasonable, although his blanket characterizations of liberals smell strongly of straw.

[Chrisanne]

I think it's rather interesting how conservatives latch on to people like Sowell and McWhorter and Carter, claiming that they're the black voice for the conservative party when all three of them have printed declarations in their books stating that they do not lend their unqualified support to that party. (Just in case you were wondering)

Like most of the books I read last year and the year before, the overlap was interesting (as was the non-overlap). As a linguist, his treatment of the "n-word" was fascinating, as were his comments on the way we (as a white culture, especially) tend to conflate all the countries in Africa into one. There's a lot to chew on and think over.

And I do wish I had read his section on music before I had taught it. He's 100% right about the roots of modern music and it's time non-music theory professors admitted it. Or at least taught something other than operatic.

That being said, I wanted a newer perspective. As much as some of the themes are similar, I couldn't help wondering if his thoughts had changed because a lot has happened (especially in the last few years) that might have changed the views he had.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of essays is my introduction to McWhorter’s writings on race. I think of this book as the middle book of a trilogy of writings on race--the first being Losing the Race (2000) and the third being Winning The Race (2005). I’ve been a fan of McWhorter’s since discovering his many wonderful appearances on The Glenn Show with Glenn Loury. If you’re a regular listener to the show, the attitudes and many of the substantive points are not new, but the book fills in details and adds context. Even though the exact events and figures are different, the substance of the conversation is often depressingly similar, making this more than a simple time capsule of race relations of the early 2000s for someone new to these issues.

The central metaphor that supplies the book’s title and its first essay is “The New Black Double Consciousness,” an update on W.E.B Dubois’s concept. According to McWhorter, black people today struggle between a self-conception that includes pride, resilience and agency versus helplessness, oppression and exclusion. Around white people, black people feel a sense of obligation to put forward the second face. To be “authentically black” is to identify as a victim of racism and define yourself in opposition to white people. In their own circles, they are more likely to emphasize their own agency and the cultural problems that need to be overcome. This dichotomy between racism or personal/cultural responsibility as the explanation for black underachievement is of course nothing new. It is an oversimplified view of the distinction between conservatives and liberals on race. It is also an oversimplified view of the great historical argument between Booker T Washington and Dubois (which McWhorter writes about in the essay “We Don’t Learn Our History!”).

McWhorter notes that some of the audience in this book will be liberals who are horrified by any discussion of black America not be dominated by racism, and some will be white conservatives who think that black people should “get over” racism. The latter view seems dated today, although it's has gone underground. And McWhorter notes why he thinks both of these extremes are wrong. The reason why the “get over it” message doesn’t work is also “the reason black America fell so hard for the line that residual racism spells defeat” and it’s a reason that “must elicit sympathy, not blame. Black Americans have been so uniquely susceptible to this ideology because it offers a balm for something sitting at the heart of the African-American consciousness: a sense that at the end of the day, black people are inferior to whites. Certainly on the surface we hear incessantly about black pride. But lying below is a sad historical legacy: an internalization of the contempt that the dominance class once held, and sometimes still does.”

I have to confess that to read this as a white person feels prurient, but it's a striking and important observation. I appreciate his honesty and his empathy for people who have the opposite ideology. This is part of the dynamic on the Glenn Show, where sometimes Loury leads with contempt and McWhorter pushes back with sympathy.

The ideology of wokeness has its historical roots in an understandable reaction to racism of the past--the result of “blacks learning the lessons of the Kerner Commission Report of 1968 perhaps too well.” It no longer makes sense to describe everything in terms of structural racism and to proceed on this assumption infantalizes black people and holds us back from offering pragmatic solutions. It also ignores the strength of black people, who historically have been enormously resourceful in spite of horrifying obstacles to progress (the discussion of Chicago’s Bronzeville in the first half of the twentieth century was edifying on this point).

As someone who follows John and Glenn's regular beat on these topics, my familiarity with the views and the dated topics did temper my enjoyment slightly and explains my 3 star rating. Still it was worth the read for the historical overview and the clear expression given to these ideas.

[Steven H · Rating 3 out of 5]

A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS FOLLOWING McWHORTER’S “LOSING THE RACE”

Professor John Hamilton McWhorter (born 1965) wrote in the Preface to this 2003 book, “This book collects various pieces I have written in the wake of ‘Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America.’ That book has often been misunderstood as a statement about education… However, my actual goal … was to explore general currents in racial ideology that are predictable, given blacks’ history in this country, but which have become more harmful than helpful.” (Pg. xi) He continues, “I never intended [that book] as a work of scholarship, nor do I present this one as such… nor does my linguistics work have anything to do with race issues in America. When I write on race I am wearing a completely different ‘hat.’ When wearing that hat, I intend my writings as what me might call informed editorials… I intend the results … as an attempt at informed Common Sense that might touch the everyday reading of readers interested in hearing me out.” (Pg. xiv-xv)

He adds, “Some interpret my writings on race as aimed at white conservatives. And the truth is that most of what white conservatives believe on race in America is much more constructive for black people than what the white left has bamboozled us with over the past forty years. However… some of my views rankle white conservatives … For example, an op-ed on racial profiling, elicited its first wave of testy mail from whites rather than blacks. More than a few whites have written me … asking me to reconsider … views I express… such as my espousal of Affirmative Action in the business world.” (Pg. xvii-xviii)

He suggests that Jesse Jackson “is readily considered a ‘black leader’ ---even THE black leader---because he is committed to keeping whitey on his toes. On the other hand... [Colin] Powell, serving in a Republican administration, obviously is not…. Jesse Jackson is a ‘black leader’ who has done nothing whatsoever to improve the lot of the people he represents, but he remains ‘black’ because he likes trying to keep whites guilty, and … because he does it in the national spotlight.” (Pg. 9-10)

He states, “four decades of defeatist common wisdom have left all too many blacks with a psychological barrier to success… And this means that … black American will require more ‘goosing’ than, say, most immigrant groups. However, we must be able to recognize the goosing when we see it. The ‘racism is destiny’ paradigm often blinds us to seeing that certain policies typically tarred as ‘anti-black’ are precisely what we must require of those ‘on the hook.’ … If whites offer an open-ended welfare program that pays black women to have illegitimate children, then they remain ‘on the hook.’ … In encouraging black self-sufficiency, they are ‘off the hook.’” (Pg. 23-24)

He explains the book’s title: “we must resist the sincere but misguided black Americans who warn us that if we do not engage in the game of exaggerating black victimhood, then whites may ‘turn back the clock.’ To be ‘authentically black’ in a way that yields concrete fruits rather than the same old idle histrionics, we modern blacks must have deeply felt responses to this idea, ever at the ready.” (Pg. 26) Later, he adds, “racial profiling will stand as today’s main enabler of the dismaying, counterproductive sentiment that to be ‘authentically black’ is to maintain a quite distrust of the white man, to never feel quite at home if black people are not present, to sense integration as capitulation rather than the path forward.” (Pg. 55)

He says that, in racial profiling by police , We are faced with an ideological tic bedeviling the black community since the late 1960s: that blacks will not advance in any meaningful way until there is no racism in the United States, and that black ‘authenticity’ resists letting superficial improvements distract from this… we are faced with a studied vigilance based on reflex and emotion rather than fact-checking… under those conditions, statistics and hard logic will be of no effect in teaching black American that the police are not an occupying army… If the police stop more black men because black men dominate the street drug trade, then the drug peddlers are ‘revolutionaries’ playing ‘the cards they were dealt.’ If black-on-black homicides increase after a profiling controversy when officers refrain from stop-and-frisk… then whites are now just letting blacks kill each other because they don’t see them as human… If black officers ‘profile’ as much as white ones, then they have been ‘turned against their own people.’” (Pg. 52-54)

He proposes, “If Republicans seek the black vote, then because the profiling issue is today at the heart of reflexive black alienation, there is no more direct route to their goal than in making sustained efforts to heal the relationship between black people and police forces. This is all the more urgent given how much better a country this would create.” (Pg. 60-61)

He asserts, “here we run up against an argument that invariably sets reparations advocates’ eyes rolling: that American has been granting blacks ‘reparations’ for almost forty years… the ‘War on Poverty’ … that Lyndon Johnson instantiated, with Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., dedicatedly steering sixty bills through Congress in five years s chairman of the Education and Labor Committee.” (Pg. 90)

He states, “if I were assigned to develop a plan for black reparations, I would institute a program supporting poor black people for a few years while stewarding them into jobs—which is currently in operation. I would have the government and private organizations channel funds into inner-city communities to help their residents buy homes---which is exactly what Community Development Corporations have been doing for years. I would give banks incentives to make loans to inner-city residents to start small businesses---something the undersung Community Reinvestment Act has been doing since 1977… I would make sure there were scholarships to help black people go to school… I would propose that Affirmative Action policies… be imposed in businesses where subtle racism can still slow promotions…. Finally, I would ensure that black children had access to as good an education as possible.” (Pg. 94-95)

He observes, “black students are tacitly taught that black ‘authenticity’ means hunkering down behind a barricade glaring hatefully at the white ‘hegemony’ on campus. Black students typically cluster in their own section of dining halls, throw their own parties, often have their own theme houses, and are in general ushered into a separatist ideology that they often did not have then they came to campus.” (Pg. 148)

He explains, “my argument against racial preferences is … that they prevent black students from showing what they are made of, that they dumb black people down, pure and simple… students growing up in a system whose message is ‘You only have to do pretty darned well to get into a top school’ will, by and large, only do pretty darned well… to enshrine ‘diversity’ over true excellence nothing less than condemns black students to mediocrity.” (Pg. 155) Later, he adds, “Armed with this true confidence, black students will be less likely to compensate for private feelings of inferiority by retreating to their own sides of the cafeteria.” (Pg. 158)

He critiques Afrocentric history: How realistic is it to expect to be accepted as mental equals when blacks presenting themselves as ‘professors’ chart our history with mythical narratives, as if we were preliterate hunter-gatherers? And how constructive is it to foist upon us a ‘history’ that only heightens our sense of embattlement and alienation, especially then the ‘framework’ in question is a tissue of fabrications anyway?” (Pg. 180) Later, he adds. “We first need a new series of black history textbooks… They must not focus on sound-bite presentations of isolated black ‘heroes,’ but on celebrating how blacks of all levels of society and accomplishment have made the most of their situation in America over the past four hundred years.” (Pg. 219)

He concludes, “The traditional black ‘leadership’ waits for a revolution, but meanwhile most blacks rise and thrive IN SPITE OF black leftist ideology, not in response to it… the new black leaders will be concerned citizens working on the local level to foster change through direct interactions with individuals… A vocal fringe will insist that it is naïve or callous to put so much faith in African-American individuals to determine their own fate. But at the end of the day, who else is out there?” (Pg. 264)

Not nearly as thought-provoking as “Losing the Race” or “Winning the Race,” this book still will be of keen interest to those studying contemporary racial/ethnic issues.

[The American Conservative]

'In this book, McWhorter takes on a lot of hot button issues and with each one he makes his case without flinching. What makes his book of value is his forthright analysis of the self-defeating attitudes and behavior that continue to hobble a great many blacks. His inside knowledge and candor make this a necessary book to add to the growing library of works that deal with this particular aspect of America’s enduring entanglement with race.'

Read the full review, "The Dual Mind of Black America," on our website:
http://www.theamericanconservative.co...

[Ryan Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought-provoking, but repetitive. I only read the first 1/4 of the book because it couldn't hold my attention. That said, it discusses many interesting facets of black identity and subsequent interactions with American society. He's a bit too conservative for me to jump on board with, but offers up some worthwhile opinions.

[Emma Sotomayor · Rating 4 out of 5]

McWhorter examines issues that the Black community faces in regards to racism, incarceration rates, academics, media representation, and more in this eloquent collection of essays. Approaching issues in a matter-of-fact manner, he delves at the root of the problem and is unafraid to confront the media's claims about what Black Americans need. While he leans conservative, he critiques both Democrat and Republican solutions and offers an intellectual response.

Honestly, this book was one of the few books I've read in a while that made me think deeply. McWhorter is a skilled writer, and he is bold in pushing back on a lot of the claims about Black Americans made by both liberals and conservatives. He offers a lot of hope and encouragement surrounding these issues, and he brings up some really great examples in history of thriving Black communities that I didn't even know about. This book was honestly so deep that I think I'll be mulling on these ideas for a while.

[Bruce D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing take on Black issues from a non-leftist progressive

John McWhorter is a noted linguist professor who occupies the progressive side of most issues on the Glenn Show to balance Glenn Loury’s more conservative viewpoints (on most issues). John has published several non academic books for the general public and this is a good one which covers what should it mean to be authenticity black in our post civil rights era.

If you want to see the issues of racism, black poverty, and how to improve black income inequality, discussed by an accomplished intelligent black intellectual, put down your books by Ibram X Kendi and Ta-Nehisi Coates and read McWhorter.

[Roling K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I was hoping it would be. It was honestly kind of boring. I'm grateful he took the time of his life to write this and show a lot of problems that black Americans face. Real ones, anyway. The kinds of issues other liberal Democrats or BLM would never ever bring. I guess I should cut him some slack because politics or current events aren't really profession, as he reminds the reader at the beginning of this book. Maybe his linguistics work will be better. I hope his latest book on current events "Woke Racism" will be an improvement.

[MichLP · Rating 4 out of 5]

I keep hearing that conversation about racial injustice is necessary if we want to improve the current situation. However, I keep seeing the same opinions being presented and I've seen those who disagree get chastised in the media. This book, written by a black man, puts forth views different than what I've been seeing in the media. It addresses what is actually helping and what is hurting the advancement and growth of black people in America. It made me see things quite differently. I highly recommend it.

[Cool Kid · Rating 4 out of 5]

John spitting straight facts. Incredibly well-written and easy to read.

[Paul Sand · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Imported automatically from my blog. Some formatting there may not have translated here.]

I picked up this 2003 book by John McWhorter a few years back, and (like way too many of the books I buy) it took awhile for it to make it to the top of my to-be-read list. But most of the topics McWhorter addresses are still fresh.

That's good because it made an interesting read; but also not so good, because the topics revolve around race relations in America. And the controversies then are approximately the same ones today. Progress? Not much.

Perspective: In 2003, Barack Obama was a relatively obscure Illinois State Senator (and unmentioned in this book).

McWhorter is a linguistics professor at Columbia. Politically, he self-identifies as a cranky liberal Democrat, and (indeed) is liberal enough to write for The New Republic on (most recently) the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case. In 2000, he wrote Losing the Race, subtitled "Self-Sabotage in Black America". It was controversial, as McWhorter dissented from the standard racial victimology. Some of this book is largely a response to critics of that previous work. So at a number of points, I felt like I was coming in on the middle of an argument. No matter.

McWhorter is an independent thinker, refusing to be pigeonholed. His views are thoughtful and worth reading even if you don't wind up agreeing. As indicated, he maintains that the portrayal of African-Americans mostly as victims of white racism is the wrong thing to emphasize; it ignores history and breeds despair. He has no patience with the "reparations" movement (which was a bigger thing in 2003 than it is today). He views race hustlers like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson with contempt; on the other hand, he musters a good argument for respecting W.E.B. DuBois and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. He recommends that big cities get rid of "racial profiling" (but I think even at the time the book was written, "profiling" complaints mainly those who came under the "terrorism" profile rather than the "driving while black" profile.)

He has some good suggestions for Black History Month. He argues that if you're going to teach an African language to Americans, it shouldn't be Swahili; it should be Mende, a language which a lot of Africans brought to America as slaves actually spoke, traces of which still survive today.

Bottom line: McWhorter is an independent thinker, well worth reading.

[m · Rating 3 out of 5]

smart essays.