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Medo da consciência negra
Lewis R. Gordon parte de um histórico aprofundado da noção eurocêntrica e colonialista de “raça” para desenvolver uma abordagem abrangente da consciência negra contemporânea, mostrando que o tema da negritude se inter-relaciona com outras identidades, como gênero, classe social, nacionalidade, ideologia, política e religião. A questão racial, mostra ele, não está descolada do solo histórico-cultural em que se dão seus embates. O autor analisa com argúcia movimentos sociais e recorre a leituras originais de produtos da cultura de massa, como os filmes “Corra!”, de Jordan Peele, e “Pantera Negra”, de Ryan Coogler, além do hip-hop de artistas como Childish Gambino, Cardi B e Missy Elliott.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 11, 2022
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1133 people want to read
About the author
Lewis R. Gordon
40 books73 followersLewis Ricardo Gordon is an American philosopher who works in the areas of Africana philosophy, philosophy of human and life sciences, phenomenology, philosophy of existence, social and political theory, postcolonial thought, theories of race and racism, philosophies of liberation, aesthetics, philosophy of education, and philosophy of religion. He has written particularly extensively on race and racism, postcolonial phenomenology, Africana and black existentialism, and on the works and thought of W. E. B. Du Bois and Frantz Fanon.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
December 15, 2021
Fearing Black Consciousness should be a fearsome, focused book. Lewis Gordon is a philosopher, a teacher, and an Afro-Caribbean Jew who was born in Jamaica but raised in the Bronx. He should have some remarkably acerbic, direct and profound things to add to the discussion of race. But he does not.
His book is instead a collection of stories drawn from (mostly) American pop culture. There are his takes on many films, as well as hiphop. He loves to list names of black Americans who took a stand, made an impression, or helped usher in change. Mostly, he dissects fictional characters to make them make his point, and does the same with words. He loves to pick a word and trace its origins back - somewhere, anywhere. It's mostly to Ancient Greece, of course, but also a lot of Ancient Egypt. And when those don't come through for him, he will find a similar-sounding word in Arabic or Marathi or Estonian, as if it makes any difference to the discussion of where we are today. It feels like he does this a hundred times in the book. Readers will find themselves skipping past them as both unmemorable and unimportant to 21st century America and the neverending discrimination against The Other.
The two most involved analyses are of the Jordan Peele horror film Get Out! and, almost inevitably, Black Panther. I was particularly annoyed with his take on Black Panther because I had read so very much analysis of it when it came out. But now, four years later, it has become tiresome. Worse, Gordon looks at it from a white Jewish perspective. Marvell Comics' Stan Lee was Jewish, and so was his business partner, Jack Kirby. And despite the lack of Jewish connections among all the other comic book heroes in the superhero universe, Black Panther appears to be where they cashed their Jewish credentials. It starts with T'Challa himself. His name, if you drop the T and add an H to the end, becomes Challah, the Jewish sweet egg bread of the Sabbath. Gordon also notes a child blowing a ram's horn, a Shofar in Hebrew, further reinforcing the Jewishness of Wakanda. It's downhill from there. General Okoye has his name parsed too. Gordon found no Jewish connection, but Okoye means "born on Orie Market Day" in Igbo (Nigeria). What difference this makes to anything is out of scope.
I first encountered this trick as a child. People were up in arms over the defect-prone Chevy Nova car. Someone managed to trace the word Nova to modern Spanish, where Chevrolet Nova means Chevrolet does not go. Cute, no? It more or less stuck. Taking it to extremes, Woody Allen claimed to see anti-semitism everywhere, even the words did-you-see, or juicy which he claimed were actually the (hitherto unknown) slur Jew-see. I would have hoped this level of analysis and argument was beneath Gordon, but I was wrong.
The Black Panther chapter goes on interminably, adding nothing new to the debate over black consciousness. But worse, at least to me, is Gordon's reliance on fiction to make his case. Fiction can be written to come out any way you want. It can also be criticized from any angle. Relying on fiction to determine the level of consciousness of American blacks is not a basis I can take satisfaction from.
Then there is Black consciousness itself. In a very dense paragraph, he defines the book this way: “Consciousness is always of something, whether experienced or imagined. It always involves something of which one is conscious. Without anything, consciousness disappears. There is, in other words, no such ‘thing’ as consciousness itself. It is a relationship with reality. This relational activity I call intentionality. The something of which consciousness is intended is that which appears. Things of which we are not conscious come into consciousness. Things stand out.” (Gordon's italics)
“This book is an exploration of black consciousness and Black consciousness. Briefly, black consciousness is mostly affected and sometimes immobile; Black consciousness is effective and always active. Both are feared in antiblack societies, although the second is more so than the first.“
But doesn't that mean black consciousness is totally in terms of whites? That blacks do not and cannot drive the discussion on their own? Later, he does say that blacks should rise above making their lives restricted to complaints about whites. But that is really what the book is about.
To prove it, Gordon then immediately launches into a tirade against whites. The generalizations come fast and furiously. Whites are universally and irredeemably evil to blacks. But like so many others who have written similar books, Gordon ignores the whole rest of the world. People discriminate against The Other, no matter what race or color they might be. For example, Malaysia makes Chinese Malaysians second class citizens, right in the Constitution. Doesn't matter if their families have been Malaysian for a thousand years. The Japanese are so superior and pure, they can't even allow a hundred foreigners to immigrate per year. And the men treat the women as if they were annoying interlopers as well. Irish Catholics and Protestants are as vicious to each other as any two groups can be. And not to be too obtuse, but when American blacks landed in Liberia in the mid 1800s, they lorded it over the native blacks, keeping them out of government, out of education, and totally subservient. This business of discrimination is not local, and not restricted to (white) Europeans. An American-only solution is ignorance.
On occasion, Gordon comes through with a memorable statement: "The police, as many have come to see, are structurally agents of social asphyxiation. Humanity existed for 300,000 years without police forces.” Yet he doesn't put it into context, that since the rise of the nation-state in the 1700s, there has been a monopoly on violence by the state, as administered by its police. This too is a global plague. It's all about crowd control, worldwide, not just white American cops.
He also says “Black people were fabricated from the forces and trepidations that created white people,” which looks like something deeply profound. But what this really shows is that he has missed the larger point.
Gordon, being Jewish, has some sympathy for white Jews who have fared at least as badly as blacks, from slavery to ghettos to genocide, and not just for 400 years. More like 4000. But he frames it according to their whiteness: “These are groups who were once not white enough – and as European Jews often discover, are still not white enough in many places- but who over time, often through joining the project of identifying with the prime representatives of whiteness and, in doing so, acquiring white license, were eventually brought into the fold, often by joining the white project of dehumanizing black, brown, and red peoples.” And there you have it: whites will find a way to bond. And Jews have managed to migrate to the problem side of the equation.
I wish I could tell you that Gordon pulls out all the stops for a powerful conclusion. But he doesn't. Instead he says things like “All racist societies eventually become anti-political, anti-intellectual, and unimaginative.” This in no way explains, aids or colors the need for, lack of or future impact of black consciousness.
David Wineberg
His book is instead a collection of stories drawn from (mostly) American pop culture. There are his takes on many films, as well as hiphop. He loves to list names of black Americans who took a stand, made an impression, or helped usher in change. Mostly, he dissects fictional characters to make them make his point, and does the same with words. He loves to pick a word and trace its origins back - somewhere, anywhere. It's mostly to Ancient Greece, of course, but also a lot of Ancient Egypt. And when those don't come through for him, he will find a similar-sounding word in Arabic or Marathi or Estonian, as if it makes any difference to the discussion of where we are today. It feels like he does this a hundred times in the book. Readers will find themselves skipping past them as both unmemorable and unimportant to 21st century America and the neverending discrimination against The Other.
The two most involved analyses are of the Jordan Peele horror film Get Out! and, almost inevitably, Black Panther. I was particularly annoyed with his take on Black Panther because I had read so very much analysis of it when it came out. But now, four years later, it has become tiresome. Worse, Gordon looks at it from a white Jewish perspective. Marvell Comics' Stan Lee was Jewish, and so was his business partner, Jack Kirby. And despite the lack of Jewish connections among all the other comic book heroes in the superhero universe, Black Panther appears to be where they cashed their Jewish credentials. It starts with T'Challa himself. His name, if you drop the T and add an H to the end, becomes Challah, the Jewish sweet egg bread of the Sabbath. Gordon also notes a child blowing a ram's horn, a Shofar in Hebrew, further reinforcing the Jewishness of Wakanda. It's downhill from there. General Okoye has his name parsed too. Gordon found no Jewish connection, but Okoye means "born on Orie Market Day" in Igbo (Nigeria). What difference this makes to anything is out of scope.
I first encountered this trick as a child. People were up in arms over the defect-prone Chevy Nova car. Someone managed to trace the word Nova to modern Spanish, where Chevrolet Nova means Chevrolet does not go. Cute, no? It more or less stuck. Taking it to extremes, Woody Allen claimed to see anti-semitism everywhere, even the words did-you-see, or juicy which he claimed were actually the (hitherto unknown) slur Jew-see. I would have hoped this level of analysis and argument was beneath Gordon, but I was wrong.
The Black Panther chapter goes on interminably, adding nothing new to the debate over black consciousness. But worse, at least to me, is Gordon's reliance on fiction to make his case. Fiction can be written to come out any way you want. It can also be criticized from any angle. Relying on fiction to determine the level of consciousness of American blacks is not a basis I can take satisfaction from.
Then there is Black consciousness itself. In a very dense paragraph, he defines the book this way: “Consciousness is always of something, whether experienced or imagined. It always involves something of which one is conscious. Without anything, consciousness disappears. There is, in other words, no such ‘thing’ as consciousness itself. It is a relationship with reality. This relational activity I call intentionality. The something of which consciousness is intended is that which appears. Things of which we are not conscious come into consciousness. Things stand out.” (Gordon's italics)
“This book is an exploration of black consciousness and Black consciousness. Briefly, black consciousness is mostly affected and sometimes immobile; Black consciousness is effective and always active. Both are feared in antiblack societies, although the second is more so than the first.“
But doesn't that mean black consciousness is totally in terms of whites? That blacks do not and cannot drive the discussion on their own? Later, he does say that blacks should rise above making their lives restricted to complaints about whites. But that is really what the book is about.
To prove it, Gordon then immediately launches into a tirade against whites. The generalizations come fast and furiously. Whites are universally and irredeemably evil to blacks. But like so many others who have written similar books, Gordon ignores the whole rest of the world. People discriminate against The Other, no matter what race or color they might be. For example, Malaysia makes Chinese Malaysians second class citizens, right in the Constitution. Doesn't matter if their families have been Malaysian for a thousand years. The Japanese are so superior and pure, they can't even allow a hundred foreigners to immigrate per year. And the men treat the women as if they were annoying interlopers as well. Irish Catholics and Protestants are as vicious to each other as any two groups can be. And not to be too obtuse, but when American blacks landed in Liberia in the mid 1800s, they lorded it over the native blacks, keeping them out of government, out of education, and totally subservient. This business of discrimination is not local, and not restricted to (white) Europeans. An American-only solution is ignorance.
On occasion, Gordon comes through with a memorable statement: "The police, as many have come to see, are structurally agents of social asphyxiation. Humanity existed for 300,000 years without police forces.” Yet he doesn't put it into context, that since the rise of the nation-state in the 1700s, there has been a monopoly on violence by the state, as administered by its police. This too is a global plague. It's all about crowd control, worldwide, not just white American cops.
He also says “Black people were fabricated from the forces and trepidations that created white people,” which looks like something deeply profound. But what this really shows is that he has missed the larger point.
Gordon, being Jewish, has some sympathy for white Jews who have fared at least as badly as blacks, from slavery to ghettos to genocide, and not just for 400 years. More like 4000. But he frames it according to their whiteness: “These are groups who were once not white enough – and as European Jews often discover, are still not white enough in many places- but who over time, often through joining the project of identifying with the prime representatives of whiteness and, in doing so, acquiring white license, were eventually brought into the fold, often by joining the white project of dehumanizing black, brown, and red peoples.” And there you have it: whites will find a way to bond. And Jews have managed to migrate to the problem side of the equation.
I wish I could tell you that Gordon pulls out all the stops for a powerful conclusion. But he doesn't. Instead he says things like “All racist societies eventually become anti-political, anti-intellectual, and unimaginative.” This in no way explains, aids or colors the need for, lack of or future impact of black consciousness.
David Wineberg
Read
August 10, 2024Got a bit lost in the middle but brilliant chapters on get out and ‘the blues’
October 28, 2022
I’ll read any book with a title that’s a homage to a Public Enemy record.
May 4, 2025
I was expecting a deep dive into the concept of Black consciousness since I first heard about this book on the Overthink podcast. But this is more a collection of essays stitched together, similar to many of bell hook's books. Unfortunately I find this book quite boring and the many many digressions on etymology of words did not work for me. There's a few interesting insights (for example, Gordon criticizes the concept of privilege (as in white/male/cis/class privilege) and I totally agree with him) but other than that, the whole book sounds like it could have been a podcast. It doesn't offer much and his analysis of pop culture and telling of personal anecdotes are so uninteresting to me.
January 6, 2022
Thanks to Netgalley and FSG for the ebook. The author walks you through where Black consciousness is today and where it’s been through history and how it has evolved. He pulls from ancient texts, novels and philosophers, music from the blues to rap to hip hop and movies that touch on these issues like Get Out, Black Panther and Sorry to Bother You. A fascinating, and tortured history, is intelligently pulled apart in discussed in a manner that will shine lights into areas where some are afraid to look.
March 5, 2025
This was an academic conversation between sooo many things at once. Gordon ties together etymology, religion, global history, philosophy with a thoughtful analysis of films like Get Out, Sorry to Bother You, and Black Panther (two of which are my favorite films of all time btw). There are so many page markers that I have in this book because every few pages I was getting chills from Gordon's quotes. Some of my favorite quotes:
"The unaccountable, outrageous actions that are the hallmark of abusive whiteness should be characterized, not as a privilege, but as forms of license." (106)
"Antiblack racism, as an example, is antipathetic to the meeting of blacks and power. To prevent that meeting, the racist society must rally forces against speech, power, imagination, and politics that is why all racist societies eventually become anti-political anti-intellectual and unimaginative." (154)
"Guilt without learning is pathological." (157)
"Fear of black consciousness makes sense, then, in a society where white supremacist and anti-black racist desire to see without seeing the displeasing truth of what they have produced, and the system of injustice on which they depend." (165)
"Very few logical people ever make reforms and none make revolution." (224)
Also LOVE how the book ended, ancestral attunement, mythic gatekeepers, revolutions forming outside of logic...it's exactly where my thesis picks up. 10/10!
"The unaccountable, outrageous actions that are the hallmark of abusive whiteness should be characterized, not as a privilege, but as forms of license." (106)
"Antiblack racism, as an example, is antipathetic to the meeting of blacks and power. To prevent that meeting, the racist society must rally forces against speech, power, imagination, and politics that is why all racist societies eventually become anti-political anti-intellectual and unimaginative." (154)
"Guilt without learning is pathological." (157)
"Fear of black consciousness makes sense, then, in a society where white supremacist and anti-black racist desire to see without seeing the displeasing truth of what they have produced, and the system of injustice on which they depend." (165)
"Very few logical people ever make reforms and none make revolution." (224)
Also LOVE how the book ended, ancestral attunement, mythic gatekeepers, revolutions forming outside of logic...it's exactly where my thesis picks up. 10/10!
December 18, 2023
Did not finish
I agree with the messages but it is so boringly written.. could not make it through
I agree with the messages but it is so boringly written.. could not make it through
March 29, 2024
This is a life-changing book. Provocative interpretations, and a steering toward Black thought for everyone. The study of Black history and Humanity will be the Saving Grace of it
November 27, 2023
Somewhat winding with no clear throughline, the intro was pretty good and there were some good references to other books I hope to check out in the future, but I felt the analysis was somewhat lacking. It jumped from insightful to somewhat random with unclear connections and no real point to the comparisons that the author made. Not a bad book, but I didn't expect this to be mostly pop-cultural analysis, so maybe that was on me.
March 16, 2022
This is a completely transformative and essential text that transcends the genre of philosophy. It is the best book I have read since Isabel Wilkerson's Caste and is just as accessible. Gordon has the best take on Intersectionality I have encountered and his idea of 'white license' has so much clarity for me.
August 1, 2023
Twelve essays covering the different dimensions of black and Black consciousness from the perspective of a, broadly, existentialist philosophical perspective. There’s a lot to dwell on in these insights but some of the most intriguing thoughts are left hanging in the air and go no further. He argues, self-evidently correctly, that consciousness of being ‘black’ is not inherited but acquired. It is understandable that in a society where the suppression of a group of people based on an inscribed characteristic is overt and total that there sense of being the thing that is held against them should become the key organising feature of their lives. Black life in the US, where Gordon is based, continues to confront this level of hostility in ways which have been scarcely modified since the days of slavery and Jim Crow.
The essays trace the various ways in which black consciousness (the lower case ‘b’ represents aware of oppression) in the US continues to be structured around chronic disadvantage, triggered by ‘miscommunication, misunderstandings and missed opportunities’ at the relatively benign end of the spectrum, and police beatings, killings and mass incarceration at the other. ‘White’ consciousness on the other hand hinges around a sense of privilege which is often represented as supremacy. The source of this is the entrenched, unchallenged viewpoint that ‘white’ equals ‘normal’ and that everything that has some degree of distance from this state is a departure from normalcy to the point of being an aberration. The response of ‘normal’ society is to fear thew aberrant and to construe manifestations of its ‘blackness’ as a potential threat which might even be deadly.
Individual proclamations of their invulnerability to racialised thinking amount to bad faith – a way of saying what you know to be untrue. Disavowal of white privilege and claiming ‘not to see race’ are counterproductive. Gordon makes the important point that the things lumped together as ‘privilege’ – such as access to decent housing, healthcare, rewarding employment and goods schools for children – should not be regarded as privilege, but rather as rights. The issue is not that white people have these things, but that black people don’t. The systematic exclusion of backs from basic human rights and the reasons for this state of affairs ought to be the preoccupation of anti-racists politics. Redress demands systemic change rather than an adjustment to individual attitudes.
The parts of the book that look into delve into cultural criticism are interesting but depend on the US context for their force. Gordon’s analysis of Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’ makes a convincing case for the centrality of white desire for control over black bodies being the compelling element in the story. But it could have been equally well told outside the US context as a possessive yearning for dominance over healthy youthful bodies by a group of decrepit elders. A Hungarian version of the same film would have made the same effective us of its science fiction theme to tell a story of body capture but, in the context of the current xenophobia afflicting that country, the victims would have much less plausibly been dark-skinned Africans or Asians. And all talk of Black Panthers and Wakanda leaves me cold. On super-heroes Gil Scott Heron nailed it with his declaration that ‘there ain’t no such thing as a superman’ – and all desire for one is reactionary.
The thought that was left hanging for me, and which would have required a more decisive move from US specificity, was one that point out one of the crucial features of neoliberalism, which is a capitalist ideology that mobilises in full anti-black anxiety whilst proclaiming the capacity to deliver black liberation and total equality. Living in a country with a prime minister of south Asian heritage and who has promoted other politicians of Asian and African background into government rank suggests that there is another development of black consciousness which isn’t fully explored in this book. To do that would have meant a more detailed consideration of the class dimension to contemporary racial politics. Gordon hints at the importance of this throughout his essays but as things stand now, a way forward that goes beyond capitalist exploitation and oppression needs more that hints.
The essays trace the various ways in which black consciousness (the lower case ‘b’ represents aware of oppression) in the US continues to be structured around chronic disadvantage, triggered by ‘miscommunication, misunderstandings and missed opportunities’ at the relatively benign end of the spectrum, and police beatings, killings and mass incarceration at the other. ‘White’ consciousness on the other hand hinges around a sense of privilege which is often represented as supremacy. The source of this is the entrenched, unchallenged viewpoint that ‘white’ equals ‘normal’ and that everything that has some degree of distance from this state is a departure from normalcy to the point of being an aberration. The response of ‘normal’ society is to fear thew aberrant and to construe manifestations of its ‘blackness’ as a potential threat which might even be deadly.
Individual proclamations of their invulnerability to racialised thinking amount to bad faith – a way of saying what you know to be untrue. Disavowal of white privilege and claiming ‘not to see race’ are counterproductive. Gordon makes the important point that the things lumped together as ‘privilege’ – such as access to decent housing, healthcare, rewarding employment and goods schools for children – should not be regarded as privilege, but rather as rights. The issue is not that white people have these things, but that black people don’t. The systematic exclusion of backs from basic human rights and the reasons for this state of affairs ought to be the preoccupation of anti-racists politics. Redress demands systemic change rather than an adjustment to individual attitudes.
The parts of the book that look into delve into cultural criticism are interesting but depend on the US context for their force. Gordon’s analysis of Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’ makes a convincing case for the centrality of white desire for control over black bodies being the compelling element in the story. But it could have been equally well told outside the US context as a possessive yearning for dominance over healthy youthful bodies by a group of decrepit elders. A Hungarian version of the same film would have made the same effective us of its science fiction theme to tell a story of body capture but, in the context of the current xenophobia afflicting that country, the victims would have much less plausibly been dark-skinned Africans or Asians. And all talk of Black Panthers and Wakanda leaves me cold. On super-heroes Gil Scott Heron nailed it with his declaration that ‘there ain’t no such thing as a superman’ – and all desire for one is reactionary.
The thought that was left hanging for me, and which would have required a more decisive move from US specificity, was one that point out one of the crucial features of neoliberalism, which is a capitalist ideology that mobilises in full anti-black anxiety whilst proclaiming the capacity to deliver black liberation and total equality. Living in a country with a prime minister of south Asian heritage and who has promoted other politicians of Asian and African background into government rank suggests that there is another development of black consciousness which isn’t fully explored in this book. To do that would have meant a more detailed consideration of the class dimension to contemporary racial politics. Gordon hints at the importance of this throughout his essays but as things stand now, a way forward that goes beyond capitalist exploitation and oppression needs more that hints.
December 2, 2021
Fear of Black Consciousness by Lewis R Gordon is a compelling analysis of racism in its many forms as well as what is largely at the core of those manifestations, from overt racism to those who claim not to be racist. Gordon also distinguishes between black consciousness (prescribed by the anti-Black society) and Black consciousness which is liberatory.
While an accessible read it also demands attention to detail. The arguments are presented clearly and in an order that makes sense. That said, the reader will still want to take time to digest what is being said. Depending on the reader, this includes dealing with any discomfort you may feel if you recognize some of yourself in a few passages. This is not an attack, so don't get defensive, take a breath, reread that passage and consider what is being said. Self-reflection is a good thing.
I am someone who will often reread a book. If I know on completing my first read that I will read it again, it is usually for one of two reasons. One is that I just felt I didn't understand enough of it and need another pass through the book. The second is less about how much I understood the first time and more about wanting to better understand the nuance of the arguments. This book falls into the second category, which means while I probably do need to reread it, I mostly want to reread it.
A word or two about why I am compelled to read books that fall under the popular term social justice. One obvious reason is because I want to learn and understand better the things I haven't experienced or, if I have experienced them, only a few times. If this was the only reason then this would be less about my wanting to make change and more just a selfish exercise in making myself feel like I am a better person. I'm not sure learning these things and not wanting to actively make change qualifies as being a better person, but so it goes. The main reason, though, is that I want to have as many perspectives as possible so I can make whatever change I can. I do a lot less marching and protesting than I did in the past but catching myself when I start to think or do something that would have some effect on another person is making micro changes. Knowing enough to have conversations with friends, family, and neighbors that might help them to see more perspectives is making change. And, of course, when the times arise, knowing why I am willing to enter the street makes me more effective there as well. This book helped, and will continue to help, me to make more of the smaller interpersonal changes as well as engage with others to make larger changes.
One thing that makes this a particularly interesting read, in addition to the arguments themselves, are the analyses of cultural texts. From literature and movies through to music. Because of my personal interests, I found his walk through the blues and through rap/hip hop to be quite eye-opening. These sections, while part of the argument in which they are embedded, can almost be read as forms of literary criticism on their own.
I would recommend this to any readers who want to work toward a deeper and more nuanced understanding of what has happened, is happening, and could happen in the future. It is not for the faint of heart, I think most readers will have at least a few moments when they recognize a toxic way of thinking about something that didn't seem so toxic on its surface.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
While an accessible read it also demands attention to detail. The arguments are presented clearly and in an order that makes sense. That said, the reader will still want to take time to digest what is being said. Depending on the reader, this includes dealing with any discomfort you may feel if you recognize some of yourself in a few passages. This is not an attack, so don't get defensive, take a breath, reread that passage and consider what is being said. Self-reflection is a good thing.
I am someone who will often reread a book. If I know on completing my first read that I will read it again, it is usually for one of two reasons. One is that I just felt I didn't understand enough of it and need another pass through the book. The second is less about how much I understood the first time and more about wanting to better understand the nuance of the arguments. This book falls into the second category, which means while I probably do need to reread it, I mostly want to reread it.
A word or two about why I am compelled to read books that fall under the popular term social justice. One obvious reason is because I want to learn and understand better the things I haven't experienced or, if I have experienced them, only a few times. If this was the only reason then this would be less about my wanting to make change and more just a selfish exercise in making myself feel like I am a better person. I'm not sure learning these things and not wanting to actively make change qualifies as being a better person, but so it goes. The main reason, though, is that I want to have as many perspectives as possible so I can make whatever change I can. I do a lot less marching and protesting than I did in the past but catching myself when I start to think or do something that would have some effect on another person is making micro changes. Knowing enough to have conversations with friends, family, and neighbors that might help them to see more perspectives is making change. And, of course, when the times arise, knowing why I am willing to enter the street makes me more effective there as well. This book helped, and will continue to help, me to make more of the smaller interpersonal changes as well as engage with others to make larger changes.
One thing that makes this a particularly interesting read, in addition to the arguments themselves, are the analyses of cultural texts. From literature and movies through to music. Because of my personal interests, I found his walk through the blues and through rap/hip hop to be quite eye-opening. These sections, while part of the argument in which they are embedded, can almost be read as forms of literary criticism on their own.
I would recommend this to any readers who want to work toward a deeper and more nuanced understanding of what has happened, is happening, and could happen in the future. It is not for the faint of heart, I think most readers will have at least a few moments when they recognize a toxic way of thinking about something that didn't seem so toxic on its surface.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
April 28, 2024
Gordon travelled across different places, times, and cultures to question why Black consciousness is feared within anti-black societies, and it did it in such a brilliant way.
My only complaints would be 1) the pace was really varied and at some points, anti-climactic, 2) it was at times repetitive, as if the 12 essays were never meant to be consumed in a book form, rather disparate studies.
My 5 favourite takeaways:
1. analysis of the opening scenes of Get Out
2. The fish/water analogy for privilege
3. White supremacy is for everything to belong to white people, including feelings of being oppressed
4. Importance of living in the past, presence, and future for the meaningful embodiment of a Black consciousness
5. “No one can be free alone”
My only complaints would be 1) the pace was really varied and at some points, anti-climactic, 2) it was at times repetitive, as if the 12 essays were never meant to be consumed in a book form, rather disparate studies.
My 5 favourite takeaways:
1. analysis of the opening scenes of Get Out
2. The fish/water analogy for privilege
3. White supremacy is for everything to belong to white people, including feelings of being oppressed
4. Importance of living in the past, presence, and future for the meaningful embodiment of a Black consciousness
5. “No one can be free alone”
October 21, 2022
Did not finish- stopped at p.85
The prologue and introduction set the stage for what could have been a really interesting exploration of black consciousness, especially as it applies to current day North America. Once the book gets going, however, Gordon gets lost defining and tracing back the meanings and translations of place and cultural names rather than focusing on the points he is trying to make.
By the time each chapter found itself back on the main point I was so lost in definitions and asides that any impact Gordon's conclusions could have had on me fell flat. At times it almost felt as if I was reading a very long-winded, anecdotal, dictionary.
The prologue and introduction set the stage for what could have been a really interesting exploration of black consciousness, especially as it applies to current day North America. Once the book gets going, however, Gordon gets lost defining and tracing back the meanings and translations of place and cultural names rather than focusing on the points he is trying to make.
By the time each chapter found itself back on the main point I was so lost in definitions and asides that any impact Gordon's conclusions could have had on me fell flat. At times it almost felt as if I was reading a very long-winded, anecdotal, dictionary.
February 5, 2022
insightful read
The philosophies shared and analysis of poignant contemporary black work is something that is transformative in and of itself. However, the authors ability to weave together the past and the present reveals the cyclical nature of the man made problem of racism. Reaching to the past constantly reiterates to the reader that there is more to global history than white supremacy. This book is transformative because its POV offers a lens of hope and the tools and perspective to stop operating within a world predicated on suffering.
The philosophies shared and analysis of poignant contemporary black work is something that is transformative in and of itself. However, the authors ability to weave together the past and the present reveals the cyclical nature of the man made problem of racism. Reaching to the past constantly reiterates to the reader that there is more to global history than white supremacy. This book is transformative because its POV offers a lens of hope and the tools and perspective to stop operating within a world predicated on suffering.
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June 3, 2023I just finished this book. It’s mind-blowing in the way in which Gordon illuminates Black consciousness and why it’s is so feared. I have a need to keep it close as I navigate my own growth and continue to try to be part of the solution and keep my mind open to my own changes.
March 7, 2024
If Lewis Gordon had Letterboxd I’d read his reviews all day. Honestly it was a little academic for me at times, but the last three chapters slapped. “Blue” was beautifully written and really spoke to me.
September 24, 2025
An intelligent look and grasp of the subject matter discussed, probed, and delved into, and the multitude of avenues of approach. This read dismantles racism and pulls its mask off, forcing humanity to take a good look at what's staring back in the mirror of reality.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 24, 2022
A great analysis of the fear of black consciousness using both historical and current cultural artifacts.
December 10, 2022
Being a work of philosophy, it gets challenging at times, sometimes veering into academic, but it’s worth it.
December 31, 2023
For its purpose, it’s an excellent book. And I am
Sure that I will return to these pages at a later date.
Sure that I will return to these pages at a later date.
September 6, 2024
Very interesting weaving of many points to consider as a black person.
December 9, 2025
5/5⭐️
June 3, 2022
This book gave me a whole new perspective on the race history in the world. I attended Lewis R. Gordon's author event a few months before, which really improved the reading experience. It also provided me with more insight on white fragility and savior complex. It made some really interesting connections with historical events and current events, and I will keep that knowledge with me. An important and relevant quote the author said, "To many whites, the only good Black protest, is no Black protest" (5:41:02 audiobook).
April 26, 2024
Ótimo livro! Apenas uma resalva sobre os momentos que o autor se atém numa certa análise dos filmes Corra e Pantera Negra (uma capítulo inteiro). Entendo que ele faz a relação com o tema, mas sinto que esses trechos poderiam ser um artigo para ler em algum jornal ou algo do tipo. Ele se prolonga demais nisso, quando sem dúvida possui profundo conhecimento e conteúdos mais interessantes para abordar - o que mostra no restante do livro. Ainda assim recomendo a leitura.
November 16, 2024
Very satisfying reading when I wanted something intellectual. Learned a lot.
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