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From Rage to Responsibility: Black Conservative Jesse Lee Peterson and America Today
"This is a no-holds-barred analysis of contemporary liberalism and the havoc it is wrecking in American culture. From race, to abortion, to feminism, to immigration, to education, the ideas and public policies produced by the Left are collectivist and demagogic, hindering self-government and damaging lives," say Jesse Lee Peterson and Brad Stetson. Through the prism of Peterson's fascinating life experience and his history of grassroots community work on the streets of riot-torn south-central Los Angeles, Peterson and Stetson examine the violations of common sense and sound thinking that the current civil rights establishment constantly perpetrates against the American public. Peterson and Stetson point the way out of the statist mentality overtaking our public life, advocating a new culture of self-responsibility and moral renewal able to resuscitate the sagging spirits of an American public accustomed to looking everywhere but within for the solutions to their personal and political problems. Endorsed by bestselling authors Shelby Stele and Dinesh D'Souza, this insightful work–with a foreword from bestselling ethicist Dennis Prager and "A Declaration of Racial Commonsense" signed by some of the leading social critics in the nation–is certain to provoke intense debate and discussion.
- GenresPolitics
160 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2000
23 people are currently reading
147 people want to read
About the author
Jesse Lee Peterson
7 books44 followersJesse Lee Peterson is the most courageous, outspoken critic of the so-called "Civil Rights" establishment today. He’s a radio and TV talk show host, activist, author, pastor and counselor.
Jesse grew up on a plantation near Tuskegee, Alabama, during the Jim Crow era, before moving to Los Angeles as a young man. He's the founder and president of BOND, the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (est. 1990), dedicated to "Rebuilding the Family by Rebuilding the Man."
At BOND, he offers Counseling for individuals, couples and families, Church services, Men's Forums, Women's Forums, an Entrepreneur Academy, and a Home for Young Men. Jesse has spoken spoken in many schools and universities, conferences and rallies, and even prisons and juvenile detention centers.
Jesse grew up on a plantation near Tuskegee, Alabama, during the Jim Crow era, before moving to Los Angeles as a young man. He's the founder and president of BOND, the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (est. 1990), dedicated to "Rebuilding the Family by Rebuilding the Man."
At BOND, he offers Counseling for individuals, couples and families, Church services, Men's Forums, Women's Forums, an Entrepreneur Academy, and a Home for Young Men. Jesse has spoken spoken in many schools and universities, conferences and rallies, and even prisons and juvenile detention centers.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 31, 2021
I’m not a religious person, and I’m certainly not a conservative but I enjoyed the book. It was interesting to see how his time growing up in the segregated south, to a family trying their best molded his life. He had plenty of struggles and overcame learning personal responsibility, and his worth after some time. Although I don't agree with much in the book I liked his journey and enjoyed reading his perspective on race, relationships, abortion, immigration, and education. I found the discussion he has about public moral standards, gratitude to God, and the importance of family honestly the entire book as the actual basis for social conservatism which is why it's especially awkward to hear his praise of a certain president he voted for twice.
June 15, 2024
A PROMINENT BLACK CONSERVATIVE “IN ACTION”
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson (born 1949) is a conservative political commentator, and radio and TV host. He is the president of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND). He wrote in the Preface to this 2000 book, “Whether it is black Americans’ attitudes about racism, the difficulties men and women have getting along with each other, abortion, education, immigration or the path back to national greatness, I eagerly want to share with you what I think are helpful and valuable insights. That is why… I’ve produced this book… in this book I say comparatively little about myself, and instead concentrate on the ideas and values that have shaped me, and which, I hope, will be of assistance to others… occasionally integrating into their exposition elements of my own individual experience as a critic of liberalism and the race-conscious politics it has given us… In these pages you will find a ‘black conservative in action,’ frankly examining ideas, fighting stereotypes, attacking the numbing complacency so prevalent in our country when it comes to thinking about race and social issues.”
He recounts his earlier life, “I started experimenting with drugs and sex, and descended into a pit of irresponsibility and laziness. It nearly destroyed me. Around this same time, I regularly listened to Louis Farrakhan. He was not very well-known nationally at that time, but people in South-Central LA knew him, and he was popular. He… said the stuff you wanted to say, but were too afraid. He talked about how great blacks were, now noble our ancestry was, and how white people stole mathematics and virtually all the rest of Western Civilization from us… Hearing Farrakhan and his powerful anger inspired me. It made me feel good to be black. It also caused me to hate the white people around me, and to be suspicious of them… Farrakhan’s message had schooled me in hate. I was a seething cauldron of anger at white people … In … looking back on it, Farrakhan … did not mainly cause within black people a love for other black people, but rather a hatred of non-blacks… This destructive emption was only reinforced by the rhetoric of black politicians, whose most basic assumption, it seemed to me, was that American society was hopelessly racist.” (Pg. 9-10)
He recalls, “I heard a minister and popular psychologist named Roy Masters talking about human hatred and the destructiveness it brings to peoples’ lives. He recommended praying to God… and asking for understanding about one’s life. So I tried it… After a few weeks. I began to feel much differently about myself. I felt a new understanding taking hold of me, a kind of self-knowledge I had not known before… I also… saw clearly who my anger was ultimately directed towards: my parents. I was angry at my father for abandoning me, and not showing me by intimate example what it meant to be a man; I was angry at my mother … for not giving me the tender love and nurturing a child's needs… I was angry at white people for their racism, and I was angry at American society for everything else… When I understood that, and saw how ridiculous it was, I began to feel differently… I saw that the basic source of my discontent was my mind, the attitudes I had chosen, and not what other people had done to me. I saw that… I did not have to accept the script of rage written for me by the ‘black leaders’ of the day… I realized that I could think for myself, and that ‘The Black Experience’ was a myth used to control black people. I resolved then to be mentally independent… not as a part of some racial clan.” (Pg. 11-12)
He states, “the undeniable fact is that the greatest enemies to black progress today are within the black community itself, not in American society at large. As black people, we must recognize that our real battle is with ourselves, not with society. It is not racism but in the civil rights establishment, with its victim-centered mentality and irrational fury at white America that mentally cripples blacks, teaching them to find the means of success outside of themselves in government program, and urging to find the origin of their greatest problems in white society.” (Pg. 17-18)
He suggests, “black leaders exploit the family problems of black people, especially black people’s poor relations with their fathers…. They use blacks’ internal resentment of their parents... to help generate anger at white people and American culture. That’s why you don’t see a massive, overwhelming effort on the part of black leaders to rescue the institution of black fatherhood, which---with about 70% of black births out-of-wedlock---is plainly nearing extinction… But this is a path doomed to self-destruction and permanent unhappiness… understanding oneself to be a part of a ruthlessly victimized group only gives one company in misery, it doesn’t any real problems.” (Pg. 25-26)
He asserts, “the civil rights establishment … [is] more angry at white people than they are in love with black people. Their deepest agenda is one of agitation and accusation against white America, not aid and comfort to black America… The liberal agenda … stifles black entrepreneurship, and it places as the main engine of black progress the civil rights establishment itself, rather than individual black people succeeding on their own through hard work and discipline… They cannot permit blacks’ problems to be solved, because then they themselves… would become unnecessary.” (Pg. 30-31)
He argues, “black politicians’ and racial spokesmen’s continual drumbeat about the racism surrounding black people … causes in many blacks---particularly black youth---a hatred of whites… Black racism is one of the ugliest realities in our culture, and… until more people start exposing it and condemning it, we blacks as a race cannot heal ourselves of this sinful attitude, and reach a place of personal peace. The solution to our race problem is that we must begin to look at ourselves as individuals first.” (Pg. 35-36)
He contends, “the devaluation of prenatal children leads to the devaluation of postnatal children. There has been a 331% increase in cases of child abuse during the last two decades, while abortion became firmly institutionalized… And the killing of newborns has become nearly routine.” (Pg. 62) He adds, “abortion in America was initially conceived and advocated for the purpose of reducing that black population. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood… was an unapologetic eugenicist and a racist, and wanted minorities and the poor to have abortions.” (Pg. 70)
He notes, “for the sake of resident Americans… we must pursue sensible and fair immigration reform, and take seriously the legal identity of the American nation… Massive immigration in concentrated areas is inconsistent with even the minimum American standard of life, and widespread illegal immigration… not only undermines the rule of law, it is also inhumane to illegal immigrants, permanently limiting their life chances in this country, trapping them in low wage jobs… My main concern, though…is to emphasize the effect that huge recent influx of Hispanic immigrants in Southern California has had on black people… the Hispanic Left has successfully used the race card to intimidate people into silence.” (Pg. 80-81) He adds, “The most disheartening effect on blacks of this immigration phenomenon is the conquest of black culture it entails. Cities … like Compton… and South Central Los Angeles were not too long ago centers of black culture. Jazz clubs, soul food restaurants, and coffee shops catered to the local black clientele, and served as centers of community. Today, those places are long gone…” (Pg. 85)
He concludes, “What is the path back to a strong national culture again? How can America again become an internally strong country, and not just a militarily strong country? I believe the answer is plain: we must focus again on the family, learn to be grateful for being Americans, and recover the knowledge we once had that no nation can survive without emphasizing public moral standards.” (Pg. 99) He adds, “Is it so radical to believe that we can do what is right? Is it really so bizarre to believe that our families should be the center of our lives? Is it unreasonable to be grateful to God for America, and the incredible blessings it has bestowed on people from all around the world?... I know from the experience of my own life that people can change. Anger can be overcome, responsibility can be realized, peace of mind can be achieved.” (Pg. 107)
This book will be of great interest to conservatives interested in racial/ethnic issues
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson (born 1949) is a conservative political commentator, and radio and TV host. He is the president of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND). He wrote in the Preface to this 2000 book, “Whether it is black Americans’ attitudes about racism, the difficulties men and women have getting along with each other, abortion, education, immigration or the path back to national greatness, I eagerly want to share with you what I think are helpful and valuable insights. That is why… I’ve produced this book… in this book I say comparatively little about myself, and instead concentrate on the ideas and values that have shaped me, and which, I hope, will be of assistance to others… occasionally integrating into their exposition elements of my own individual experience as a critic of liberalism and the race-conscious politics it has given us… In these pages you will find a ‘black conservative in action,’ frankly examining ideas, fighting stereotypes, attacking the numbing complacency so prevalent in our country when it comes to thinking about race and social issues.”
He recounts his earlier life, “I started experimenting with drugs and sex, and descended into a pit of irresponsibility and laziness. It nearly destroyed me. Around this same time, I regularly listened to Louis Farrakhan. He was not very well-known nationally at that time, but people in South-Central LA knew him, and he was popular. He… said the stuff you wanted to say, but were too afraid. He talked about how great blacks were, now noble our ancestry was, and how white people stole mathematics and virtually all the rest of Western Civilization from us… Hearing Farrakhan and his powerful anger inspired me. It made me feel good to be black. It also caused me to hate the white people around me, and to be suspicious of them… Farrakhan’s message had schooled me in hate. I was a seething cauldron of anger at white people … In … looking back on it, Farrakhan … did not mainly cause within black people a love for other black people, but rather a hatred of non-blacks… This destructive emption was only reinforced by the rhetoric of black politicians, whose most basic assumption, it seemed to me, was that American society was hopelessly racist.” (Pg. 9-10)
He recalls, “I heard a minister and popular psychologist named Roy Masters talking about human hatred and the destructiveness it brings to peoples’ lives. He recommended praying to God… and asking for understanding about one’s life. So I tried it… After a few weeks. I began to feel much differently about myself. I felt a new understanding taking hold of me, a kind of self-knowledge I had not known before… I also… saw clearly who my anger was ultimately directed towards: my parents. I was angry at my father for abandoning me, and not showing me by intimate example what it meant to be a man; I was angry at my mother … for not giving me the tender love and nurturing a child's needs… I was angry at white people for their racism, and I was angry at American society for everything else… When I understood that, and saw how ridiculous it was, I began to feel differently… I saw that the basic source of my discontent was my mind, the attitudes I had chosen, and not what other people had done to me. I saw that… I did not have to accept the script of rage written for me by the ‘black leaders’ of the day… I realized that I could think for myself, and that ‘The Black Experience’ was a myth used to control black people. I resolved then to be mentally independent… not as a part of some racial clan.” (Pg. 11-12)
He states, “the undeniable fact is that the greatest enemies to black progress today are within the black community itself, not in American society at large. As black people, we must recognize that our real battle is with ourselves, not with society. It is not racism but in the civil rights establishment, with its victim-centered mentality and irrational fury at white America that mentally cripples blacks, teaching them to find the means of success outside of themselves in government program, and urging to find the origin of their greatest problems in white society.” (Pg. 17-18)
He suggests, “black leaders exploit the family problems of black people, especially black people’s poor relations with their fathers…. They use blacks’ internal resentment of their parents... to help generate anger at white people and American culture. That’s why you don’t see a massive, overwhelming effort on the part of black leaders to rescue the institution of black fatherhood, which---with about 70% of black births out-of-wedlock---is plainly nearing extinction… But this is a path doomed to self-destruction and permanent unhappiness… understanding oneself to be a part of a ruthlessly victimized group only gives one company in misery, it doesn’t any real problems.” (Pg. 25-26)
He asserts, “the civil rights establishment … [is] more angry at white people than they are in love with black people. Their deepest agenda is one of agitation and accusation against white America, not aid and comfort to black America… The liberal agenda … stifles black entrepreneurship, and it places as the main engine of black progress the civil rights establishment itself, rather than individual black people succeeding on their own through hard work and discipline… They cannot permit blacks’ problems to be solved, because then they themselves… would become unnecessary.” (Pg. 30-31)
He argues, “black politicians’ and racial spokesmen’s continual drumbeat about the racism surrounding black people … causes in many blacks---particularly black youth---a hatred of whites… Black racism is one of the ugliest realities in our culture, and… until more people start exposing it and condemning it, we blacks as a race cannot heal ourselves of this sinful attitude, and reach a place of personal peace. The solution to our race problem is that we must begin to look at ourselves as individuals first.” (Pg. 35-36)
He contends, “the devaluation of prenatal children leads to the devaluation of postnatal children. There has been a 331% increase in cases of child abuse during the last two decades, while abortion became firmly institutionalized… And the killing of newborns has become nearly routine.” (Pg. 62) He adds, “abortion in America was initially conceived and advocated for the purpose of reducing that black population. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood… was an unapologetic eugenicist and a racist, and wanted minorities and the poor to have abortions.” (Pg. 70)
He notes, “for the sake of resident Americans… we must pursue sensible and fair immigration reform, and take seriously the legal identity of the American nation… Massive immigration in concentrated areas is inconsistent with even the minimum American standard of life, and widespread illegal immigration… not only undermines the rule of law, it is also inhumane to illegal immigrants, permanently limiting their life chances in this country, trapping them in low wage jobs… My main concern, though…is to emphasize the effect that huge recent influx of Hispanic immigrants in Southern California has had on black people… the Hispanic Left has successfully used the race card to intimidate people into silence.” (Pg. 80-81) He adds, “The most disheartening effect on blacks of this immigration phenomenon is the conquest of black culture it entails. Cities … like Compton… and South Central Los Angeles were not too long ago centers of black culture. Jazz clubs, soul food restaurants, and coffee shops catered to the local black clientele, and served as centers of community. Today, those places are long gone…” (Pg. 85)
He concludes, “What is the path back to a strong national culture again? How can America again become an internally strong country, and not just a militarily strong country? I believe the answer is plain: we must focus again on the family, learn to be grateful for being Americans, and recover the knowledge we once had that no nation can survive without emphasizing public moral standards.” (Pg. 99) He adds, “Is it so radical to believe that we can do what is right? Is it really so bizarre to believe that our families should be the center of our lives? Is it unreasonable to be grateful to God for America, and the incredible blessings it has bestowed on people from all around the world?... I know from the experience of my own life that people can change. Anger can be overcome, responsibility can be realized, peace of mind can be achieved.” (Pg. 107)
This book will be of great interest to conservatives interested in racial/ethnic issues
August 13, 2020
a very insightful book
November 20, 2025
Wow! May we raise up many Rev. Jesse Petersons
Loved this book! It increased my understanding of the perspective of black Americans, their issues, their history, and their desires as Americans. It also provided an understanding of liberalism versus conservative values and the weakness of the liberal position. A must read for every American citizen.
Loved this book! It increased my understanding of the perspective of black Americans, their issues, their history, and their desires as Americans. It also provided an understanding of liberalism versus conservative values and the weakness of the liberal position. A must read for every American citizen.
August 31, 2023
It's not a long book but it's packed with content, never dull, and it's certainly worth a read. Amazin.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews