Race Matters-Chapter 5 to Chapter 8

Race Matters Chapter 5 to Chapter 8 (5-4-3-2-1)
5. In this section of the book Cornel West discusses the many issues of affirmative action. He discusses the many issues going in our culture today, such as sexuality, poverty, and religion. On the poverty stand point he discussed throughout the book a lot about the middle class and the lower class African Americans, and Americans in general’s issues within their society. I think what West wanted readers to understand from this section of the book is the struggle that many African Americans have today with finding their self in society and as a person.
4. If the Elimination of black poverty is a necessary condition of substantive black progress, then the affirmation of black humanity, especially among black people themselves, is a sufficient condition of such programs. Such affirmation speaks to the existential issues of what it means to be a degraded African (man, woman, gay, lesbian, child) in a racist society. How does one affirm oneself without reenacting negative black stereotypes or overreacting to white supremacist ideals? Page 97
How one defines oneself influences what analytical weight one gives to black poverty. Any progressive discussion about the future of racial equality must speak to black poverty and black identity. My views on the necessity and limits of affirmative action in the present moment are informed by how substantive redistributive measures and human affirmative efforts can be best defended and expanded. Page 99
Black sexuality is a taboo subject in America principally because it is a form of black power over which whites have little control-yet its visible manifestations evoke the most visceral of white responses, be it one of seductive obsession or downright disgust. On the one hand, black sexuality among blacks simply does not include whites, nor does it make them a central point of reference. It proceeds as if whites do not exist, as if whites are invisible and simply don’t matter. This form of black sexuality puts black agency center stage with no white presence at all. This can be uncomfortable for white people accustomed to being the custodians of power. Page 126
Of course, neither scenario fully accounts for the complex elements that determine how any particular relationship involving black sexuality actually takes place. Yet they do accent the crucial link between black sexuality and black power in America. In this way, to make black sexuality a taboo subject is to silence talk about a particular kind of power black people are perceived to have over whites. On the surface, this “golden” side is one in which black people simply have an upper hand sexually over whites, given the dominant myths in our society. Page 126
3. Anti-Semitism-the intense dislike for and prejudice against Jewish people. Bourgeois-being of the property-owning class and exploitive of the working class, businessperson: a capitalist who engages in industrial commercial enterprise. Conforming to the standards and conventions of the middle class; "a bourgeois mentality.” Entail-fee-tail: limit the inheritance of property to a specific class of heirs, the act of entailing property; the creation of a fee tail from a fee simple.
2. This section of the book just reminds me of being an African American in this society and how there are many difficulties of blending in with a crowed. As African American growing up I felt that I had to find my identity as a person through my family and my culture.
1. after all these years do you think that Martin Luther King would be happy with society today or still not satisfied if he were still alive?

Race Matters-Preface to Chapter 4

Race Matters Preface to Chapter 4
5. The introduction to chapter 4 seemingly solidifies the rest of the book. This section sets the foundation of the rest of the book. In this section of the book I think Cornel West, wanted to have the political issues with race these days be the back bone of his book. This section shows the rage that African Americans had with the different issues in schools and in the community and why so many were angry but waited for the Martin Luther King’s and the Malcolm X’s to take a stand for them first.
4.“This paralyzing framework encourages liberals to relieve their guilty consciences by supporting public funds directed at “the problems”; but at the same time, reluctant to exercise principled criticism of black people, liberals deny them the freedom to err.” Similarly, conservatives blame the “problems” on black people themselves-and thereby render black social misery invisible or unworthy of public attention.” Page 6
“ Hence, for liberals, black people are to be “ included” and “integrated” into “our” society and culture, while for conservatives they are to be “well behaved” and “worthy of acceptance” by “our” way of life. Both fail to see that the presence and predicaments of black people are neither additions to nor defections from American life, but rather constitutive elements of that life.” Page 6
Black intellectuals are affected by the same processes as other American intellectuals, such as the professionalization and specialization of knowledge, the bureaucratization of the academy, the proliferation of arcane jargon in the various disciplines, and the marginalization of humanistic studies. Yet the quality of black intellectual work has suffered more so than that of others. There are two basic reasons why. Page 62
Yet even effective jobs programs do not fully address the cultural decay and moral disintegration of poor black communities. Like America itself, these communities are in need of cultural revitalization and moral regeneration. There is widespread agreement on this need by all forms of black leadership, but neither black liberals nor the new black conservatives adequately speak to this need. Page 87
3. Revitalization-revival: bringing again into activity and prominence; restore strength. Hedonism-the pursuit of pleasure, as a matter of ethical principle. a school of ethics which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. Nihilism- a revolutionary doctrine that advocates destruction of the social system for its own sake nihilistic delusion: the delusion that things (or everything, including the self) do not exist; a sense that everything is unreal complete denial of all established authority and institutions.
2. This reading did connect to kozol’s book that showed that there were many angry people in the African American race and there were so many issues that seemingly could not be corrected. I explain the rest of the connection in the second section of kozol’s book in my second 5-4-3-2-1 paper.
1. Does anyone ever want to blame a certain race for the political issues we have to day?