Book Description
A hilarious look at the races of the world—capturing the proud history and bright future of racism in one handy, authoritative, and deeply offensive volume

Meet “C. H. Dalton,” a professor of racialist studies and a leading authority on inferior people of all ethnicities, genders, religions, and sexual preferences. In the grand tradition of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Birth of a Nation, he is on a mission to clarify the truth about self-supremacy, drawing on eminent scholarship to enlighten a new generation of hate-mongers. Presenting evidence that everyone should be hated (even white people), A Practical Guide to Racism contains sparkling bits of wisdom on such subjects as:
• The good life enjoyed by blacks, who shuffle through life unhindered by the white man’s burdens, such as reverse racism and white slavery, to become accomplished athletes, rhymesmiths, and dominoes champions.
• The sad story of the industrious, intelligent Jews, whose entire reputation is sullied by their unfortunate taste for the blood of Christian babies.
• A close look at the bizarre, sweet-smelling race known as “women,” who are not good at anything— especially ruling the free world.
• A crucial manual to Arabs, a people so sensitive they are liable to blow up at any time.
• A country-by-country breakdown of the “Yellow Peril,” with pointers for telling apart a race of people who all look the same.

Also included is a comprehensive glossary of timeless epithets, with hundreds of pejorative words for everyone from Phoenicians to Jews. A Practical Guide to Racism is sure to spark honest, instructive discourse. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

if I could give it six stars, I would
The most ruthless, mortally offensive sense of humor I've ever encountered... dripping with sarcasm in every word. If you can't laugh at it, you're a snob, and if you do laugh at it, you'll wonder what the hell your malfunction is. One for everyone I know next christmas!!!

Shouldn't satire be funny?
Maybe it's just me.But a book which tries to take a satirical stab at something as charged a topic as racism should be, I dunno, funny.I guess this is funny in a kind of simplistic, Beavis-and-Butthead way -- "Stereotype!Heh heh heh.Racism!Snicker." -- but I'm not sure anybody with an IQ above the double digits will find it worth the price.I had to stop after the first chapter, on "Hispanics:A Practical Guide to Fecundity".This was 23 pages in; I think I laughed once.(And it was a weak, strained sort of laugh, mostly because I was really bored.)

I guess I've always believed satire should do more than just point at Issue and go, "Issue!Heh heh heh."Good satire should add something -- uncommon observations, a new way of thinking about the Issue, whatever.There's nothing in this book that you couldn't get from going on a pub crawl with a couple of stupid frat boys; it's just dressed up in pseudoacademic language.

So save your money, and take some frat boys out for beer instead.It's probably more fun.

profoundly offensive and deviously funny
The author, Dalton, is a fake. He does not exist. He is the creation of the humorist Sam Means and this parody of a form of book from a century ago was written to jangle the nerves and tickle the funnybones of anybody with a self-deprecating sense of humor. Nothing and nobody is sacred here.

Some people won't get it. Real racists will love it for all the wrong reasons. It is brutally sarcastic. Over the top. Demeaning. Wicked. Raunchy. I laughed at myself for liking it.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Pure Gold.
I bought this book for my hubby and little did I know it was going to be that funny. I've literally cried reading this book from laughing so hard. If someone can actually feel good about being a racist after reading this, then there is no helping them. I put this up there with Dave Chappelle's Black White Supremacist.

Hilarious Parody of racial stereotypes
My nephew who is in college had this item on his holiday gift list.When it was delivered to my mailbox, I flipped through it before gift wrapping it... and I was totally sucked in to this book! Everyone in our house passed this book around that night randomly selecting paragraphs or quotations to read aloud. We laughed at the silliness of it all.

The title makes it sound like it could be offensive - one of my initial thoughts, and the reason I started perusing the contents. If it is considered offensive, at least it offends everyone equally across the board. No group is exempt. It is actually based on a course about white supremacy taught by a college professor in the early 1900's - and then satirized to amplify how absolutely ridiculous and stupid bigots sound when they speak.

The gift was received with a lot of hugs and gratitude from my nephew who is sharing it with friends and colleagues. ... Read more

Book Description
In this book, Bonilla-Silva explores with systematic interview data the nature and components of post-civil rights racial ideology. Specifically, he documents the existence of a new suave and apparently non-racial racial ideology he labels color-blind racism. He suggests this ideology, anchored on the decontextualized, ahistorical, and abstract extension of liberalism to racial matters, has become the organizational matrix whites use to explain and account for racial matters in America. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Book was in great condition!
New book, for a reasonable price.Book was in perfect condition--brand new!! Only complaint was that it took a while to arrive, but I was very satisfied when it finally came.

Valid points
After reading some of the reviews for this book, I was looking forward to reading it.
The data for this book come primarily from surveys of 627 college students, and 400 adults from the Detroit area and much of the book includes the verbatim responses of the survey participants. Although the author states that rhetorical incoherence is part of all natural speech, to read most of these answers is mind boggling. Not one person seems to be able to express themselves in a clear sentence without `um, I don't know, you know, I guess, it's like, you know'. It got so annoying, I ended up reading only the author's `Conclusion' at the end of each chapter.
The book contains valid points and I don't mean to diminish the author's effort, but summarizing the survey answers in a clear way could have made this book easier to read and more effective.

Intresting but deeply lacking
This book is well horrible for what is claims to be trying to do. It was req. reading for my sociology class and let me just say, i have never hated reading so much before. Bonilla-Silva while presenting a intresting and no doubt helpfull view of racism in modern America, he is one sided and his claims are hypocritical to no end. By the end of the book i felt like i had read 182 pages of "all white people are racist becasue they want the benifits." There is no counter arguements and his sources are rather unconvincing since they are nothing more then like minded authors.

A great book!
As the author Bonilla-Silva emphasizes repeatedly, this book does not intend to blame whites for being racist. This books attempts to illustrate how whites and blacks are constructed and positioned differently in relation to the past history of slavery and the newer form of racial ideology which supports the white privilege in the age of color blindness. I couldn't agree more with many of the arguments he has made throughout the book. I think this can make a great textbook for college courses.

For white readers, the argument that the racism continues to influence racial minorities' lives may not be convincing because, as Bonilla-Silva notes, they tend to subscribe the notion that racism is a thing of the past. I wish he had provided more "empirical" and "social scientific" evidence of how color-blind racism continues to have a negative impact on the lives of people of color today to make his argument much more convincing. (Just accept the blacks' personal testomony that "racism is still pervasive and affect us" may make this book sound like one-sided).

If open to understanding the minority perspective
This book may annoy, irritate, and even infuriate some, but if any of these emotions arise, you might ask yourself "why do I feel so defensive?"...and I promise, you will gather a bit of enlightment.The book portrays the perspective of minority peoples in a way that will open your eyes.It IS one-sided, but not because the author is a "racist", rather, he feels (it's in his Author's Note) that enough books are written ABOUT minorities from a "white perspective" view of the world, so he thought he would write a book that showed a distinct minority perspective on "white" culture.It is not meant to arise aggression, it is written to give realizations and enhance communications between the races. ... Read more

Book Description
Revised and updated second editionContinuously at the top of New Society Publishers' best-seller list for five years, Uprooting Racism has sold over 25,000 copies since its first printing. Substantially revised and expanded, the new edition has more tools to help white people understand and stand-up to racism. Uprooting Racism explores the manifestations of racism in politics, work, community, and family life. It moves beyond the definition and unlearning of racism to address the many areas of privilege for white people and suggests ways for individuals and groups to challenge the structures of racism. Uprooting Racism's welcoming style helps readers look at how we learn racism, what effects it has on our lives, its costs and benefits to white people, and what we can do about it.In addition to updating existing chapters, the new edition of Uprooting Racism explores how entrenched racism has been revealed in the new economy, the 2000 electoral debacle, rising anti-Arab prejudice, and health care policy. Special features include exercises, questions, and suggestions to engage, challenge assumptions, and motivate the reader towards social action. The new edition includes an index and an updated bibliography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

More stupid white guilt
I was once very active in "antiracist" action. It took me a while to realize antiracist basically means antiwhite, because you only hear one side of the story: Whites are bad and have caused everyone pain.

If you want to make a stand against racism, you should be able to take a stand against ALL racism in ALL its forms. There is racism happening right now in the world between nonwhite groups who are just as bad, if not worse, as anything seen in America.

To the self-hating white guy who said that "white people who live in all white communities live in a bubble". Wouldn't that apply to Latinos who live in barrios and blacks who live in all-black communities? Or does that not meet the standard of Political Correctness?

"I'm sorry for something that I didn't do
you said I lynched somebody but I don't know who
GUILTY OF BEING WHITE!"
-Minor Threat

Counter productive
This book is an excellant example of Liberal thought taken to the level of complete nonsense. Filled with statements such as"It is difficult for any white American not to have an immediate feeling of fear in the presence of an African-American male."(pg 68) and "We expect men of color to be dangerous." (pg 69) and in the context of challenging racism we might see in other whites, "How can we challenge other whites when we may need them in case of attack?"[by a balck male](pg 68) and "...we are more easily deceived by white leaders who have an aura of trustwothiness simply because they are white." (pg 71). These are just a very small sampling of the silly statements that are evident on each page. In an obvious attempt to conjur deep feelings of guilt, the book rehashes all of the horrible things that whites have done to people of color. This is always, ALWAYS!, counter productive. Many of the solutions that he offers will never be taken seriously by Moderate-Liberal to Conservative persons. And that is the real problem with this book-unless you are a far Left individual already predisposed to believing the largely unsubstantiated opinions he offers you will more than likely dismiss everything he says and throw the baby out with the bathwater. Racism does exist. This book offers very little to uproot it.

What about black racism?
I'd like books out there to discuss the dangers of anti-white predjucie. I'd like books out there that show it is just as racist to stereotype whites as it is to stereotype blacks or jews.As for the 'white power' reviewer-he is obviously a racist, a self hating white person.As well, calling Hispanics a 'race' is nonsense.There are hispanics who are white, and there are hispanics who are black.There are Italians who are white, and there are Italians who are black.

This typical 'white men are all racist' book reminds me of a quote from the movie, Lean on Me.Morgan Freeman is standing in front of a group of inner city kids, to which he says, "If you do not suceed in life, I don't want you to blame the white man.I don't want you to blame your parents.I want you to blame yourselves.The responsibility is yours."That line alone should already mean something for all of us.

A New Edition--Great!
When I began reading the previous edition a few years ago, I realized that I wanted to discuss it with other white people as I worked through the exercises.

As a result five women in leadership roles in their church congregations discussed this book over lunches over some months.It took as many lunches as there are chapters.We learned much about ourselves as white women and much about the history of racism in the United States.

I continue to look for ways to share the impact of this book with others.I am pleased that there is a new edition and look forward to seeing what has made this very useful book even better.

In Response to Reader from U.S.A. : Dangerous
Thereader who wrote that the book was dangerous obviously has a problem accepting reality. After reading the book for myself and seeing what they wrote, I wonder if he/she is racist. If they accept that racism is prevalent in this country... who are the racist and who is being plagued by the racism? Whoever is suffering from the plague ( minorities ) the other race who is spreading it needs to step in and stop it:The notion that is asserted in the book. A doctor with Ebola cannot save a patient with Ebola. I have a hard time understanding why the reader thinks that each race should isolate themself from others and lend no assistance. ... Read more

Book Description
Vivid and engaging, Silent Racism persuasively demonstrates that silent racism - racism by people who classify themselves as "not racist" - is instrumental in the production of institutional racism. Trepagnier argues that heightened race awareness is more important in changing racial inequality than judging whether individuals are racist. The collective voices and confessions of "non-racist" white women heard in this book help reveal that all individuals harbor some racist thoughts and feelings. Trepagnier uses vivid focus group interviews to argue that the oppositional categories of racist/not racist are outdated. The oppositional categories should be replaced in contemporary thought with a continuum model that more accurately portrays today's racial reality in the United States. A shift to a continuum model can raise the race awareness of well-meaning white people and improve race relations. Offering a fresh approach, Silent Racism is an essential resource for teaching and thinking about racism in the twenty-first century.

You can find more information about Silent Racism on Barbara Trepagnier's website at http://www.silentracism.com/. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

ground breaking work
Kudos for courageous research broaching a very historical, controversial, multidemensional,emotionally charged and confusing topic[race matters]with tremendous personal responsibility,candor with clarity,and intellectual and emotional maturity. This is a ground breaking piece of work that deserves investigation and recognition.

silent rcism: how well meaning white people perpetuate the racial devide
Written by a person who seem to have spent some time studying the subject. She identifies the major issues blocking most people from understanding their internalized feeling about people of color. Although she writes mostly about the relationships between Whites and Blacks, she does state the other people's of color are affected in a like manner. I do wish to point out that the relationship between Native (Indian) Americans and white American society is still predicated on the stereotypical views of the western world. Perhaps it is easier to view what has been done to Native people if this continent is continued to be viewed as empty, or sparsely populated. Then manifest destiny and doctrine of discovery seem to be easier of the social pallet of America. If the world view of Native people is not taken into consideration I doubt that there will be much progress in the relationship status of Native Americans and whites in this country. I believe our society needs to do a lot of work to get over its fear treating Native people, and all people of color, with more dignity

Surprising and insightful
It's disconcerting to realize that sometimes my best efforts at NOT being racist have been just that. This book helped me realize the necessity of self-examination to expose those ways in which I'm participating in the racial divide, not by obvious acts of prejudice but by leaving my assumptions unchallenged. This is a very important book.

Excellent book about race!
This is an amazing book. Anyone concerned about race and racism should read it! Trepagnier's interviews with white women who are "well meaning" and concerned with racism are enlightening. For example, some of the women discussed (oftentimes, somewhat unconsciously) stereotypes that they have about African Americans. The author challenges readers to stop thinking of ourselves and other people as being in the categories of "racist" or "not racist." Doing so discourages us from becoming what Trepagnier refers to as more "racially aware." I encourage people to read the book, buy it for others, and TALK about the issues it raises. It's one of the ways to increase racial awareness. Given many recent events reported in the media, it's clear that racial awareness is a worthwhile and important goal.

A real eye opener and thought provoker.
Silent Racism is a powerful book. Racism IS THERE though we are NOT AWARE. Trepagnier has brought an important concern to the forefront and addressed it head on. ... Read more

Book Description

Are antisemitism and white supremacy manifestations of a general phenomenon? Why didn't racism appear in Europe before the fourteenth century, and why did it flourish as never before in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? Why did the twentieth century see institutionalized racism in its most extreme forms? Why are egalitarian societies particularly susceptible to virulent racism? What do apartheid South Africa, Nazi Germany, and the American South under Jim Crow have in common? How did the Holocaust advance civil rights in the United States?

With a rare blend of learning, economy, and cutting insight, George Fredrickson surveys the history of Western racism from its emergence in the late Middle Ages to the present. Beginning with the medieval antisemitism that put Jews beyond the pale of humanity, he traces the spread of racist thinking in the wake of European expansionism and the beginnings of the African slave trade. And he examines how the Enlightenment and nineteenth-century romantic nationalism created a new intellectual context for debates over slavery and Jewish emancipation.

Fredrickson then makes the first sustained comparison between the color-coded racism of nineteenth-century America and the antisemitic racism that appeared in Germany around the same time. He finds similarity enough to justify the common label but also major differences in the nature and functions of the stereotypes invoked. The book concludes with a provocative account of the rise and decline of the twentieth century's overtly racist regimes--the Jim Crow South, Nazi Germany, and apartheid South Africa--in the context of world historical developments.

This illuminating work is the first to treat racism across such a sweep of history and geography. It is distinguished not only by its original comparison of modern racism's two most significant varieties--white supremacy and antisemitism--but also by its eminent readability.

Customer Reviews (7)

Not the most thorough book ever written, but important nonetheless
Georg M. Fredrickson is, among other things, a scholar at the Research Institute for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity as well as author of several books about the history of race and race ideology. In other words, it's safe to assume that he knows what he's talking about, and with Racism he's put together a short, yet informative and thorough, study of the history of Western racism; from its origins at the end of the Middle Ages up until the present.

However, it's not only Western racism from the late Middle Ages and onwards that Fredrickson deals with. Several different types of racism from different eras and aimed towards different groups of people are brought to light. And that's a good thing (this way of displaying different beliefs from different eras, I mean), because racism is a phenomenon that's a whole lot stranger and definitely more complicated than most people know or assume. It's not just a case a some group hating some other group. The fear/hatred/contempt aimed towards certain groups of people come in numerous different shapes and forms and are based on more factors than one could even imagine, and religious teachings and doctrines have been directly or indirectly responsible for way too many horrible clashes throughout history, not only in the West.

Still, the real focus is on the comparison of two different kinds of racism; white supremacy with its ideas about the white "race" (whatever that is) and its supreme qualities, and anti-Semitism with the continuous hatred of the Jews. These two manifestations of racism are dealt with quite extensively, and the comparison made between the two is tremendously interesting, original, and more than anything well presented.

And also of importance in today's world. After all, the Jews probably have the not-so pleasant title of being the most persecuted people in the history of the world, and the American slave trade with its extremely cynical and brutal view of humans with African descent is still a burning issue. This latter example could sometimes be of such a bizarre nature that it almost bordered on the comical: "Some racial environmentalists in the early American republic fully expected imported Africans to turn white in the more temperate climate to which they were now exposed, but the process seemed to be taking a very long time." (pg.58).

But only almost. Because obviously there's nothing funny about such a stupid worldview. It's a nuisance, that's what it is. And Fredrickson is the man to expose it. Regarding the never-ending conflict between "white" and "black" people (I've never felt very comfortable talking about people as colors), he compares and reveals disturbing parallels between Nazi Germany and America, and these breath-taking sections are sure to make a great deal of Americans quite upset. How about this sentence: "When the Supreme Court declared in the Dred Scott decision of 1857 that free blacks could not be citizens of the United States, because the framers of the Constitution had assumed that they had 'no rights which the white man was bound to respect,' the racist foundation of the American polity was laid bare." (pg.80-81)

Again and again, Fredrickson is able to demonstrate mankind's creepy, and profound, tendencies to condemn fellow humans on reasons that are, well, simply stupid. At a time when ethnic conflicts, racism, and violent xenophobia rages in countries all over the world, a book like Racism is tremendously important. From time to time though, it does feel somewhat thin. For example, no mention is made of the fact that some of the German soldiers in World War I were actually German Jews, and even though the infamous Jim Crow laws are mentioned repeatedly throughout the book, the reader is never treated with an explanation to what the "Jim Crow laws" actually were and how they came into existence. A lot of non-Americans could really need explanations to that.

But Racism is, on the other hand, meant to be a short description (which doesn't mean it never digs quite deep into certain topics). If you're a racist, this won't be your favorite book of the year, but anyone with an interest in, or hatred of, racism should definitely purchase a copy immediately. Because, as Fredrickson reminds his readers: ""A culture of racism, once established, can be adapted to more than one agenda and is difficult to eradicate." (pg.93)

This book sucks
As a black man I can truthfully say that every word is b.s. I didn't finish reading it, but I didn't have to either. This book is rascist.

an excellent short history
Beware of the negative reviewer who thinks that one should write about racism and anti-semitism in a 'clinically disinterested manner."Fredrickson is one of the best historians of race and racism.Don't let silly people divert you from reading this text.

hard-headed look at a misused concept
The guts of the book is a parallel analysis of two of the most virulent forms of racism: Nazi anti-semitism and US white supremacy.In such a short book, this specialization reduces the scope for the kind of synthetic overview for which I'd hoped.However there are two particular insights which made it worthwhile.

The first is attempt to get to grips with the word 'racism' itself which, as Fredrickson points out, is an increasingly debased epithet, used by each side against another in debates on ethnicity, nationality and religion.His definition requires not just perceived differences from another group, but also the power to exploit them.

The second is an understanding of what the author calls the double-edged sword of enlightenment thought on race.As I scientist, I've sometimes been exasperated by post-modern disdain for the enlightenment as the supposed progenitor of Nazism.But the book convinced me that there is a case for this, at least as one side of a contrapuntal understanding: "Egalitarian norms required special reasons for exclusion."On this reading, a kind of polarizing dialectic takes hold: higher ideals require stronger justifications for retaining privilege.Enlightenment ideals imply democracy, but racist pseudoscience appeals to the same source in order to restrict it.

The catharsis of World War II supposedly halted this process.There's a whiff of Whig history here, but it's dispelled by the trenchant close: "Grasping for one's identity in a world that threatens to reduce everyone who is not part of the elite to a low-paid worker or a consumer of cheap, mass-produced commodities creates a hunger for meaning and a sense of self-worth that can most easily be satisfied by consciousness of race or religion."

Not a very good book
Beware of academics praising each other's work. This is a dull summary of "white supremacy" and "antisemitism." The author, while posing as a clinically disinterested party, lets us know how awful he thinks both of these things are.

He DOES say that "racism exists when one ethnic group or historical collectivity dominates, excludes, or seeks to eliminate another on the basis of differences that it believes are hereditary and unalterable."

This should comfort those who, for example, deplore the conditions in American inner cities, and attribute those conditions to the moral and cultural state of the residents of those cities. While some would call these people "racists," the definition shows that they are not -- unless, of course, those moral and cultural states are believed to be hereditary and unalterable. ... Read more

Book Description
NEW AMERICA IS COMING...

And it isn't pretty.Foreseeing a collapse so severe that it will cause us to start numberingour economic depressions, Edgar J. Steele paints the image of an America rarely seen in mainline media: ripped apart by racial strife, seething with resentment and verging on open warfare in the city streets.

Methodically constructing the case for acknowledging the racial differences embedded in our DNA, to which he refers as "culture gone to seed," Steele blows the cover off the conspiracy for the New World Order which is turning America into a police state and rendering her electoral process meaningless.

As the world relentlessly marches into World War III, the plans of the elite for America's subjugation to third-world status will falter, with America breaking apart along racial lines.

Steele conjures the vision of a New America, rising Phoenix-like from the ashes and resurrecting the principles of liberty and personal freedom upon which she originally was founded, all the while charting a clear, easy to follow path for the individual through the coming chaos.

Bold, powerful and persuasive, Defensive Racism weaves a compelling argument to deal with racial differences we all recognize, yet pretend not to notice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

courageous yet "politically incorrect"manifesto
Edgar Steele presents a courageous manifesto in this book which encapsulates much of the thinking of the American "patriot" movement.Traversing a wide swath of issues from reverse discrimination against whites, to how people can respond to the devaluation of the dollar, Steele covers topics of interest to his target audience with charming wit.

Lawyers may find the book interesting just for his insights into the "other side" of civil rights laws, namely, the distillation of his experiences representing whites accused of racial bias torts and crimes.

People interested in a diversity of viewpoints on racial matters should take the opportunity to read this book which presents much that has been stifled as "politically incorrect."

Ed Steele: Man of Steel Balls!
The cause of most of mankind's problems is easily identifiable. A minority race claims it has a mandate from God to rule the world and enslave its supposed inferiors as its servants. The problem is, the minority race bears the earmarks of God's nemisis, a nasty little devil named Satan. Ed Steele is one of the rare living writers who has the raw courage to call a spade a spade; i.e., a Jew a Jew.Go, Ed, go!

Defensive Racism
Very eye opening.Ed Steele brings out points that few are willing to do so.I can see how the white male has been subjected to criticism and has cowered over the years.I can see his point of Western Civilization diminishing in importance and the Asian influence to take over.Well written and not at all offensive.He did not point out things that are not true.But I can see how the Liberal Establishment would attack him for what he said, but cannot refute his ideas.Ed Steele won me over.

DP

Hate Is Required For Survival. Nature Didn't Give Us 'Optional' or 'Extra' Emotions.
It surprises me just how many people still don't have 'it' figured out. Edgar J. Steele does have 'it' figured out.

An Attempt to Make Hate Respectable
There is a deep seated need in all people to justify, our conduct with our beliefs. Not too long ago racism was socially acceptable. Edgar J Steele is attempting to take us back to that time. "Defensive Racism"'s content is not new nor particularly original. It is simply a rehash of what was called eugenics in the early XXth century. Back then a pseudo-science was built to justify the hatred of, not only Blacks, but Italians, Eastern Europeans, Hispanics and Asians. Even the Irish were considered culturally inferior because of their mostly Catholic heritage.

Steele selectively takes what are perhaps accurate numbers, for instance the high incidence of Black against Black violence, and uses them to establish a false 'cause and effect' relationship, a Non-Sequitur. The fact that he has an engaging and persuasive writing style is an issue related to form not substance. A lie is lie no matter how beautifully it is stated.

If one wants to see the terrible consequences of this ideological venon one can read "War Against the Weak" by Edwin Black. If one wants to see what genetic science has to say about racism check out "Journey of Man" by Dr. Spencer Wells (DVD format). Another excellent book, perhaps one of the best, on the subject of DNA science and human diversity is "The Great Human Diasporas" by Dr. Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza.

One knows that an ideology is lacking serious scientific support when it gets its science from lawyers instead of scientists. That is the unfortunate case of "Defensive Racism". If the information that Steele presents is removed from its historical, political and social context it can be easily manipulated to say whatever one wants it to say. This is what this book does. This is the tribal mentality that is tearing humanity apart. ... Read more

Book Description
This extraordinary book by Derald Wing Sue, a highly-regarded academic and author, helps readers understand and combat racism in themselves. It defines racism not only as extreme acts of hatred, but as "any attitude, action or institutional structure or social policy that subordinates a person or group because of their color." This landmark work offers an antidote to this pervasive social problem.

• Shows how each of us has a role in the oppression of others, and what we can do about it
• Offers a way to overcome racism on a very intimate level
• Outlines specific guidelines and suggested activities

Customer Reviews (5)

Overcoming Our Racism: The Journey to Liberation
Overcoming Our Racism is an excellent perspective by Dr. Sue who is Asian. It seems that only certain minorities are always called on as using the race card.Sue points out clearly that we have lived and still live in a racist America.A selective perception and sutble type of racism reminicant of "Jim Crow", but nevertheless present in American attitudes towards people that are not Anglo. Sue, a psychologist, presents a very informative view of racism in America.The book is used as part of a graduate course in Universities that teach cultural diversity.To many the surge of Senator Obama to a significant lead in the Democratic Primary election may seem like a turning point for Americans and it may well be part of a history in the making. Nevertheless, the attitudes described by Sue are not part of everyone's perception, but still those attitudes are present and doing damage to human kind.

A Wonderful Book
As a white male working in a student affairs office at a very diverse community college it is important that I take a good long look at myself to be sure I am serving our students the best way I can.This book is incredibly helpful in doing that.Did I get pissed off at things Mr. Sue talked about?Yes, of course.But he does warn his readers that they will get angry.I only got angry because I didn't want to believe what he was saying was about me, but it is.This book taught me a lot about myself, which I think is the point.I highly recommend this book to anyone that is willing to keep an open mind and is willing to go through some self evaluation.

One of the Best Books Ever...
This is one of the best books ever....I noted that a women said that we complain about racism in this country and do not truly understand what discriminate is...I am grasping that she was European America(i.e. White Ethnic, White, Fair Skinned whatever you want to call it)....I ask you this have your people ever been inslaved for nearly 400 years, have your people ever had attempts of racial/cultural genocides...Is it deeply ingrained in society that your people are lazy, inferior intellectually, etc....You would not even begin to understand, Typical White Person Syndrome...Don't Walk around stupid your whole life....
FYI...This is just the tip of the iceberg, I would love to intellectually cruise your stupid ideals, you don't begin to know sufferings...Continue to read some books and maybe you can something from them...

Sick and tired of white guilt
I came to America from a country that was so violent it made the worst black ghetto look like a national park. My family was abused, tormented and casted aside like street trash.

Now I come to America and I hear voices crying out against racism. I'm inclined to agree, as I've experienced racism. However, the American definition is different. It basically means "Whitey is evil. He holds everyone down. Everyone else is ok, but white people are bad"

Nice to see that the people who march against racism are able to acknowledge all forms of racism. Oh wait...they don't.

Overcoming Racism on a Multicultural Level
There is no greater healing for the spirit than the healing of the divisions within ourselves.This is the huge task taken on deftly by Derald Wing Sue in Overcoming Our Racism.The book is addressed directly to white people though it is beneficial to anyone interested in improving race relations.Sue calls to task those white people who are unintentional racists, those people who have unconsciously bought into and act out racist ideas in subtle ways.He does an excellent job of outlining what white privilege is and how all white people benefit from it.In relating the pain people of color suffer, he illuminates the pain that is caused for white people when they are confronted with their whiteness.Most white people are in denial of their "whiteness" because of the unpleasant truths they would have to face.Sue shows that all of us (meaning white people too) defining ourselves as racial/cultural beings is instrumental to overcoming racism.

Throughout the book, Sue states that the (white) reader might get angry, feel guilty or experience unpleasant feelings.He encourages the reader to go through the process to the end for the rewards are great.Sue explains that while people of color have soul wounds connected to racism, white people do too.Racism keeps white people from seeing what is real.While people of color have prejudices, white people have the power to use their prejudices to oppress others.In oppressing others, they create for themselves an undeniable advantage that they keep in denial.And they deny themselves of the experience of being all that they can be by denying this right to people of color.

Instead of seeing a person of color for who he or she really is, a white person tends to rely on the false perceptions they form from the media and their environment.Most people of color are forced to interact with white people on a daily basis, while most white rarely deal with people of color on an equal-to-equal basis. While most white people do not actively engage themselves in getting to know or understand people of color, most people of color understand white people as a matter of survival.

Racism is defined in distinct and concrete terms.For people of color, institutional racism is obvious.For white people, because they benefit directly from institutional racism, they are complacent about doing anything to change it.Sue's book is divided into two parts.Part One clearly defines the problem while Part Two outlines how to overcome the problem.The keys to changing the effects of racism lie in the hands of white people.It will take a great amount of inner work on the part of white people for there to be real change.Overcoming Our Racism is a handbook for doing this work.

Derald Wing Sue is an Asian American professor.He moves the focus of racism from being black/white to being a truly multicultural discussion.The subtitle of this book says it all:Overcoming Our Racism: The Journey to Liberation ... Read more

Amazon.com
"Virtually all contemporary liberal assumptions about the origin of racism, its historical significance, its contemporary effects, and what to do about it are wrong," announces Dinesh D'Souza in another characteristically thought-provoking and controversial book. His scrupulously researched study of the history, nature, and effects of racism will certainly ruffle many feathers--particularly those of cultural relativists and liberal "antiracists" whose opinions he aims to discredit. But thinkers of all political persuasions would benefit from reading this self-described conservative's eloquently presented views as he "excavates beyond the usual digging sites" to present a unique and troubling vision of the "neurotic obsession" with race that continues to divide American society.

Much of what D'Souza says flies in the face of liberal doctrine. He maintains that there are cultural differences that account for distinct levels of achievement among races, and that racism cannot be blamed for "black failure." He argues that racism is not a universal phenomenon but a relatively recent Western intellectual concept, and because we can trace racism's beginning we can likewise bring about its demise. He deals blow after blow to longstanding "myths" about race, criticizing the "civil rights industry," rejecting "misguided" solutions such as multiculturalism and proportional representation as "fighting discrimination by practicing it," and even calls for a repeal of the near-sacred Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This is not an easy book to read, but it is an important one. Even if more than a few disagree with D'Souza's assumptions and arguments, all should welcome his well-considered, insightful treatment of this immensely difficult topic. --Uma Kukathas ... Read more

Customer Reviews (91)

The Beginning of a New Racism???
Dinesh S'Souza writes elegantly and cleverly about a controversial topic - it is difficult not to see that he is a very smart guy - and all those elegant footnotes gives the appearance of scholarship, thoughtfulness and research.

Ah yes, "appearance".

For, it is also difficult not to see how confoundingly illogical most of the conclusions in this book are. Race is a social contruct, he admits in many places - but yet trumpets the conclusions of the Bell Curve experiment that blacks are inferior to almost any other "race" as gospel truth. IQ for whites is a 100 and above 100 for Asians - yet large swathes of Asia (bar Japan and until recently South Korea) is underdeveloped, as compared to America and Europe; China's ascendancy started after Deng Xiaoping started putting the ruinous policies of the Mao era behind the people - is China's current economic boom the result of changing cultural and social environment or is it that suddenly, after thousands of years, the Chinese suddenly got their IQ racheted up? Anyone with a cursory acquaintance of Chinese history knows that the Chinese invented gun powder, paper and hundreds of other life-changing technology long before Europe - and the factors for their long decline is well documented. If we follow Dinesh, then it must be that the chinese had their IQ up 3000 years ago, somehow it declined and then a genetic miracle happened post-1978 and the IQ is back up again!

The most contradictory of the grand claims of the book is that an end to racism is in sight (providing all liberals and civil rights acitivists are dead), while at the same time claiming boldly that there are innate, bioligically-determined differences between blacks and other groups that CANNOT be changed by the environment. Mr. D'Souza then go on to pontificate on what needs to be done in inner cities and how black people should forsake Africa, become more white (reminds me of James Baldwin's quip that this society measures the progress of the Negro by how fast he could turn white!!!) in order to achieve nirvana - in the same breathe insisting that blacks are innately inferior.

This may be too simplistic a view, but in my experience, I have always looked at issues from one of two sides: either it is culturally determined and is a product of the environment, or it is biologically determined and the environment has no role. Mr S'Souza wishes to have the argment from both ends: the conditions of blacks are naturally determined because, given very low IQs, there are inferior to everone else, are unable to think for themselves, do not have the ability to manage baseball leagues (even if they play in them), and cannot possibly on the boards of American corporations. Infact, he produced a mounain of "evidence" to show that the few blacks in positions that require any level of thinking are already over-represented.

Yet, from the other side of his mouth, he says that blacks needs to do more about their environments in the inner cities and those mean projects in order to get out of their misery.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, you cannot have the argument from both sides: if the prisoner is happy, leave him alone; if he is not, why keep him there?As it were, D'Souza is not at all helpful to the millions of African Americans disproportionately in America's prisons: changing the projects which most of them come from might help (Dinesh seems to be saying), but then insists that there are in prison because they have a genetic proclivity to being criminals and there is, obviously, nothing anyone can do about it.

Since, even with 50,000 inter-racial kids being born every year, American is not about to become suddenly populated with Barrack Obama look-alikes, and given his genetic theories of black inferiority, how could D'Souza be so brazen as to title his book "The End of Racism"? I suggest he uses the title "The Beginning of a New Racism" in the next edition of the book.

Well researched, well written, and, well, wrong
Written at the height of post-60s race tensions, The End of Racism attempts to tackle the problem of black underperformance in American society. Approaching the problem from a libertarian stance, D'Souza wades through reams of research and dogma and tries to come to a logically arguable conclusion.

His first step is to undermine the concept of racism in modern America. Racism, he argues, is the belief that races are inherently superior or inferior based on genetics alone. First argued at the dawn of the Age of Exploration, this concept was used as part of a more comprehensive theory of why civilizations found in Europe were far more advanced than the primitive civilizations of the peoples that the explorers found in Africa, the New World, and Oceania.

Despite his best efforts, he cannot directly make the case that such racism is unfounded. He takes a roundabout way via arguing against the modern concept of Boasianism (the belief that no culture ought to be judged from the perspective of an external culture). Whether we agree with the presumption that blacks have a unique 'Black Culture' or not, they live in the United States which is primarily based on Judeo-Christian mores. Therefore it is useful to judge so-called 'Black Culture' from the perspective of 'normal' American culture. To the extent that Black Culture hinders the success of Blacks in America, the culture is dysfunctional within the context of the greater American culture. Therefore since the culture is the primary stumbling block to African American success, it is culture, not genetics, that puts blacks at a disadvantage, teaches D'Souza.

The argument wraps with statistics that show that an overwhelming number of white Americans believe that no intelligence gaps between the races. This belief is a direct byproduct of decades of Boasian thought which D'Souza is happy to tout. If so many potential racists do not even hold to the central tenet of racism (as D'Souza defines it), then how can racism even exist except at the very extreme edges of society? D'Souza claims that biological racism is essentially non-existant in today's society. Unfortunately it is a strawman argument. Fortunately, D'Souza's research and citations are plentiful.

Having defined away White Racism, D'Souza turns the civil rights establishment on its head. Claiming the moral purity of King's I Have A Dream speech, D'Souza charts the movement of the civil rights establishment from that high point to its current state, which he argues is no more legitimate than the white racism practiced before 1964.

Whereas King's view on race relations was colorblind, the modern view is anything but. 200 hundred years of setasides for Whites has given way to setasides for Blacks (and other minorities). For a libertarian like D'Souza, this is not a solution to the problems of blacks but a continuation of wrong-headed race-based policies that should have died when the Civil Rights Act was passed.

Clearly and logically, D'Souza tears the civil rights establishment to shreds using their own words and the moral high ground of colorblind policy. He provides a solid background to the evolution of civil rights thought, and is very even-handed with this treatment. He shows how the Boasian principle of cultural equality led to the concept of equality of competitiveness. The dream of proportional representation based on pure competitiveness was dashed on the rocks of reality when blacks were simply unable to compete at any level of society. Having chalked this problem up to the shackles of 200 years of slavery, the civil rights establishment pressed for extra steps to give blacks not only the freedom to compete but also remedial advantages to overcome the disadvantages that racism had wrought upon them. As these extra rights and advantages became solidified in society, the civil rights establishment glommed onto them and refuses to let them go, claiming racism at any attempt to normalize the playing field.

Though not altogether opposed to giving the disadvantaged help, D'Souza is highly critical of the emphasis on Race as the deciding factor. He lays the blame for this reemergence of anti-racism on liberals and the civil rights establishment. He condemns the former group for being afraid of being labeled racist for criticising dysfunctional elements of black culture. And he takes a noticeable viciousness towards the civil rights establishment leaders and scholars who have turned anti-racism into reverse racism. The blame for black underperformance is attributable directly to these black leaders who seek to turn black underperformance into a virtue as a sign of struggle under the (now hidden) racism that wracks American society. Not only does the existence of affirmative action undermine black aspirations, it undermines the beneficiaries' self-esteem by calling into question their abilities relative to the abilities of those around them who succeeded on merit alone. D'Souza's arguments are very good, though he tends to use evidence based on fringe Afro-centric groups. Like his argument against the existence of racism, he tends to pick easy targets and unleashes the full power of argument against them.

D'Souza also tackles the unavoidable topic of black intelligence. It is in these sections that you really see him take a certain glee in quoting the statistics that show, despite everything, that blacks as a group do not score as well as whites as a group do on modern intelligence and performance tests. He argues against the claim that tests are race-biased with clear examples and good evidence that not only are the tests not biased against blacks but that they are possibly biased in favor of blacks. He dances around with stat after stat, cite after cite, quote after quote that show that blacks as a group do not seem able to compete with other races when it comes to these tests. At one point he provides evidence that even when tests are normalized for age, sex, poverty level, and surroundings, blacks still show a significant point gap.

Despite all the evidence that he presents, though, he takes the Boasian escape hatch of relativism that says that something else must be the basis for the gap. Genetics can't be it, after all, we have no reason to believe that blacks as a race would be pre-disposed to lower intelligence. D'Souza claims cultural inferiority based on adaptations to racism have created an environment where rebellion and laziness are admired and conformance and success (through conformance) are a threat. Unfortunately, he has made such a good argument FOR the genetic basis of intelligence and provides no evidence to the contrary. It is hard to take his culturally-based response to Herrnstein and Murray seriously.

He wraps up with his solution to the problem of black underperformance. Unfortunately after all the lucidity and strong argument found in the rest of the book, D'Souza falls back on the standard libertarian free market theory. He sees this as a way of reducing middle-class black rage by forcing them to compete on merit and thus receiving the psychic benefits that succeeding legitimately provides. Other than that, though, his solution does not seem to mitigate any of the other problems facing African Americans, especially those at the poverty level. Without a culture based on mores that encourage success and hard work, there can be no improvement in that culture. Establishing a racial free-for-all is totally ancillary to the primary problem of black under-performance which is mainly rooted in culture (while intelligence gaps may exist, perseverence and hard work remain the main factors which determine success). He does not have any solution to that problem except to point at 'outsider' black thinkers (mostly right-wing) that are sharply critical of black culture. Their exclusion from mainstream black thought shows already that their message has been heard and rejected by the targets of their criticism.

D'Souza is not wrong about everything, but it would be a mistake to think that his simplistic solutions to difficult problems are a cure-all for a society slowly rending itself apart. His analysis and logic is very good, though he tends to pick easy targets. His scholarship is first rate as all of his facts are noted in the end notes. It is enlightening, engaging, and heartbreaking. It is a solid 3.5 stars.

A Conservative Who's In A Class By Himself
No matter what anyone may feel about D'Souza's hypotheses, his conclusions, or his politics, you will not be able to escape the fact that he is an outstanding writer, and that the "End of Racism" will remain his signature work. Unlike other conservatives whose attacks are personal and shrill, this author organizes his arguments superbly, and presents them without passion. He is not afraid to discuss topics that most people fear would brand them as racist, and he does it without being inflammatory.

The book is well researched. There are footnotes upon footnotes for each chapter. It is easy to see that this writer and frequent talk show guest is highly intelligent, as well as conservative.

I break with D'Souza completely with his suggestion that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 be repealed. We have already seen the rise of the 21st Century robber barrons who were unleashed by deregulation. It would be unfair to allow racism to be unleased by repealing civil rights laws.

Nevertheless, D'Souza's "End of Racism" occupies a place on my bookshelf. I highly recommend it for yours.

Recomended by a Sociology major
If people want to understand whiteness and blackness more, this book is for you for it provides their arguments backed by evidence.If people want to understand how people think on both sides of the race spectrum this is your book.This author uses many academic sources to show how scholars think, then he shows how political leaders such as Jessie Jackson and Afro Centrist think.If a person is looking for an advanced understanding of Race Research, this is your book, its worth it.

Difficult reading
As a black, though not Afro-American, this book made difficult reading, though sadly one cannot dispute all the findings in this book. The only solace one can get from this book is the general finding that differences in performances between different racial groups is more cultural than genetic. ... Read more

Book Description
More than 15 years have passed since Joe Barndt wrote hisinfluential and widely acclaimed Dismantling Racism (1991, Augsburg Books).He has now written a replacement volume - powerful, personal, and practical- that reframes the whole issue for the new context of the twenty-firstcentury.

With great clarity Barndt traces the history of racism, especially in whiteAmerica, revealing its various personal, institutional, and cultural forms.Without demonizing anyone or any race, he offers specific, positive ways inwhich people in all walks, including churches, can work to bring racism toan end. He includes the newest data on continuing conditions of People ofColor, including their progress relative to the minimal standards ofequality in housing, income and wealth, education, and health. He discussescurrent dimensions of race as they appear in controversies over 9/11, NewOrleans, and undocumented workers. Includes analytical charts, definitions,bibliography, and exercises for readers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Classic in the Sociology of Racism
In recent years an ideology that Sociologist Eduardo Bonilla Silva from Duke University calls "color-blind racism" has permeated United State's popular culture. Most white Americans now report in surveys that race is no longer a feature of U.S. political, social and economic realms. As if they lived in two separate but unequal nations, particularly Latinos and African Americans note the intractability of race and racism in this country. The explanation is simple: in a white supremacist country unless you are a person of color you don't "see" racism because that is not part of your daily experience. The color-blind ideology that permeates our major institutions puts a veil over the eyes of white Americans (and some persons of color) blinding them to the reality of racism in this country. Incidents like the racist comments of Don Imus or the recorded racist diatribes of Duane "Dog" Chapman, host of A & E television series are then dismissed as anomalies rather than just the tip of the iceberg. Fortunately, Joseph Barndt is one white male who is not color-blind, this book is an outstanding contribution to understanding race and racism in this new era.

The main strength of Joseph Barndt book is that he provides a logical, reasoned, and theoretically sound analysis of institutionalized racism in the United States today which allows us to make sense of the racism of the 21st century. Even more outstanding is that he is able to accomplish this without the exclusionary jargon of many previous treatments of the subject.

This a carefully organized book, and one that can and should be used in classrooms around the nation. This will become another classic from one of the most articulate white anti-racist intellectuals of our time.

ANOTHER; 'always blame whites' book
I just don't know why these authors think this subject hasn't been covered and covered and covered and covered.The growing number of Hispanic's has proven that they have no love for blacks and no white guilt.Same with Asians.The number one enemy of blacks, however, is other blacks.The never-ending 'blame whitey' has led to a dead end street that is only building white resentment.Don't even bother.The author wrote this book for his ego and nothing more.You'll find no solutions here. ... Read more

Book Description
Racism has reemerged, dramatically and forcefully. All of us -- people of color and white people alike -- are damaged by its debilitating effects. In this book, the author addresses the “majority,” the white race in the United States. Racism permeates the individual attitudes and behavior of white people, but even more seriously, it permeates public systems, institutions, and culture. This book does not intend to attack or to produce guilt, but its message is tough and demanding. It begins by analyzing racism as it is today and the ways it has changed or not changed over the past few decades. Most important, the book focuses on the task of dismantling racism, how we can work to bring it to an end and build a racially just, multiracial, and multicultural society. Churches are not strangers to the task of combating racism, but so much of what we have done is too little, too late. We have yet to make a serious impact in the racism that surrounds us and is within us.

This book calls us to begin our next assault on the demonic evil of racism. The result that it seeks is freedom for all races, all people. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Does it make you feel better?
Once again we read that other minorities can't be racist, as if racism were an illness only certain group of people can acquire. Racism has nothing to do with power, though power certainly helps it go down easier.
The reason behind the "we ain't racist" approach is quite simple. After the civil rights movement of the 1960's many blacks(and their white syncophants)found it difficult to push their own race agenda. Thus,what better than to label all whites as racist(see white studies programs) and push the agenda that minorities do not have the capacity to be racist. Thus, only whites are deemed perpetrators of "hate crimes" and blacks who kill whites(which they do regularly) are presented in the court system as victims of white oppression.
This is a society permeated by white people, their attitudes, culture and institutions-says one poster. Tell us what is wrong with that. Isn't China a society permeated by Chinese?

Excellant!
Shows how Caucasians continue to abuse us and our colored heritage; this book could work wonders as a mandatory classroom read in predominantly White high schools.

A must read for all Americans!
We have found the enemy and he is us.

Difficult Conversations
I'm reading this book for a class on Difficult Conversations and highly recommend it. However, I feel a need to respond to another review.

I appreciate jmk444 taking the time to read Brandt's book and responding in a manner that honestly expresses jnmk444's feelings, however, the reviewer misrepresents what Barndt says concerning racism. The reviewer writes, "The fact is that "racism" is defined as believing your own race to be superior to others." This may be the way the reviewer defines racism, but Barndt is quite clear how he defines it: "Racism goes beyond prejudice. It is backed up by power. Racism is the power to enforce one's prejudices" (page 28) (Barndt's use of prejudice is, I believe, similar to the reviewer's use of bigotry). Barndt goes on to assert that the dominate power operating in the United States is that of white people, hence only white people can be racist. African-Americans, Latino, and others can be prejudiced as well as whites, but because they do not hold the power, they cannot be racist.

As a white person, it is hard to consider myself a racist, and I have tried hard to wiggle out of it, using much of the emotional and reason-filled thinking exhibited by this reviewer. I'm not there yet, but Barndt's book makes a compelling argument that can only be immediately dismissed by those who wish to be blind to the power differential in this country. If you doubt that as a white person you have certain privileges because of your skin color, I would suggest looking up Peggy McIntosh's article, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

Terribly misguided and incredibly simplistic...
The Reverend Joseph Brandt has created a cottage industry of providing "diversity seminars" on College campuses across the nation. Most of his teachings are encapsulated in this book.

What's wrong with Brandt's track? Well, it's a screed, more than it is a book. A screed that blames whites for all the evils of the world and sees "racism" solely from the view of "white against other." This ignores the reality that (1) bigotry NOT "racism" is the problem and (2) every ethnic group, in every culture harbors some petty bigotries.

This makes Brandt's ideas not merely misguided and wrong-headed but dangerous. Brandt's views feed the anti-white bigotry that is endemic in much of the African-American community. How can an ideology that promotes bigotry help end it? In short, it can't.

Worse yet, Brandt can't back up his viewpoints with facts so instead he quotes Old Testament scripture, often unrelated to his assertions. People like Brandt make a living off "racism," both real and perceived, so they have no vested interest in finding any legitimate solutions to dealing with bigotry. In fact, his teaching promote bigotry as a path to dealing with "racism."

Confused? You're not alone.

The fact is that "racism" is defined as believing your own race to be superior to others. In that regard anyone who exhibits any kind of racial pride - white pride, black pride or any other, is, by definition, "racist." The more insecure and less educated a person is, the more likely they are to take pride in things like race that they've no control over. Pride should be reserved for achievements. None of us "achieved" being born black or Asian or white.

Bigotry is something else altogether. Bigotry is the hating of others for what they are. That's why bigotry is a lot more dangerous than "racism" is and it's also why so many people use the term "racism" when they really mean bigotry. The inane definition that "racism is the use of power by one group over another" is specious. Ethnic majorities and minorities have peacefully coexisted all over the globe despite the majority (regardless of race) having voting and purchasing power over the minorities.

That's why this book is so destructive, it claims to seek an end to "racism" through the promotion of anti-white bigotry. I wish I could find something nice to say about this tract, but it is demonstrably wrong in its approach, misguided in the viewpoint it proffers and dangerous in that it actually promotes a virulent anti-white bigotry.

I've never given a book a single star before but this one gets just that. ... Read more

Book Description
With this fascinating text, you will start to analyze the social and psychological dynamics of racism and the implications it will carry for you as helping professional. Authors Joshua Miller and Ann Marie Garran investigate the many facets of racism in the United States, examining how racism exists not only outside of us, but inside of us as well. Human service workers must confront and challenge racism in both these areas. Those in the helping professions are ethically obligated to work for a society of fairness and social justice and to provide culturally responsive services to all clients, ensuring equal access and quality. The authors demonstrate that it is insufficient to solely focus on social structures, services, institutional practices, or on changing other people. They show that we must also look within and explore our own biases and blind spots which influence how we view ourselves and those whom we are committed to helping. ... Read more

Book Description
Theories of Race and Racism is an important and innovative collection that brings together the work of scholars who have helped to shape the study of race and racism as a historical and contemporary phenomenon.The Reader's contributons have been chosen to reflect the different theoretical perspectives and to help readers gain a feel for the changing terms of the race and racism debate over time.Theories of Race and Racism is divided into the following main sections: Origins and TransformationsSociology, Race and Social TheoryRacism and Anti-SemetismColonialism, Race and the OtherFeminism, Difference and IdentityChanging Boundaries and Spaces The editors go futher to shed light on the relatively new areas of interest that are likely to attract attention in years to come.
Contributors include; Theodor Adorno, K. Anthony Appiah, Michael Banton, Zygmunt Bauman, Ruth Benedict , Homi Bhabha, Chetan Bhatt, Gargi Bhattacharyya, Avtar Brah, Hazel Carby, Barbara Christian, Oliver C. Cox, Richard Dyer, Frantz Fanon, Ruth Frankenberg, Sander Gilman, Paul Gilroy, David T. Goldberg, Stuart Hall, Patricia Hill Collins, bell hooks, Max Horkheimer, Winthrop Jordan, Michael Keith, Anne McClintock, Kobena Mercer, Robert Miles, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, George Mosse, Gunnar Myrda, Robert Park, John Rex, John Solomos, Stephen Steinberg, Ann Laura Stoler, Tzvetan Todorov, Russo and Lourdes Torres, Patrica Williams, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw, Howard Winant, Lola Young, Slavoj Zizek. ... Read more

Book Description
From subtle discrimination in everyday life and scandals in politics, to incidents like lynchings in the American South, cultural imperialism, and 'ethnic cleansing', racism exists in many different forms, in almost every facet of society. But what actually is race? How has racism come to be so firmly established? Why do so few people actually admit to being racist? How are race, ethnicity, and xenophobia related? Racism: A Very Short Introductionincorporates the latest research to demystify the subject of racism and explore its history, science, and culture.It sheds light not only on how racism has evolved since its earliest beginnings, but will also explore the numerous embodiments of racism, highlighting the paradox of its survival, despite the scientific discrediting of the notion of 'race' with the latest advances in genetics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

I'm glad there's a book out there on this topic!
Too often it's assumed that all environmentalists are white, class-privileged neo-hippies and that people of color are too busy with "real" issues.This book shows that activists of color are extremely dedicated to fighting pollutants in their community.This book stresses that a disproportionate number of communities of color have been targeted for toxic wastes sites, etc.; so it is not environmental classism, but specifically environmental racism.This book does a good job in showing how Blacks, Native Americans, and Latinos are equally engaged in fighting this tragedy.This book may be too simplistic for longtime activists.For non-scientists like myself, many of the chemical compounds mentioned and stuff like that went right over my head (figuratively, of course).Still, this helped me learn more on the topic and is a good starter book.I think this book can help bring progressives across color lines together. ... Read more

Book Description

Any counselor or therapist, regardless of race, background, or motive, can engage in unintentional acts of racism. In so doing, they may inadvertently sabotage their own efforts and perpetuate the very problems they seek to overcome. Overcoming Unintentional Racism in Counseling and Therapy, Second Edition examines the dynamics and effects of racism in counseling with an emphasis on the insidiousness of unintentional racism.

Workable solutions and practical alternatives are proposed with the goal of eliminating unintentional racism. Numerous supporting clinical examples are included in order to help counselors gain new insights into their operational practices and to modify any behaviors that may interfere with a helpful intervention. The Second Edition also provides a new section on the policies and practices of agencies and other institutions in the mental health system unintentionally resulting in service disparities. Macro-system and micro-system interventions are proposed to overcome these disparities. 

Key Features:

• The only book that addresses unintentional racism in counseling and therapy.
• Offers a superb balance of theory and practice.
• Provides problem identification and workable solutions to individual and institutional racism.

Overcoming Unintentional Racism in Counseling and Therapy is ideally suited as a supplemental text for theoretical courses in counseling, counseling techniques, practicum, multicultural counseling, and professional seminars.

Customer Reviews (1)

be aware of differences
Ridley teaches that counselors should be aware of, and sensitive to, cultural or ethnic issues, when aiding their clients. In part because, at least for American counselors, the diversity of the American population is likely to cause them to have a diverse caseload.

Many ways are suggested for help counselors. One perhaps a propos method is for a counselor to herself seek counsel. This congruency or professional self awareness may be a good way for her to not later project her issues onto her clients.

In terms of client diversity, examples are given that counselors should be careful about generalising from the ethnic of a client. For example, the fact that a client is Asian might not mean that she had much in common with another Asian client. The sheer national and cultural diversity in Asia means that stereotyping can be fraught with errors. ... Read more

Book Description
A remarkable study revealing that answers might be more startling than could be imagined. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Lively Read For Me!
Unlike the reviewer for Publishers Weekly who wrote that "no one browsing this book would mistake it for a lively read," I found this book to be entertaining, enlightening and provocative. In short, it was a lively read for me! I am an intellectual particularly interested in issues pertaining to race and so I understand that what I find to be appealing is often dismissed in mainstream discourse as is demonstrated by the somewhat negative review. The Publishers Weekly review also stated that a weakness of this study was that it did not mention the frequency of racist incidents. Of course the underlying assumption here is that racism is not really a serious problem and that the authors must have overexaggerated the racist actions of the children. Anyone who is progressive realizes that racism is a serious problem which manifests itself daily in a number of ways in all kinds of settings. As much as I enjoyed reading the book, I also found it distressing as a future parent of black children. At the beginning of the book the authors relate an incident in which a three year old biracial (white/Asian) child referred to another four year old black child as a "nigger" and didn't want to sleep beside her during naptime because "niggers are stinky." Van Ausdale's and Feagin's analysis of this incident is excellent. Can you imagine being the parent of that black child and having to talk with her (a four year old, if you will) about what happened? The burden of dealing with race should not be placed solely on the shoulders of children and parents of color.For this reason I recommend THE FIRST R to all parents.

Examing The First R
The premise of the study done by Van Ausdale and Feagin was that from an early age children conceptualize race and racial identity. Their suggestion is that from a very early age, people's perceptions of race and ethnicity become impregnated into their psyche. Through various social exchanges children learn and regurgitate what is learned. These perceptions can be developed from any area of social interaction.
Throughout history it has been thought that children were not active participants in any of these spheres. It had been thought that children were imitators of adult and are the initial recipients of these ideas and perceptions. Van Ausdale counter these popular conceptions about children and how they acquire information. The study, which seeks to show that children actively form and interpret concepts of race at very early ages, used 58 children from the ages of three to six as subjects. Through their work the authors emphasize the social space (the daycare) as a microcosm of America's racial pecking order.
Chapter one the authors give a literature review of child development theory thoroughly examining the pros and cons of these theories as they relate to children's acquisition of race. The author's challenge how these theories fail to delve into how children learn and perpetuate social constructs. An area of primary concern is the fact these theories take responsibility away from the children.
The author introduces a concept called "adult-centered" orientation, which is a research technique that rules out any serious cognitive qualities in children. It merely looks at children as adults with deficits, and lacking the realist ability to be engaging in abstract concepts such as race, class and ethnicity. The authors go on to say that most analysis of the socialization of children says that children primarily imitate and mirror adult behavior rather than actually processing adult instructs.
The authors use the inadequacies of these child development theories to establish the premise of the study. The shift is from the "adultcentric" researching technique to a research technique that sees the children as able to understand the complexity of their social environment.
Van Ausdale the primary fieldworker between the authors. She spent 11 months studying the subjects at a multicultural day care. She says of her observation style that she functioned an invisible observer. This approach allows Van Ausdale to take very passive role in the subject's lives.
In Chapter Two there is significant empirical evidences to support Van Ausdales assertion that children understand concepts or race and ethnicity. The children continue show how they define themselves along with the precarious social exchanges that directly mirror society's racial hierarchy. This chapter lays the cement in terms of the premise; which are children are not the unreceptive, egocentric figures that adults assume they are. The major themes of this chapter are vivid, the idea that children develop solid ideas of what the white identity means chiefly from excluding others.
These children on various occasions keenly process the concepts of race and the institute of racial hierarchies. The authors move on to say that children at "very early ages invented complex combinations of racial meaning, for themselves and for others, and incorporated social relationships and physical characteristics to produce explanations for how their world was racially constructed and maintained"(pg.48). This point further supports the premise that children are not the inert recipients of information, but rather children are seen as beings that conceptualize complex ideas and judge its validity in a social setting.
In chapter three the author discusses the ins and outs of out children's group association. The playgroups serve as outlets for social exchanges that aid in developing social standards. The interactions of these children cannot be typecasted but they showed profoundly that children used racial concepts to exclude one another or to humiliate each other. A very striking example was when one child excluded another child from play in a sandbox and compared her complexion to rabbit feces, she even goes on to say that "your skin is shi**y"(109). This statement had extreme importance in regards the authors premise. This child had to recognize the social significance of her statements. The author moves on to rectify the social structure that sees these types of statements as a means of creating and reinforcing division and subjugation. This is one of many noted examples of how children absorb racist attitudes. These children repeatedly showed clear how children use racial-ethnic differences to define themselves and others.
The idea of race consciousness in children is certainly exemplified in this chapter. This chapter showed that children usually separated by race or made clear race distinctions in judging their space or play groups. The idea of race being conceptualized by children at such an early age examines the social strata of the lives of children. Then the author develops the idea of white adults who continue to harbor deeply racist images and stereotypes and practice racial discrimination in settings they traverse in their daily lives (127). It is also stated that neither children nor adults experience race as an abstract concept but rather in concrete form through social exchanges. This approach to how race is transmitted solidifies the assertion that race is understood and processed by children.
In chapter Four the authors examines to what extent children use racial concepts to define other people. Somewhat mirroring the sophisticated examples of how children comprehend the dynamic of race. The authors go on to say that race and skin color play lead roles in how children identify others. The various incidents in this chapter force the authors to determine outright that young children can and do make extensive use of racial and ethnic concepts and understandings (153). This chapter focuses on how children have a basic understanding of the significance of race, and how children develop associations based on physical composition.
In Chapter Five the point is driven in that adults view children as unable to synthesize racial distinctions. Throughout the study we notice overwhelmingly that parents, teachers and volunteers underestimate the scope of the children's understanding of the role of race. To examine how children process race the authors make elaborate points of how adults recognize or fail to recognize the extent of children' racial-ethnic knowledge. This can be problematic to minority children because the racial comments can tear at their esteem while majority children go without reprimand, under the guise of being considered naïve. This lack of assigning blame to children who offend other children with race also leads to the children espousing the social appropriateness of this clearly out of line behavior. This is the cycle that stagnates race relations in later years; clearly neglecting to challenge these behaviors at an early age creates the existing social order.
What and how children learn about race and ethnic matters is examined in chapter six. Children learn from what they are exposed to along with the directives from those who are their caretakers or provide for them. Society influences children's learning, as children adjust and readjust volleying for social position.According to the authors "all Americans both majority and minority are influenced in thought and action by the larger racialized context in which they live"(177). Another very important piece of information is this quote "From an early age children are immersed in a pervasive and informal system of racism the, during various exchanges with others they acquire the techniques of dealing with other members of other racial and ethnic groups"(178). This quote positions children as coinsures of race and shows the level of experience children have with dealing with race. Young children learn to manage and understand their social exchanges through various means, but it is understood that they do so by deciphering complex social clues.
In chapter seven the authors move on to ponder potential anecdotes. Initially the authors challenge the idea that racism is impossible for young children, then the authors move on to note that racism is not a fading societal reality (197). Destroying these two barriers permit racism to be dealt with in an intelligent manner and work to reverse the effects and residue of racism. They continue to illustrate how racism affects most areas of life and that racism is a definite social reality. The authors go on the say "Children are not immune to racism nor unaware of its power"(198). So we must be honest with children and acknowledge that race exist, follow up with sincere dialogue to process racism. Many parents believe children develop racial attitudes similar to those held by their parents. Some believe children learn racially tolerant behaviors by observing their parents' positive interactions with people of color and, conversely, learn intolera

BEFORE THE HURTFUL CONFRONTATION!
Young children are capable of learning facts if you break them down to their level,authors Van Ausdale and Feagin write, and the soonerthis open and honest dialogue occurs,the better little children can develop a strong sense of fairness.Age 3 is not too young to introduce basics- things children visualize and can touch like skin color, eye shape and hair texture.Waiting for middle school is too late, so the burden of teaching differences in a positive way falls to parents.The authors emphasize if diversity, tolerance and fighting bigotry are taught at home with parents imparting their values there will be no room for misunderstanding when children begin to interact with others. Much of the data presented comes from studies made at several multiethic child-care centers where children had little interaction with people of other ethnic groups, and probably had not been taught about race.Their revealed misconceptions and attitudes were often disconcerting. This book offers a comprehensive look at America today, the issue of race, and how to help our children better understand and cope with the reality of racism before the "hurtful confrontation".Interested readers, not only parents and teachers, will learn a lot from this book.It is a step in a positive direction. ... Read more

Book Description
When Racism Is LawandPrejudice Is Policy can best be described as a textbook with a conscience. In its style and structure, it effortlessly leads the reader to the historical, political and sociological water of U.S. race relations and invites them to drink. It adeptly covers the various laws, policies and decisions in U.S. History that have profoundly and negatively impacted people of color, the poor and the physically and mentally challenged. This volume crosses the various disciplines and areas of concentration: history, sociology, political science, philosophy and legal studies.Dr. Rhymes not only paints an insightful and thought-provoking portrait of the past, but in so doing has provided an astute framework for the present and future in regard to the attitudes and philosophies that make discriminatory laws and policies not only possible but inevitable. ... Read more

Book Description
In this profound study of America's persistent racial divide, Molefi Kete Asante, a leading scholar of African American history and culture, discusses the festering issue of systemic racism in America.As Asante makes clear, America continues to be a nation of two peoples with very different histories and perspectives--a white majority that mainly perceives a land of promise and a black minority very much consigned to a wilderness on the margins of society.Despite the legal and social progress of African Americans since the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the bitter legacy of slavery and subsequent racial injustice continues to haunt American society.

Asante pinpoints the greatest source of frustration and anger among African Americans in recent decades: what he calls "the wall of ignorance" that attempts to hide the long history of racial injustice from public consciousness.This is most evident in each race's differing perspective on racial matters.Though many whites view racism as a thing of the past, a social problem largely solved by the civil rights movement, blacks continue to experience rasism in many areas of social life: encounters with the police; the practice of redlining in housing; difficulties in getting bank loans, mortgages, and insurance policies; and glaring disparities in health care, educational opportunities, unemployment levels, and incarceration rates.Though such problems are not expressions of the overt racism of legal segregation and lynch mobs--what most whites probably think of when they hear the word "racisism"--their negative effect on black Americans is almost as pernicious.Such daily experiences create a lingering feeling of resentment that percolates until some event triggers an outburst of rage, like the Los Angeles riots of 1992. Only then does the majority start to pay attention.

Asante argues that America cannot long continue as a cohesive society under these conditions.As we enter a new century, he urges more public focus on redressing the wrongs of the past and their continuing legacy.Above all, he thinks that Americans must consider some system of reparations to deal with both past and present injustices, an apology, and our own truth and reconciliation committee that addresses both the history of slavery and present-day racism.Only in this way, according to Asante, can we ever hope to heal the racial divide that never seems to be ereased. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

This is a must read book!
This is an excellent book. Dr Molefi Kete Asante has written a brillliant book on a very complex issue in the American society and the world: race. How does one erase racism from one's mind? As Pr Asante writes, only by a better knowledge of its past that America can better deal with such a very sensitive and complex problem.
The U.S. likes boasting itself of being a great defender of democracy and justice but it is incapable of defending that same justice and equality for its citizens of African descent. America -and the whole world for that matter- will not be a peaceful place if it doesn't seriously tackle that corny issue: racism. Whether one lives in Paris, London, New-York, Madrid, Brussels, Rome, Beijing, Tokyo or Moscow, to name but a few, racism is always present. We have to erase it if we want to live peacefully with our fellow human beings.
This book by Dr Asante is so well written that I more than recommend it to all the people who put humanity first.
I give it five stars because it more than deserves it!
Go get it!

Intelligent Argument
Although sometimes long-winded and with way too many wild examples for me to handle when it came to brutality (which was precisely his point), I liked this book a lot. I read it for a class, but I would've read it for fun. It goes into the depths of how racism has affected our country as a whole, be it through riots, murder, job prejudice, lack of progress, lack of companionship, lack of trust, poverty, and through celebrities.This author goes into all realms of racism and in the end, proposes the same argument I supported for years.I thoroughly agree with every point he has made, and I like his unique way of spreading about Reparations.
I heard him speak at my college and he was phenomenal. My teacher said he was humble. I don't know where she got that idea from because he was very in-your-face and I love that about him.Any time someone speaks on a controversial topic, they have to be willing to stand by what they say and have relevant examples to back themselves up.One of the ladies in my class said before he spoke that she felt this book "disrespected white people."I totally disagree.I think this book is just the truth that some are not ready to read.

Asante Continues to Add Insight to Discussion of Race
Upon initial exposure of this new Asante tome, i thought it a fresh and long over-due departure from the "Greece borrowed/stole this or that from Afrika" discussion that has engulfed him for more than twenty years. My assumption was correct.

In this book, Asante adds new and pertinent points of perspectives not before considered in debates or discussions dealing with race. He also discusses the very important issue of reparations. This book is a must-have for those interested in courageously addressing the issue of race in the United States and throughout the world.

BNS FOREVER.

Tarikh Bandele ... Read more

Book Description

In 1968, ten thousand students marched in protest over the terrible conditions prevalent in the high schools of East Los Angeles, the largest Mexican community in the United States. Chanting "Chicano Power," the young insurgents not only demanded change but heralded a new racial politics. Frustrated with the previous generation's efforts to win equal treatment by portraying themselves as racially white, the Chicano protesters demanded justice as proud members of a brown race. The legacy of this fundamental shift continues to this day.

Ian Haney López tells the compelling story of the Chicano movement in Los Angeles by following two criminal trials, including one arising from the student walkouts. He demonstrates how racial prejudice led to police brutality and judicial discrimination that in turn spurred Chicano militancy. He also shows that legal violence helped to convince Chicano activists that they were nonwhite, thereby encouraging their use of racial ideas to redefine their aspirations, culture, and selves. In a groundbreaking advance that further connects legal racism and racial politics, Haney López describes how race functions as "common sense," a set of ideas that we take for granted in our daily lives. This racial common sense, Haney López argues, largely explains why racism and racial affiliation persist today.

By tracing the fluid position of Mexican Americans on the divide between white and nonwhite, describing the role of legal violence in producing racial identities, and detailing the commonsense nature of race, Haney López offers a much needed, potentially liberating way to rethink race in the United States.

Customer Reviews (6)

Required reading if interested in la raza's history
I love this book. Haney Lopez gives us an intriguing description of the history of Mexican-descent peoples in the United States since the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, with a focus on the rise of Chicano identity and the Chicano movement in Los Angeles during the tumultuous 1960s. What sticks with me most about this book is the rupture and transformation in identity politics. From the 1930s to the early 1960s, mainstream Mexican-American organizations advocated a hard assimilationist line, lobbying larger (white) American society to accept Mexican-Americans as part of the Anglo-Saxon cultural core. At the time, such organizations were staffed by and represented the relatively small Mexican-American middle class (which consisted largely of lighter-skinned individuals who were capable of "passing" as white). As part of this strategy to accomodate White America, Mexican-American leaders at the time (again, mainly middle class and mainly light skinned) declared that Mexicans were essentially "white" and thus emphasized Spanish/European heritage of Mexico over its indigenous and to a lesser extent, African, roots. Such persons often looked down on poor, dark, or indigenous persons of Mexican descent in efforts to distance themselves from their "undesirable" co-ethnics. From 1930-1960, the U.S. Census officially classified Mexican-Americans as "white," unless such individuals were visibly "Indian" or "Black."

The efforts of appeasement and accomodation on the part of the lobbyists did not result in the elimination of individual and insitutional discrimination against Mexicans, however. As a result, a new movement arose in the 1960s that thoroughly rejected the older generation's assimilation/accomodation agenda. Three decades of accomodation had been virtually ineffective in eliminating anti-Mexican prejudice, discrimination, and police malpractice. It is within this context, which manifested during the 1960s, that the Chicano identity/movement was born. Ian Haney Lopez provides all the detail you need.

I could personally relate to much of the book's content, as I've been engaged in numerous debates and arguments over the politics of identity labels. I have seen first-hand the adamant demands of people with relatively high levels of cultural and structural assimilation to be called "Hispanic" over "Chicano" or "Latino," while I've seen countless Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans voice just as strong a disgust for the term "Hispanic" as essentially a term of elitism and arrogance. Haney Lopez's book hits hard and strikes home. Be sure to read it.

Ha-Lo scores another success!
An academic text that's also page turner, Racism on Trial is an excellent companion to "White By Law" ... but it has it's own appeal and original ideas beyond Haney-Lopez's past work.As this becomes a more common text in ethnic/chicano studies classes a constitutional and social discussion delves deeper with Professor Haney Lopez provoking new thought and analysis regarding these uniquely American issues.

A Great Book
This book rocks! It's a very well written history of Mexicans in Los Angeles that not only tells their story, but also offers a way to understand why some Mexican Americans say their White, and others that they are Brown. A must read for persons trying to understand race and Latinos.

A powerful rethinking of race and racism
Racism on Trial offers a powerful rethinking of race and racism.
The author looks at how Mexican Americans went from thinking of themselves as white in the 1930s to the 1960s (who knew?), to brown in the context of the Chicano movement (a self-conception that seems alive and well today). This rapid change provides Lopez with an opportunity to further develop the idea that race really comes down to ideas and practices, rather than biological differences. Of course, it's also true that race is not something the Mexican American community had full control over, as they were responding to a legacy of colonialism and conquest that treated them as if they were non-white.

To get at this legacy, the author looks at the way the police and the courts mistreated Mexican Americans, and offers a theory of what he calls "common sense racism."This theory really helps explain how racism is tied into to taken-for-granted ideas as well as the way our world has been structured by centuries of racism. Lopez may overclaim when he says most racism is now of the common sense variety, but he certainly contributes an important way of thinking about how racism continues even when there is no individual racist.

On the whole, this is a great book. It tells an amazing story about Chicano activism. It gives a concise history about how Mexicans have been treated as a race in this country, and about how they have responded. And it offers a sophisticated way of thinking about how race operates as social knowledge, both in the hands of racists and those opposed to racism. I would definitely recommend this book.

Important but Requires Originality
An important addition to the growing body of literature on the Chicano/a movement, Racism on Trial, however, is in need of original sources.Haney-Lopez's footnotes suggest a rather liberal use of unpublished scholarship.An interesting synthesis on the politics of race, though. ... Read more