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Black Rednecks and White Liberals

Thomas Sowell

4.40 · Rating details · 4,950 ratings · 666 reviews

This book presents the kind of eye-opening insights into the history and culture of race for which Sowell has become famous. As late as the 1940s and 1950s, he argues, poor Southern rednecks were regarded by Northern employers and law enforcement officials as lazy, lawless, and sexually immoral. This pattern was repeated by blacks with whom they shared a subculture in the ...more

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Hardcover, 372 pages

Published June 1st 2005 by Encounter Books (first published April 30th 2005)

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Dec 27, 2013 Stephen rated it really liked it

Shelves: social-criticism, history, thomas-sowell, race, slavery

Thomas Sowell's provocatively-titled Black Rednecks and White Liberals casts a critical eye toward conventional understandings of race, class, and history, collecting a half-dozen extensive essays in one volume. Although each essay is written as a standalone piece, some concern common subjects and refer to one another. Sowell principally writes on African-Americans and Jews here, aside from an apologia written on Germany. His central argument essentially blames the welfare state for the continui Thomas Sowell's provocatively-titled Black Rednecks and White Liberals casts a critical eye toward conventional understandings of race, class, and history, collecting a half-dozen extensive essays in one volume. Although each essay is written as a standalone piece, some concern common subjects and refer to one another. Sowell principally writes on African-Americans and Jews here, aside from an apologia written on Germany. His central argument essentially blames the welfare state for the continuing degradation of black Americans, by way of historical arguments, one of them deliciously twisted -- the title essay.

"Black Rednecks and White Liberals" sets the stage by contending that the woeful culture of poverty keeping urban blacks in a despairing state is not one which they created themselves, but one inherited from poor whites, and specifically the poor whites who emigrated from a border region of Scotland during a specific timeframe in which Scottish 'crackers' of the area were slobbering savages, having not yet been tamed by the graces of English civilization. The poor whites of this ‘cracker culture’ exhibited the same self-defeating behaviors lamented over in the ghetto today; a disdain for education and work, a painfully abbreviated approach to the English language, wanton sexuality, and a gleeful embrace of violence, along with an ‘honor’ system that promoted the use of such violence. It is Sowell’s opinion that southern blacks were acculturated into the behaviors of the ‘white trash’ and dragged it around the country with them. Given its self-defeating nature, Sowell comments that this cracker culture largely died out among the poor whites, and even the first waves of southern blacks who carried it around the country – but after the 1960s, when the welfare state sprang into being, those behaviors were propped up – being no longer culled by the scythe of sheer necessity. After arguing for this, Sowell later builds off it in an essay on education, and again in his final essay on the historical perspective, condemning modern approaches as too forgiving, too soft: blacks and whites who lifted themselves up out of poverty and despair did so not by accepting substandard English as their cultural heritage, nor by taking self-esteem classes, but by acknowledging the relative inferioty of their station in life to others:. The Scots became intellectual titans after abandoning Gaelic for English, and consequently gaining access to the English literary world, and the Japanese adopted western means of science, government, and economics to catapult from feudal island to global power in the Meiji revolution. In putting aside defensive pride and setting a superior standards for themselves, they both catapulted themselves from backwards hinterlands to first-world countries who would be active players in shaping world history..

Thomas Sowell, it should be noted, is black himself, and is a product of this process of enlightenment, having been reared in the kind of schools he now advocates, having set for himself superior standards. To multicultural sensibilities, he may seem like a self-loathing black man at times, for all the abuse he heaps on poor blacks and whites and for all he waxes poetic about the glorious intellectual and moral history of the west, problematic as it was. Were he white, Sowell would almost certainly be condemned as a racist, and a cavalier of western chauvinism. His entire argument is simultaneously thought-provoking and problematic. Some is straightforward history, like his account of slavery or the reactions of northerners to white southern emigrants, which as they are quoted sound exactly like what you might expect to hear of those participating in 'white flight' decades later. It's not surprising that long-term residents of an area would react with hostility toward the sudden intrusion of poor immigrants, flooding into areas the residents rightfully considered their own. Sowell's belief that the culture of contemporary 'ghetto blacks' was one passed down directly by 'crackers' is a much harder sell. Given that slaves were owned not by 'white trash', but by the plantation elite, would they really have spent enough time around the 'crackers' to acquire the values? And why would they adopted those values, considering that impoverished white sharecroppers were just as economically miserable as themselves, and loathed the former slaves to boot? The statistics Sowell quotes to demonstrate that the black story of the 20th century is sometimes one of regress are damning: even if a reader doesn't accept his condemnation of welfare as causing the erosion of black family life, and stymieing the natural processes that would reverse self-destructive behaviors, the analysis is staggering in its implications. This isn't exactly a national secret -- Bill Cosby has written books despairing about the woeful condition of black family life and communities in the latter half of the 20th century -- but Sowell's work puts the decline into sharp focus.

Although I find Sowell's contempt for the poor, self-defeating they may be, highly uncomfortable -- especially his frequent brandishment of 'cracker', which in certain counties of the Deep South is a pejorative on the level of kike or wop -- I appreciated various elements of this collection. The almost tributary history to Germany's ancient cultural heritage, for instance, was a relief compared to the Omnipresent Nazi approach to German history, and the statistical work offers data that can be considered regardless of one's opinion on the unintended consequences of particular welfare policies. I'm increasingly sympathetic to the idea that improperly-designed welfare can exacerbate social problems, but think it more likely that certain destructive behaviors are endemic to the human experience, rather than being the legacy of Scottish emigrants to urban ghettos. Not for nothing have humans created so many religions, philosophies, and institutions to curb the worse of our instincts. Though readers will find a lot of food for thought in this collection, it has a sometimes bitter edge.
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Dec 02, 2014 Yvonne rated it it was ok

Shelves: race

Although this book is an interesting read, it's hard for me to support Sowell's ideology. Issues of race and culture are never as black and white as he espouses. Above all, his views are based on a conservative ideology that seems a bit self-loathing. Everything Anglo-Saxon is not superior. ...more

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Feb 01, 2021 Marissa rated it it was amazing

I am biased towards liking anything Thomas Sowell writes because I admire his insight and intellect when it comes to careful consideration of difficult topics and the clear communication of his ideas, and his grit and courage in making unpopular arguments. But this book in particular made the 5-star rating for me because I learned so much from it. Even if you do not agree with Sowell's conclusions, the historical events he uses as evidence for his claims are themselves valuable. Sowell's discuss ...more

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Dec 09, 2018 Jon Harris rated it liked it

Shelves: politics, sociology

Good for the most part. Destroys multiculturalism. Unfortunately, very economic view of history. Judges success based on intellectual and economic achievement. I think he conflates redneck culture with Southern culture. Slaves would have been affected more by lowland educated Southerners, not Frontier hillbillies. Also seems to use abolitionist sources like Olmsted to judge the South. Contradicts himself when says black inner city issues are a result of an inherited redneck culture and then late ...more

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Feb 18, 2020 Shoaib Nagi rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, ab, politics, econ-history, 2020-read, racism

Informative, yet biased. Sowell's 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' narrative for persecuted minorities greatly downplays the significance of continuous persecution that they have faced (or are facing).

I understand the need to call for introspection. It is easy for any downtrodden minority to blame their woes on the powerful majority while completely disregarding what they themselves can do better. However, the way Sowell pushes this narrative tends to greatly exculpate the historically gui ...more

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Jun 25, 2020 Anet rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Of immense value for our current times - Sowell writes eloquently against the dangers of demagoguery, well-meaning but misguided attempts to ‘help,’ of trying to fix any one group’s issues from the outside while ignoring their internal problems, of blaming people in the present for the sins of past people who happened to look like them - this is something I wish everyone who either hates blacks and assumes all of their problems are caused by them, or people who are trying hard not to be racist a ...more

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Jan 04, 2021 Julian Ajello rated it it was amazing

Shelves: psychology, non-fiction, philosophy, politics, history, economics

Sowell explains how the culture of the South, which was inherited largely from uneducated Scots who came over to the new world, is the basis for many issues that exist in America today. He also uses his work from 'A Conflict of Visions' to explain how the unconstrained vision used to remedy differences is deeply flawed and only exacerbates the problems that exist in America today.

It's a fascinating read that offers a lot of insight into race relations no only in the US, but all over the world a ...more

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Oct 10, 2020 Lydia rated it it was amazing

Very, very in depth. Contrasted with today's sound-byte videos, cursory infographics, dubiously-sourced memes, and dumbed down renderings of history, you will find Thomas Sowell's style complex and hard to follow! No wonder his ideas are ignored or unheard of by so much of society. However, if you have the will (I was battling my limited attention span the whole time), this book is worth every bit of difficulty. More than a few times my jaw dropped at how much breadth and detail he pulled from w ...more

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Oct 04, 2020 Matias Myllyrinne rated it it was amazing

Author build a compelling web of arguments. While initially some ideas seem to go against my own values, the book forces you to challenge some of your preconceptions. It touches on tabu subjects but avoid hyper politicizing these. Worth a read if you have an open mind and don’t mind being challenged.

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Jan 26, 2021 Daniel Hageman rated it really liked it

Shelves: history-and-political-philosophy

I don't know enough about these areas to be overly confident about the empirical studies and claims, but it strikes me as troublesome that I hadn't come across such discussion before, particularly the aspects about urban education. While there are a few claims in the book that seem an overstep, at least on first glance, I'd be very keen to read more into the matters and also hear critiques of his analysis. ...more

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Jun 09, 2020 John Burns rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

The first few chapters are the content referred to in the title where he talks about the Redneck culture that influences the majority of blacks in the united states. The north and south of America have two very distinct cultures. The south has this "cracker" culture which seems to be defined by a reluctance to commit to arduous work. It also has this honour culture where anyone who feels he has been insulted by another is obliged by his honour to step up and challenge the offending party, usuall The first few chapters are the content referred to in the title where he talks about the Redneck culture that influences the majority of blacks in the united states. The north and south of America have two very distinct cultures. The south has this "cracker" culture which seems to be defined by a reluctance to commit to arduous work. It also has this honour culture where anyone who feels he has been insulted by another is obliged by his honour to step up and challenge the offending party, usually with physical confrontation. This element of southern culture was also outlined in The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. Haidt described a study where participants were asked to report to an office at the end of a hallway. They had an altercation with an actor who muttered "asshole" under his breath. When the subjects entered the office their stress levels were examined (blood pressure, heart rate etc.) and the participants who were from the southern states were found to be experiencing much higher levels of stress. Southerners appear to have been culturally programmed to retalliate with aggression or even violence when insulted.

A general lack of industry and discipline and a tendency to use violence to resolve arguments are the main characteristics that Sowell singles out. Sowell points out that only 1/3 of the nation's white population comes from the south whereas 9/10 of the nation's black population comes from the south. Therefore, although whites are somewhat affected by this counter-productive southern culture, blacks are disproportionately affected. Sowell uses IQ data taken from 1st world war recruits to illustrate the point. Although the U.S. black IQ is generally measured as being around 15 points lower than the white IQ Sowell points out that White soldiers in Northern states also had higher IQs than White soldiers in southern states and that black soldiers in some northern states actually had higher IQs than the white soldiers in some southern states.

Sowell expands on this theme by looking at various accounts of what life was like in the south in the 19th century. For one thing, Southerners owned 40% of the dairy cows in the country but only produced 20% of the butter. Southerners were less willing than northerners to exert themselves in churning butter for hours on end. If you found a farm that had butter to sell it would invariably be owned by European immigrants.

Sowell also compares the habits of long-settled southerners vs new immigrants (norwegians and Germans) who settled in the same areas. Southerners don't bother to cut down the trees in their field and when they do they usually leave the roots in place and plough around them, whereas the european immigrants pull the roots up and so produce more crops for their land. A German (residing in a southern state) will build a bridge over any streams on his property the first chance he gets whereas a southerner will ford that stream every day of his life.

Supposedly the lazy and violent social tendencies of southerners can be traced back to England. Apparently Northerners tended to come from certain specific parts of England whereas the Southerners tended to come from Northern England, Ireland and Scotland and so carried with them the tendencies of those comparatively barbaric peoples. Sowell is eager to point out that the Scots subsequently changed their culture dramatically during the 18th century and today bare little resemblance to Southern Americans. Sowell has a lot of evidence to illustrate the differences between Northern and Southern culture, but this part of his thesis, that these cultures originated in England, seems a bit more speculative.

Sowell spends a long time listing all the ways in which today's American blacks have lower IQs, lower employment, Higher crime rates, Lower marriage rates etc. but he leans very heavily on culture as the culprit for these disparities as opposed to blaming either genetics or systemic racism. He repeatedly compares blacks to other ethnic groups in America (Chinese, Jews, Indians, West Indians) who frequently outperform blacks economically within two generations of their arrival in the US. If racism is to blame for the state of the current problems faced by blacks then it is hard to explain how these other races are out-competing blacks even in spite of their relatively recent arrival in the country. Chinese Americans and Indian Americans earn more than White Americans and are over-represented at elite universities. 2nd generation West-Indians earn 58% more than black Americans. Such statistics must baffle those who blame systemic racism for these problems because West-Indians are surely visually indistinguishable from Black Americans, certainly to the average racist at least.

To tackle the claims that inferior genes may be the cause of black under-performance Sowell compares the outcomes of certain black schools and finds that some of these schools (most notably Dunbar) disproportionately produce high-achieving and influential black individuals in spite of the fact that these schools do not practice selection when enrolling students. If inferior genes were to blame then it would be hard to explain how the few individuals with good genes all somehow wind up at the same schools. For Sowell, culture is the answer to these discrepancies. The good schools practice a kind of strict, Northern, New England culture where misbehaviour is immediately dealt with and where perfect grammar is insisted upon at all times. Students who do not comply are expelled promptly.

Why do the Chinese and the Indians outperform blacks and whites in America? Culture. The attitudes that the parents of chinese students instill in their children are very different from the attitudes instilled by black parents. Chinese americans live under an expectation to be well behaved and to study hard. By contrast, over 2/3 of black households today do not have a mother and a father. Sowell points out that black boys often bully their more academically successful peers who are studying dilligently. They ask them "Why are you acting white? You think you're better than us?" He also notes that the gap between the IQs of male and female students is larger amongst blacks due to the distinct anti-authority, macho, anti-intellectual culture that exists amongst black boys but not amongst black girls.

Sowell's main agenda in this part of the book is that America needs to take another look at the cultures and attitudes that exist amongst blacks as well as among the more prosperous demographic groups. If America is to fix its problems with racial inequality then it needs to change black culture, rather than blaming society as a whole. Essentially Sowell's premise could probably be boiled down to "maybe we could all benefit from being a bit more Chinese..."

In another section Sowell looks at Middleman minorities. The most famous examples are the jews. In various cultures jews have moved in and become retailers, jewellers, money lenders. They have rapidly become prosperous (more prosperous than the natives) and have drawn the ire of their neighbours due to the fact that middlemen are always perceived as parasites, agents who take a cut of the action without providing any benefit to others. Sowell makes the case for the economic usefulness of middlemen and also lists various other middlemen minorities in various countries around the world (e.g. the Chinese in Malaysia, Gujuratis in Britain, Koreans in America). Jews are generic to the ranks of the middlemen minorities although Sowell gives them extra credit for being disproportionately successful in intellectual endeavors. The world's 0.5% jewish population accounts for 29% of nobel prize winners.

There are also chapters on Germans and their exceptional record of economic productivity in many countries and many different eras. There are also chapters about slavery where Sowell is eager to remind us that slavery existed in all countries amongst all peoples and that the West (especially the Brits) distinguished itself as one of the few bodies that actually tried to abolish slavery. The rest of the world were enslaving each other long before and long after the peak of the Antlantic slave trade. Sowell goes further and says that it was Britain's imperial power which allowed it to wage such a successful campaign against slavery, meaning that it is effectively western imperialism which has done the most to abolish worldwide slavery. If there is anything shocking in this statement, that is not because it does not fit the facts but simply because it does not fit the prevailing vision.

In summary I thought this was another first rate Thomas Sowell book. It felt a bit more cobbled together than some of his other books but it was still extremely stimulating. It wouldn't be my first recommendation from his ouevre but I still recommend it. ...more

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Sep 23, 2010 Anthony rated it really liked it

I would've made this book a five star, but found that some of the opening essays regarding crackers and the history of northern England dragged a bit.
What picked up this books for me where the essays on the history of African-American education in the United States, the history of middle man racism (racism against those who play a middle-man role in society) and the history of Germany and the impacts of Nazism of people's attitudes towards the German people.
Picking one of these in particular, mi ...more

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Aug 29, 2020 Zack rated it liked it

Shelves: political-social-commentary, history

i am not an expert. how ever i do try to be logical and think analytically. sowell has a definite agenda in the book. but that does not rule out all merit. he gets the point out there that slavery is not exclusively American or racial. he gets somethings right about the founding fathers as well.
when it comes to deconstructing the opposing ideology i feel he picks the low hanging fruit. then moves on with out acknowledging let alone discussing opposing ideas of substance. it felt like his agenda ...more

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Dec 23, 2007 Skylar Burris rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Anyone who thinks liberal policies help minorities in the long run

Shelves: politics, economics-finance, sociology

I admire Sowell's ability to look at the facts and to follow them where they lead; to recognize that agendas need to be discarded in order to examine the evidence and to behold the entire, complex picture. I admire his ability to let go of emotional, gut reactions to topics and examine them through a purely logical lens. He takes a penetrating, intellectual look at issues people often discuss in sweeping moral and emotional terms: slavery, affirmative action, culture, conquest, education, and mo ...more

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May 12, 2010 David Robins rated it really liked it

Another excellent collection of essays. Eye-opening as usual - the title essay is especially enlightening: much of black culture that is negative actually comes from Southern whites which in turn came from border regions of England and Scotland: those areas have since improved their education, speech, manners, and so on, but the detrimental parts of their culture survives among poor blacks. Calling an interest in education "acting white" is an insult to the many black educational pioneers that w ...more

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Aug 07, 2016 An Idler rated it it was amazing

Sowell acknowledges the unattainability of perfect objectivity in a historian, but decries the use of that fact as a red herring for outright dishonesty. What follows is an honest accounting of the realities of minority histories in the United States and abroad. This accounting takes the form of an onslaught of facts from which propositions are extracted, implications summarized, and possible contradictions considered. Sowell does not make an apologia for slavery, conquest, or oppression, but in ...more

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Jun 17, 2020 Jerry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: civic-necessity, reread

Heedless of the past, we are flying blindly into the future.

This is a very focused history book. It touches on several aspects of the slave trade, but is focused specifically on how it affected black Americans and race relations in the United States. Sowell’s thesis is that black culture today and black language today is the culture and language of antebellum southern rednecks. It’s a culture inherited from pre-English “Scottish highlands, Ireland, Wales, or the northern and western uplands of ...more

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Feb 25, 2012 Jordan rated it it was amazing

An attention-grabbing title, but this book is much more. A broader world-history perspective on western civilization and why we should celebrate it, rather than feel guilty for historic injustices against particular ethnic groups. Great dialogue about Jews, Chinese, Koreans and other thrifty middle-man minorities throughout the world who have contributed greatly to the western world economy. Also an excellent look at the history of quality education, the ethnic groups that value it, and it's aff ...more

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Mar 12, 2018 Terrence D. rated it it was amazing

It's hard to describe my thoughts on this book. Part of me wants to be offended when he refers to "cracker culture," but then I realize just how much sense he makes and how true it all is. I can't say much on the book without spoiling it, but I will say that if you think yourself an expert on ethnic sociology, anthropology, or ethnic history, and haven't even read one book by Sowell on these topics, then you're kidding yourself, and possibly doing every one else a great disservice when you spea ...more

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Feb 03, 2020 Kat rated it it was amazing

This book start out the gate with a quick test of where the mind of the reader is on social and racial injustice. The book continues on with pure facts from modern day to past history. Professor Sowell uses his vast and wide knowledge from decades of research to teach and promote the truth of what our past really is and what it means to our future.
This book should be required reading at every level of education.

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Oct 26, 2007 Alexis rated it did not like it

This book was difficult to read, and at times I hated it. Still, it was terribly thought-provoking.

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Oct 17, 2013 Derek rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Repetitive, tenuous logic

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Dec 18, 2011 Frederick Glaysher rated it it was amazing

Thomas Sowell. Black Rednecks. White Liberals. MCRI[return]November 28th, 2006[return][return]Thomas Sowell, Black Rednecks and White Liberals. Encounter Books, 2005.[return][return]Black RednecksThe approval by voters of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative corroborates Thomas Sowell’s observation in his Preface to the book, referring to “a growing willingness to consider views that differ from the racial orthodoxy that has prevailed largely unchallenged from the 1960s onward in intellectual ci Thomas Sowell. Black Rednecks. White Liberals. MCRI[return]November 28th, 2006[return][return]Thomas Sowell, Black Rednecks and White Liberals. Encounter Books, 2005.[return][return]Black RednecksThe approval by voters of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative corroborates Thomas Sowell’s observation in his Preface to the book, referring to “a growing willingness to consider views that differ from the racial orthodoxy that has prevailed largely unchallenged from the 1960s onward in intellectual circles and in the popular media.” The education, government, business, and media elites of Michigan all banded together to hammer into the population the same old tiresome racial orthodoxy, to no avail. The people had had over forty years of it, experienced it in lived life, and would have no more of it. By an overwhelming fifty-eight percent, they voted to change direction, try something different from the orthodoxy of the liberal elites. Thomas Sowell’s book Black Rednecks and White Liberals suggests further lines for reconsideration and change.[return][return]In this context, I believe the most interesting essays in the book are “The Real History of Slavery” and “Black Education: Achievements, Myths and Tragedies.” Rejecting the Kunte Kinte view of slavery found in Alex Haley’s Roots, Sowell emphasizes that slavery was a worldwide phenomenon practiced by virtually all peoples and nations, not at all exclusively by white Western nations. Sowell perceives why the contemporary discussion of slavery is usually so distorted:[return][return] “Why would anyone wish to arbitrarily understate an evil that plagued mankind for thousands of years, unless it was not this evil itself that was the real concern, but rather the present-day uses of that historic evil? Clearly, the ability to score ideological points against American society or Western civilization, or to induce guilt and thereby extract benefits from the white population today, are greatly enhanced by making enslavement appear to be a peculiarly American, or a peculiarly white, crime” (111).[return][return]All of this feeds directly into the radical politics of affirmative action racial preferences. It skews our understanding of the real historical evils of slavery and substitutes emotional Hollywood distortions for the complexity of human experience.[return][return]Narrowing the history of slavery from the long record reaching back over three thousands years, in Europe, Africa, China, India, every region of the world, it was nevertheless only the Western world that developed moral compunctions against slavery and launched a “bitter worldwide struggle, which lasted more than a century, to destroy the elaborate systems and institutions for the ownership and sale of human beings” (114). Of particular interest is Sowell’s discussion of slavery under Islamic societies, in North Africa and elsewhere, which enslaved far more people than were ever brought to the Western hemisphere. Cervantes in Don Quixote has an incredible account of his five-year enslavement after the battle of Lepanto in 1571. Sowell’s discussion throws interesting light on the conditions to which European and African slaves found themselves subjected. Many millions of Europeans and Africans were enslaved over the centuries in Islamic countries, facts that ought to be studied much more after 9/11.[return][return]Similarly, Sowell emphasizes it was black tribal leaders who practiced slavery “before, during, and after the white man arrived” (120). Connecting the real history of slavery with its distorted uses by those who today want to fight for racial spoils, Sowell writes,[return][return] “Yet what was peculiar about the West was not that it participated in the worldwide evil of slavery, but that it later abolished that evil, not only in Western societies but also in other societies subject to Western control or influence. This was possible only because the anti-slavery movement coincided with an era in which Western power and hegemony were at their zenith, so that it was essentially European imperialism which ended slavery. This idea might seem shocking, not because it does not fit the facts, but because it does not fit the prevailing vision of our time” (134-135).[return][return]Visions hang on beyond their time, beyond their usefulness, such has been the case with racial preferences, which are predicated on a distorted sense of actual historical slavery. By addressing the real history of slavery, Sowell restores the proper perspective needed to come to terms with the complexity of American slavery and the perspective needed to find new ways to work together today. He observes at one point “Africans did not treat Europeans any better than Europeans treated Africans. Neither can be exempted from moral condemnation applied to the other” (139). If Michigan is seeking a new understanding of equality, one place to begin might be to realize, as Sowell says elsewhere, the prevailing vision of slavery of the “morally self-anointed” is wrong. To find a new future, we must recognize our understanding of the past is flawed, reconsider its complexity, understand no one is blameless, and move forward together.[return][return]In “Black Education: Achievements, Myths and Tragedies,” Sowell reconsiders the prevailing vision of the actual history of black education and demonstrates that it too is much different from the skewed account so many politically motivated radicals and liberals use to justify failed educational programs and policies:[return][return] “The quest for esoteric methods of trying to educate black children proceeds as if such children had never been successfully educated before, when in fact there are concrete examples, both from history and from our own times, of schools that have been successful in educating black children, including those from low-income families. Yet the prevailing educational dogma is that you simply cannot expect children who are not middle class to do well on standardized tests, for all sorts of sociological and psychological reasons” (203).[return][return]Sowell further states that this dogma is false for both black and other minority children and discusses a number of outstanding schools reaching from after the Civil War to the present, such as the M Street School, later to become known as Dunbar High School in Washington, DC.[return][return]After a long survey of these and other schools, Sowell writes,[return][return] “What the record of successful minority schools shows, both in history and among contemporary schools, is that educational achievement is not foredoomed by economic or social circumstances beyond the school grounds, as the education establishment constantly strives to prove. Poverty, broken homes, and unruly environments are not to be ignored, downplayed or apologized for. But neither are the failings of others proof that the education establishment is doing its job right. Perfect students with perfect parents in a perfect society cannot learn things that they are not being taught–and that includes an increasing number of basic things in our public schools” (217).[return][return]While the howls of protest to this passage might be the usual ones from the education establishment, I would argue his stress on working with students where they are and expecting “work and discipline” (221) from them is a no-nonsense approach that ought to be tried more often than not, instead of the latest pitying, enabling, undermining educational theory that asks little or nothing of kids and gets little or nothing in return. Higher expectations of their families, whether single parent or not, ought to play a part, though Sowell dismisses the idea that without parental involvement there is no hope for the child, insisting that the individual student can take charge of his or her life and achieve despite the family situation.[return][return]Excoriating the victimhood approach to education, Sowell laments that “the history of successful black schools has attracted virtually no interest from either historians or educators. That history does not advance any contemporary political agenda, though it might help advance the education of a whole generation of black students” (225). Far from blaming all educational problems of black students on racism, the usual liberal scapegoat, Sowell has no patience with such facile excuses and lays the blame squarely on the students themselves: “By and large, black students do not work as hard as white students, much less Asian students” (228). He goes on to blame a culture of non-achievement, comparing it to red-neck and lower-class whites and Asians who suffer from “the same counterproductive attitudes toward education” which are “just as self-defeating.” Failure is not restricted to any particular pigmentation or race, nor are the real reasons for such failure always unique to any particular race.[return][return]In a fine section of this chapter on education, Sowell highlights the views of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois, documenting that their attitudes on educational expectations and other matters were much closer than the common politicized opinion today would have it. The necessary resources and exemplary individuals run rife throughout black history and experience. I would argue what is needed is for more people to hear and respect such scholars as Thomas Sowell, learn from them, and work together to chart a new path together into the future.[return][return]In his conclusion Sowell essentially challenges educational leaders and students “to work harder and abandon the counterproductive notion that seeking educational excellence is ‘acting white’” (244). He ends his essay on black education in a way that calls to mind Bill Cosby’s recent addresses wherein Cosby has said more studies are not needed. The problems are known. The black community is in crisis and needs to take action:[return][return] “Despite the heartening achievements of some black schools, which have repeatedly demonstrated what is possible even with children from low-income backgrounds, the general picture of the education of black students is bleak. Much of what is said–and not said–about the education of black students reflects the political context, rather than the educational facts. Whites walk on eggshells for fear of being called racists, while many blacks are preoccupied with protecting the image of black students, rather than protecting their future by telling the blunt truth. It is understandable that some people are concerned about image, about what in private life might be expressed as: “What will the neighbors think?” But, when your children are dying, you don’t worry about what the neighbors think” (245).[return][return]Though bleak, attitudes are changing, will continue to change, will, as Ward Connerly has remarked, take time to change, creating a new climate of expectations and performance, on all sides. The passage of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI) registers such change. Neighbors of goodwill do exist, are distressed, worried, and concerned, willing to help, where they can, if allowed. It needs to be said much more often that 14% of black voters approved the proposal. They are people who want much of what Sowell discusses in terms of education for their children and community. These two essays ought to be read by anyone serious about assessing where we are after the passage of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, and where, together, we are all going from here.[return][return]Frederick Glaysher [return]http://www.fglaysher.com ...more

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Jun 14, 2018 David West rated it it was amazing

Shelves: culture-and-conservatism, audiobook

What a book! This one helped me understand much about black/white relations and culture in America. I've read abolitionist biography and history and a few books about slavery. But, I've never read anything like this one. Much was clarified for me. This is a book I would recommend to my children when they are ready.

With statements like these how could it not be fascinating?

"...most lynching victims in the antebellem south were white. Economic considerations alone would prevent a slave owner from What a book! This one helped me understand much about black/white relations and culture in America. I've read abolitionist biography and history and a few books about slavery. But, I've never read anything like this one. Much was clarified for me. This is a book I would recommend to my children when they are ready.

With statements like these how could it not be fascinating?

"...most lynching victims in the antebellem south were white. Economic considerations alone would prevent a slave owner from lynching his own slave or tolerating anyone else's doing so. It was only after the Civil War that the emancipated blacks became the principal targets of lynching. But by then, Southern vigilante violence had been a tradition for more than a century in North America and even longer back in the regions of Britain from which crackers and rednecks came where retributive justice was often left in private hands. Even the burning cross of the Ku Klux Klan has been traced back to the fiery cross of Old Scotland used by feuding clans."

"By projecting a vision of a world in which the problems of blacks are consequences of the actions of whites either immediately or in times past white liberals have provided a blanket excuse for shortcomings and even crimes by blacks. The very possibility of internal cultural sources of the problems of blacks have been banished from consideration by the fashionable phrase 'blaming the victim'. But no one can be blamed for being born into a culture that evolved in centuries past, even though moving beyond such a culture may do more for future advancement than blaming others or seeking special dispensation."

"...for thousads of years slavery was simply not an issue. Even among the great religious thinkers or moral philosophers of civilizations around the world. We may wonder why it took eighteen centuries after the Sermon on the Mount for Christians to develop an anti-slavery movement, but a more profound question is why not even the leading moralist in other civilizations rejected slavery at all. There is no evidence (according to a scholarly study) that slavery came under serious attack in any part of the world before the 18th century. That is when it first came under attack in Europe. Themselves the leading slave traders of the 18th century, Europeans nevertheless became, in the 19th century, the destroyers of slavery around the world."

"The size of the free black population increased after the United States came into existence as an independent nation. As the ideololgy of freedom associated with the American Revolution led most northern states to abolish slavery, and even in the south, enough white slave owners freed their slaves to cause the free black population their to double and then redouble between 1790 and 1810."

Sowell argues that racism isn't the cause of slavery but one of the results of slavery. Especially fascinating to me was how Sowell traced redneck culture to parts of Scotland and Britain, even giving some examples from linguistics.

If you like history, sociology, and issues of culture and justice, this book is worthy of your time. ...more

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Feb 05, 2021 Aaron rated it really liked it

This is my first foray into Sowell, and my first foray into what I'd classify as conservative sociological literature.

Because I don't know enough details to know what's true, what's exaggerated, what's missed out, I'm going to remove the truth factor entirely and just take the author at his word about each point. I don't know much about Sowell; based on the book, I believe I align politically more liberal, but do like the way he tackles subjects. Some pretty strong conservative bias shines throu This is my first foray into Sowell, and my first foray into what I'd classify as conservative sociological literature.

Because I don't know enough details to know what's true, what's exaggerated, what's missed out, I'm going to remove the truth factor entirely and just take the author at his word about each point. I don't know much about Sowell; based on the book, I believe I align politically more liberal, but do like the way he tackles subjects. Some pretty strong conservative bias shines through at various points; nothing obviously horrible, but it does make me question the facts as presented a bit.

Sowell is a talented writer, clearly extremely intelligent, and makes cogent, focused arguments that all follow logically. The book is organized into a few essays, sometimes loosely relating to each other, but usually not. The first essay (the one that the book is named for) argues that black ghetto culture originates from the "redneck south", which originates from certain areas of England. It's an argument I've never heard before, and one that makes sense, though I dislike the idea that "redneck" culture is considered largely with no advantages. This is a trend that continues throughout the book: a certain culture (those who work hard, speak proper English, etc) are all good, and all should aspire to it. I kind of agree with this concept, but I do think there is some room for argument that there are attributes of subjective value outside of these, at very least the idea that English isn't static, and therefore adherence to it is not necessarily an objective good. I generally agree that, at least in today's world, it benefits you to play into whatever is considered "positive", but very few things are truly one-sided.

As with all of the essays, the arguments are mostly correlational; I think it'd be hard to make causal arguments in almost anything sociological. The evidence given is relatively weak and anecdotal, but follows logic chains under correlation, and does try to fill in gaps where possible. For example, comparing the success of recently freed northern and southern slaves in the same place makes for a correlational, but reasonably good test of, difference between the groups.

Short discussions follow on the identity of Jews -- if they are "generic" (answer: in some ways yes, in some ways no), and on if Germans were predisposed to Nazism (answer: no, but this is not a good sign for humanity). Both were well done.

The last few sections discuss black education and the global impacts of slavery compared to US opinions. While I agree with many of the points Sowell makes, he starts adding in political jabs, and I think this hurts the book as a whole. I, at least, don't find the culture war argument particularly interesting, and saying something like "this isn't discussed in academia because it's not politically correct" feels like stooping down to a "lowest common denominator" argument. I do think there are ways to express that certain subjects are unreasonably off-limits; for example, a separate essay discussing what is off-limits, why, and how to expand what's discussed would let the author make arguments about clear holes in academia outside of throwaway "politically correct"/"popular culture" lines interspersed throughout. It's an important subject, and the way it's being argued does it no favors. ...more

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May 21, 2017 Dustin Cubit rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Thomas Sowell outlines that the origins of African American culture are not rooted in the act of slavery itself, but the assimilation of cultures around them. He provides ample evidence refuting the notion that slavery is a unique African American experience, and that every major race has experienced some sort of enslavement throughout history. It was also the efforts of the West that sought to abolish the practice worldwide.

I’ll have to admit that there are certain parts of the book that upon r Thomas Sowell outlines that the origins of African American culture are not rooted in the act of slavery itself, but the assimilation of cultures around them. He provides ample evidence refuting the notion that slavery is a unique African American experience, and that every major race has experienced some sort of enslavement throughout history. It was also the efforts of the West that sought to abolish the practice worldwide.

I’ll have to admit that there are certain parts of the book that upon reading feel disconnected from the topic at hand but later reconverge to give a more nuanced view of the current status of Southern Black culture. You will find that Sowell will write at length about the successes of other minority cultures that faced similar discomfort when faced with discrimination, and the lengths that they undertook to assimilate into the majority. Many of these other previously persecuted cultures used self-reflection to recognize and self-correct instead of handing that task over to government legislation.

Without specifically offering a solution for the current state of Urban Black Culture, he highlights the successes and detriments that other cultures have faced throughout history, which provides a road map to of success towards a cultural revolution.

While I found a lot of insight in this book, there were a few points that he made that I found lacking nuance and evidence to support his opinions. He obviously takes a puritanical stance when it comes to the arts and lambastes modern hip hop culture for it's glorification of crime and participation in honor culture as being influential among youth. I take issue with this because the genre of hip hop is large and “Gangster Rap” does not encompass all artistic expression contained within. NWA proved that “Gangster Rap" is not without value, as it brought to light to the masses, the story about the struggles of ghetto life from those who have a “boots on the ground” perspective.

Another issue I have with the book is that his delivery may alienate the average the White Liberal and Black Redneck in which it seems that this book is its target demographic. I fall in neither of those demographics but I do run in some of those circles. Anyone deeply rooted in White Liberal or Black Redneck culture would probably find his writing’s more as an offensive critique rather than a historical review. This book is definitely not for those who cater to superficial thought on complex issues.

My favorite quote from the book: “There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day: we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life.” ...more

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May 01, 2020 Aggrey Odera rated it really liked it

Shelves: black-writers, usa, black-americana, jewish-life, history

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - I didn’t think I would, since Sowell’s politics are as far from mine as I imagine anyone’s could be. I don’t read nearly enough conservative takes, but I think after reading this and enjoying it so much, I’m going to try to make more of a habit out of doing so. In six wonderful essays (I’m only reviewing the first one - Black Rednecks and White Liberals), lucidly argued and inundated by supporting evidence, Thomas attempts to debunk a lot of the trendy knowledge I thoroughly enjoyed this book - I didn’t think I would, since Sowell’s politics are as far from mine as I imagine anyone’s could be. I don’t read nearly enough conservative takes, but I think after reading this and enjoying it so much, I’m going to try to make more of a habit out of doing so. In six wonderful essays (I’m only reviewing the first one - Black Rednecks and White Liberals), lucidly argued and inundated by supporting evidence, Thomas attempts to debunk a lot of the trendy knowledge and thinking we have about race, education and culture.

Thomas argues that what we, in America, now term “black culture” is actually redneck/ cracker culture, originating from the Northwest of England, which then made its way to the Antebellum American South, and then, after the abolishment of slavery and through to the mid 20th century Civil Rights movement, to the urban black ghettoes of major American cities. What marks this redneck culture, he controversially argues - and provides evidence to back up his claims, is a general backwardness - insofar as mainstream American culture has decided to view those cultural features as backward, typified by, among other things:

1. Reckless disregard for human life (shown by the local freebooting clans and marauders in Northern England and neighboring parts of Scotland in the 18th century, the rough and tumble fights to the death that were common in the American South, and the rampant loss of life that happens in black ghettos). 2. Pride and violence - he argues that “cracker pride” was the precursor to “black pride” - hence a sensitivity towards anything that could be conceived as a personal slight, and a willingness to quickly resort to violence as a way to redeem personal honor or avenge slights. 3. A generalized lack of industriousness and entrepreneurship, culminating not just in poverty, but also in negative attitudes towards work. This, he thinks, explains the poverty of northern England relative to the south, of Antebellum Southern United States relative to the North, and of black urban ghettos relative to the rest of modern America 4. A sense of intellectual underachievement relative to those not part of this culture i.e. Northern England, when redneck culture was a thing, vs Southern England at the time (most of the English intellectual greats during this period were from the South), northern antebellum US i.e. New England, dominated by puritanism and intellectual exploration, vs southern antebellum US where this cracker culture flourished - the only Southern state that could hold a candle to the intellectual achievements of the north was Virginia, where many of its residents had immigrated from Southern England - and even then, Thomas Jefferson is said to have complained that he had to go to Philadelphia to buy books; and finally, black people living in the black ghettos, where again Sowell argues this cracker culture flourishes, vs everyone else, most especially black people who do not live in this ghettoes. Etc. etc. Even “black speech” - which came to be termed “African American Vernacular (AAVE), Thomas shows, is heavily derivative of antebellum Southern white speech.

Thomas is keen to enunciate that black redneck culture is not black culture. Northern American blacks, he shows, performed much better than southern white rednecks in many of the metrics he puts forth - as late as 1918 northern black soldiers far outpaced southern white soldiers in intelligence tests and educational outcomes. Northern blacks, many of whom had been free blacks, performed much better than Southern blacks i.e. the problem is not blackness per se. And here, Thomas points out that slavery cannot be the explanation for why free nothern blacks achieved better than former enslaved blacks, for carribean blacks, equally ravaged by slavery, achieved at much higher rates than native born American blacks, and more than many formely free nothern blacks.

White liberals, Thomas argues, have played the biggest part in ensuring the continuance and spread of this black redneck culture and its pernicious values - thus the continued poverty and general degradation of the black community. They, in a burst of identity fetishism, have made redneck culture, something that originated in white England long before American whites and blacks ever interacted, synonymous with blackness tout court - thus saying that to criticize redneck culture - manners of speech, abdication of personal responsibility, affinity towards violence and pridefulness- is to be racist; to say that there is more violence, more drug use, within black ghettos, is to condemn blackness broadly construed. Even now, then, black children who like reading, and who don’t speak AAVE, are accused of “acting white” - Irving Howe, a white liberal, accused Ralph Ellison of being insufficiently authentically black because the main character of Ellison’s “Invisible Man” dared to be complex, did not, like the one in Richard Wright’s “Native Son”, portray being black as being a black redneck.

White liberals have made it such that, Thomas argues, blacks have abdicated any sense of responsibility, and have taken to blaming others. If blacks don’t do as well on standardized tests as Asians or whites, well, we can’t say that that has something to do with black cracker culture - that would be racist. The problem has to be the test itself. White liberals have blatantly denied plain statistics - that more crime occurs in redneck black communities; that there has been a breakdown in the black family unit, which has brought forth some of these pernicious results. Thomas summarizes his argument thus: “By projecting a vision of the world in which the problems of blacks are consequences of the actions of whites, either immediately or in times past, white liberals have provided a blanket excuse for shortcomings and even crimes by blacks. The very possibility of any internal cultural sources of the problems of blacks have been banished from consideration by the fashionable phrase ‘blaming the victim’”.

At a time when it’s very fashionable to think of cultures as “equal”, Thomas’ work is loud in saying NO. There is, of course, no immaterial standard of cultural equality that exists before we agree upon it; it is patently absurd to say that, say, German culture is superior to Italian culture - on what metric? But once we find ourselves in defined society, where certain practicable outcomes are deemed more favorable and useful than others (so, in contemporary America - educational attainment, wealth creation, restraint from violence, public participation etc.), then Thomas’ argument starts making sense: there’s something perniciously wrong with cracker culture, and his decision to tackle the messy terrain of cultural criticism, especially considering how unfashionable it is, is an admirable one.

At the same time, I can’t help feeling that in an effort to, as he claims, have blacks take charge of their own lives, Thomas does not give enough weight to the more structural and abiding issues that might have also contributed to the status that black Americans occupy in American society. Lets grant that cracker culture may be part of it, but surely years of redlining in the north and Jim Crow in the south, poor school districts and lack of healthcare, police violence, mass incarceration and the “war on drugs” also have a part to play in the disenfranchisement of black America? Thomas chooses not to discuss these issues, perhaps because they do not fit his theory of black abdication of responsibility, and here, I think he misses a great opportunity.
...more

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Jan 29, 2021 Laythan Oweis rated it liked it

Man. Not gonna lie, I hated Sowell for a large portion of this book. It was hard to pick up because I sincerely believe that he cherry-picked history lessons and degraded the transgressions against the black community to really push his perspective home. While saying that, I think he made quite an important point in two regards:
1) Sowell emphasizes that the indecent actions caused by Europeans should not be the only focus of attention when we look through history. Leftists may claim this perspec Man. Not gonna lie, I hated Sowell for a large portion of this book. It was hard to pick up because I sincerely believe that he cherry-picked history lessons and degraded the transgressions against the black community to really push his perspective home. While saying that, I think he made quite an important point in two regards:
1) Sowell emphasizes that the indecent actions caused by Europeans should not be the only focus of attention when we look through history. Leftists may claim this perspective while constantly mentioning how Eurocentric history books are, but while doing so take a Eurocentric position on the harm of humanity. He very clearly lays out that this harm, usually on the account of slavery, is one embedded very deeps in the actions of humans on a historical level--it does not range only to Europeans post-Columbus. I think this is a pretty important point to make and will explain it to the very small group of people that will read this review lol.
2) I don't want to get too in-depth on this subject either, but Sowell also places emphasis on the importance of culture. I called out his argument as basically cultural racism but as the book continued I noticed that there was something of significance in this argument. I can talk about this with those that are interested in the future too haha.

Anyways, this book really pissed me off. I thought the perspective was super narrow-minded for the most part and I wrote in the margins more than I ever have. However, I will say I appreciated it because it gave me a necessary perspective in future arguments. Its historical annecdotes are also very entertaining, oftentimes ranging from many different cultures and time periods. I also need to emphasize that this book definitely challenged me; it made me look at my own beliefs on a very deep level to really notice how my implicit stance affected my perspective of history. I think I gained a lot from this book.

I would give it 3 1/2 stars but we'll leave at 3 lol. I don't recommend it as a book to just pick up btw! I desired to be challenged and angry to learn and that's why I thought this was a success. Not because I necessarily enjoy Sowell or stand for what he believes in. I hope to talk about this book with others soon. ...more

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Jun 23, 2020 Red rated it really liked it

Shelves: thoughts-on-culture, sociology

Not for the faint of heart and those unwilling to examine their own motivations behind learning about history and society. Also, definitely not for those unwilling to pick up a dictionary to learn a word they've never encountered before.

This book is made up of six individual essays: "Black Rednecks & White Liberals", "Are Jews Generic?", "The Real History of Slavery", "Germans and History", "Black Education: Achievements, Myths and Tragedies", and History versus Visions."

If you only read the fi Not for the faint of heart and those unwilling to examine their own motivations behind learning about history and society. Also, definitely not for those unwilling to pick up a dictionary to learn a word they've never encountered before.

This book is made up of six individual essays: "Black Rednecks & White Liberals", "Are Jews Generic?", "The Real History of Slavery", "Germans and History", "Black Education: Achievements, Myths and Tragedies", and History versus Visions."

If you only read the first and final essays, I'm sure you'll experience the same surprise I did that Sowell was so prescient about our current inter-societal conflicts (Spring/Summer 2020), and I'm positive you will find yourself challenged to engage in a much more thoughtful consideration of the messages and visions that you're encountering via news, social media, and other outlets. However, you would be missing out on an incredible amount of information and historical perspective by skipping over the other material.

This is not easy reading folks, and honestly I don't think I did it justice by listening to the audio book (although Hugh Mann's voice is incredible). It's definitely a book that I should have open in front of me, taking notes in the margins, underlining important words/concepts, and pausing to really take time to think about what the author is writing-- specifically because I have read other reviews where I think the point was missed. Or not missed, perhaps, but the reader may have had a difficult time pausing their own internal monologue/agenda in order to hear and understand (not necessarily agree with, just understand) what the author is saying, and it affected their ability to review the text later.

I'm giving it a 4- there is no way you can take a text with this much research, with the discussion points that Sowell makes, and grade it as anything less whether I agree with him wholeheartedly or not (I do not, FYI, agree with him on all points.) It's challenging, but absolutely worth the time. ...more

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May 02, 2018 Cody Sexton rated it liked it

Thomas Sowell, one of America's foremost black conservative intellectuals and Hoover Institute Fellow, has given us a collection of contrarian essays, first published in 2005, arguing that the “internal” cultural habits of industriousness, thriftiness, family solidarity and reverence for education often play a greater role in the success of ethnic minorities than do civil-rights laws or majority prejudices.
Most people tend to think of the history of Black people as the history of White peoples t Thomas Sowell, one of America's foremost black conservative intellectuals and Hoover Institute Fellow, has given us a collection of contrarian essays, first published in 2005, arguing that the “internal” cultural habits of industriousness, thriftiness, family solidarity and reverence for education often play a greater role in the success of ethnic minorities than do civil-rights laws or majority prejudices.
Most people tend to think of the history of Black people as the history of White peoples treatment of Black people but this type of misconception concerning the history of an entire group of people often cuts them off from the truth about some of the internal causes of their own problems, making a solution for what ails them that much more remote.
The title essay posits a "Black Redneck" culture inherited from the White redneck culture of the South and characterized by violent machismo, shiftlessness and disdain for schooling. Sowell points out that much of what passes for Black identity today is a modern version of the self-defeating culture slaves inherited from poor redneck Whites who came from the poor sections of Britain and settled in southern states. Many aspects of Southern life that some observers have attributed to race or racism, or to slavery, were common to Southern Blacks and Whites alike — and were common in those parts of Britain from which Southern Whites came, where there were no slaves and where most people had never seen anyone Black. White liberals, gangsta-rap aficionados and others who lionize its ghetto remnants as an authentic Black identity, Sowell contends, have their history wrong and help perpetuate cultural pathologies that only serve to hold Blacks back.
The author also defends Western culture itself against charges that it was uniquely culpable for slavery; in fact, he contends, Western culture was uniquely responsible for eradicating slavery and these vigorously argued essays present a stimulating challenge to the conventional wisdom espoused today in many universities across America and especially in today’s polarizing media landscape.
Some of the supporting research that Sowell draws from is a study that indicated that most of the Black alumni of Harvard were from either the West Indies or Africa or were the children of West Indian or African immigrants. "These people are the same race as American Blacks, which greatly outnumber either or both. If this disparity is not due to race, it is equally hard to explain by racism. To a racist, one Black is pretty much the same as another. But, even if a racist somehow let his racism stop at the water's edge, how could he tell which student was the son or daughter or someone born in the West Indies or in Africa, especially since their American-born off-spring probably do not even have a foreign accent? What then could explain such large disparities in demographic "representation" among these three groups? Perhaps they have different patterns of behavior and different cultures and values behind their behavior. Slavery also cannot explain the difference between American Blacks and West Indian Blacks living in the United States, because the ancestors of both were enslaved. When race, racism and slavery all fail the empirical test, what is left?" Sowell's answer is culture.
Poor White communities are often blamed for whatever troubles them, but the poor Black communities are all too often told it’s not their fault for whatever troubles them.
As Eric Hoffer put it: “There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day: we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life.”
Christopher DeGroot, writing in Taki magazine, had this to say about leftist ideology, “What leftists—and people shaped by leftists—generally don’t understand is that life is hard for most people, and always has been. They act as if the whole material edifice of civilization just naturally exists. They don’t think of poverty (i.e., an absence) as a natural fact (as absence is everywhere in nature) and with this point of view it’s only a step to the belief that other people are to blame for what you don’t have. And indeed, the sufferer wants to believe this, for it not only gives him someone to punish, it absolves him from facing up to his own failure. Since the former is enjoyable, and the latter is painful, on such occasions the will to delusion is quite strong.” Adding, “It is tragic to see how easily and frequently the young are now warped by such bad ideas, their natural good impulses applied to pernicious ends. Case in point: 17-year-old David Hogg. About mass shootings recently said:
“There is a lot of racial disparity in the way that this is covered. If this happened in a place of a lower socio-economic status or a place like a black community, no matter how well those people spoke, I don’t think the media would cover it the same…. We have to use our white privilege now to make sure that all of the voices—all of the people that have died as a result of this and haven’t been covered the same—can now be heard. It’s sad, but it’s true.”
A sincere and well-meaning young man, to be sure. And yet, look at what the media has done to his mind. Black men are killing themselves (and others) every day on the streets of America’s inner cities. From Baltimore to L.A., “the black community” is singularly violent. Still, to expect Blacks to be accountable, just as Whites are supposed to be, is unacceptable in polite (read: cowardly) society. Between Black resentment on the one hand and decadent White guilt on the other, such social justice is far out of reach.”
The very word “racism” has even been redefined to exclude groups without “power,” even though power had never been a prerequisite for defining racism before. By this logic however the Ku Klux Klan today can not be called racist because they have lost most of the power they once had.
The final essay in this collection, “History Versus Visions,” is a takedown of multiculturalism. Sowell says, “Few things attract less attention than the achievements of the West.” He continues, ‘‘Multiculturalism’ has not meant warts-and-all portraits of different societies around the world. For many, it has meant virtually a warts-only portrait of the West and a no-warts portrait of non-Western peoples.”
This book should be required reading at every educational institution in America, as most Americans today seem to have largely, and to an even greater extent willfully, forgotten that history is always going to be infinitely more complex and infinitely more nuanced than some bumper sticker slogan could ever capture. ...more

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Thomas Sowell

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Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social commentator, and author of dozens of books. He often writes from an economically laissez-faire perspective. He is currently a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. In 1990, he won the Francis Boyer Award, presented by the American Enterprise Institute. In 2002 he was awarded the National Humanities Medal for prolific scholars Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social commentator, and author of dozens of books. He often writes from an economically laissez-faire perspective. He is currently a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. In 1990, he won the Francis Boyer Award, presented by the American Enterprise Institute. In 2002 he was awarded the National Humanities Medal for prolific scholarship melding history, economics, and political science.

Sowell was born in North Carolina, where, he recounted in his autobiography, A Personal Odyssey, his encounters with Caucasians were so limited he didn't believe that "yellow" was a hair color. He moved to Harlem, New York City with his mother's sister (whom he believed was his mother); his father had died before he was born. Sowell went to Stuyvesant High School, but dropped out at 17 because of financial difficulties and a deteriorating home environment. He worked at various jobs to support himself, including in a machine shop and as a delivery man for Western Union. He applied to enter the Civil Service and was eventually accepted, moving to Washington DC. He was drafted in 1951, during the Korean War, and assigned to the US Marine Corps. Due to prior experience in photography, he worked in a photography unit.

After his discharge, Sowell passed the GED examination and enrolled at Howard University. He transfered to Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. He received a Master of Arts in Economics from Columbia University, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Chicago. Sowell initially chose Columbia University because he wanted to study under George Stigler. After arriving at Columbia and learning that Stigler had moved to Chicago, he followed him there.

Sowell has taught Economics at Howard University, Cornell University, Brandeis University, and UCLA. Since 1980 he has been a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he holds a fellowship named after Rose and Milton Friedman.

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Books by Thomas Sowell

Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy

A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles

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“It takes no more research than a trip to almost any public library or college to show the incredibly lopsided coverage of slavery in the United States or in the Western Hemisphere, as compared to the meager writings on even larger number of Africans enslaved in the Islamic countries of the Middle East and North Africa, not to mention the vast numbers of Europeans also enslaved in centuries past in the Islamic world and within Europe itself. At least a million Europeans were enslaved by North African pirates alone from 1500 to 1800, and some Europeans slaves were still being sold on the auction blocks in the Egypt, years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed blacks in the United States.” — 39 likes

“The history of which peoples, nations, or civilizations have conquered or enslaved which other peoples, nations, or civilizations has been largely a history of who has been in a position to do so.” — 12 likes

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