Cornel West "Race Matters" Chapters 5-8

“Race Matters” Chapters 5-8

5) In chapter 5, West talks about affirmative action and how it has greatly helped deter institutions, companies, and schools from using discriminatory practices. He also says that without affirmative action, racial and sexual discrimination would continue to spread rapidly. West then proceeds to talk about how African Americans and Jewish Americans have been able to get along because both groups have gone through major adversity and discrimination, but at the same time, that recent events have caused the two groups to grow apart. He touches on a very sensitive subject in chapter 7, where he discusses black sexuality and dispels the myths that all black people having a dominating sexual prowess. In the final chapter, Cornel West reflects on the life of Malcolm X and shows how Malcolm X encouraged blacks in America to channel their rage in hopes that this would create love for one another in the black community, but his idea backfired in that he and his followers turned violent and ended up hurting society more than helping it.

4) “The urgent problem of black poverty is primarily due to the distribution of wealth, power, and income—a distribution influenced by the racial caste system that denied opportunities to the most ‘qualified’ black people until two decades ago” (West 93).

“There was no golden age in which blacks and Jews were free of tension and friction” (West 104).

“The dominant myths draw black women and men either as threatening creatures who have the potential for sexual power over whites, or as harmless, desexed underlings of a white culture” (West 119).

“Malcolm believed that if black people felt the love that motivated that rage, the love would produce a psychic conversion in black people; they would affirm themselves as human beings, no longer viewing their bodies, minds, and souls through white lenses, and believing themselves capable of taking control of their own destinies” (West 136).

3) Affirmative action- one of the main reasons why racial and sexual discrimination has decreased as much as it has in the past two decades.

Black sexuality- West says that black sexuality tends to play a big role in society, but that too often people form stereotypes about black people and their sexuality.

Myth- I think West focuses a lot of his attention on getting all the information out on the table and doing his best to dispel myths that have caused people to form stereotypes.

2) This series of chapters really made me think for several reasons. First of all, it made me realize that too often, we as a society fail to recognize that race plays a huge role in everyday life. It serves as an “elephant in the room” many times but we are too afraid to address it and openly talk about it. Also, when it comes to sexuality, I think Cornel West is spot on. People too often tend to stereotype black people when it comes to their sexuality. I think that the American culture as a whole is very judgmental and these stereotypes are a prime example of the judgment.

1) Why is it so easy for people today to completely dismiss the idea that race has an impact on so many things we do as a society?