Nonfiction Reading for Women's History Month

Terri Lynn's Reviews > Race Matters

Race Matters by Cornel West
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did not like it
bookshelves: nonfiction, sociology-and-culture

I had to read this for a doctorate class. To sum it up, white liberals are at fault for treating blacks like kids and thinking they need white taxpayers to support them, conservative whites and blacks are at fault for expecting blacks to take on personal responsibility and get an education, not commit crime, don't get pregnant until married and other acts deemed to be "white" which makes the middle class and upper class blacks who do so Uncle Toms, and being black must be the center of a black person's existence even if it isn't. The fact that slavery once existed over 160 years ago and Jim Crow existed means permanent affirmative action. Oh goodness. Even the parts about black sexuality make no sense. West is the director of the black studies program at Princeton which essentially graduates black students with a useless major- but hey, that's the fault of whites too.
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Reading Progress

May 1, 2017 – Shelved as: to-read
May 1, 2017 – Shelved
May 20, 2017 – Started Reading
May 20, 2017 – Shelved as: nonfiction
May 20, 2017 – Shelved as: sociology-and-culture
May 30, 2017 – Finished Reading

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Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)

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message 1: by Lisa (new)
May 31, 2017 08:04PM

Lisa Vegan Interesting. I would have thought this would be a great book given the author's credentials.


message 2: by mana (new) - rated it 2 stars
Aug 05, 2021 11:00PM

mana Perfect summation


message 3: by Erin (new)
Feb 20, 2022 02:57AM

Erin You’re racist…and your about me section is filled with self congratulatory white liberal back patting. You’re literally just as racist as white conservatives. Just the type of white liberal Malcolm X was talking about.


message 4: by Ronando: I Stand With Palestinians (new)
Jun 08, 2024 10:25PM

Ronando: I Stand With Palestinians "The fact that slavery once existed over 160 years ago and Jim Crow existed means permanent affirmative action. Oh goodness." This one line here tells me everything I need to know about your white, (deliberately) uneducated perspective. It takes a white to essentially say "get over it". But if Kaepernick kneels at a game, then y'all get uppity. If blacks peacefully protest, then you white types say "this isn't the time or place".

"Doctorate" or not (so nice to name-drop your credentials, to legitimize your bias) your perspective is what's holding back this country from understanding what has happened to, and what is currently happening in black communities and with blacks themselves. I came here to see if I should read Race Matters (after hearing about the Cornel West/Ta-Nehisi Coates issue that I found out about while reading Between The World And Me, and low and behold, here is another white victim. Why can I never get past you professional victims who perpetually whine so you can lay blame to blacks for your white victim hood?


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