Social Issues in Education

Race Matters Ch. 5-8
5. Cornel West talks about the black plight as it relates to Affirmative Action, black-Jewish relations, black sexuality, and Malcolm X’s campaign for equality. West believes that Affirmative Action’s attempt in leveling the playing field for blacks is a valid one that should be continued, but not used as a crutch by those who are striving for equality. Affirmative action is a stepping stone, but it is not perfect. Malcolm X is looked at in this book as a very strong voice in the public and a leader in the movement for black self-love. Cornel West also details the history of Black Antisemitism as another factor of White supremacy in America. The issue of Black sexuality can be related back to White Supremacy and a lack of black self-love (which can be attributed to White Supremacy).
4. -“The quest for black identity involves self-respect and self-regard, realms inseparable form, yet not identical to, political power and economic status.” P97
-“It is downplayed by blacks because they focus on the astonishingly rapid entrée of most Jews into the middle and upper middle classes during this brief period- an entrée that has spawned both an intense conflict with the more slowly growing black middle class and a social resentment from a quickly growing black impoverished class.” P106
- “Much of black self-hatred and self-concept has to do with the refusal of many black Americans to love their own black bodies-especially their black noses, hips, lips, and hair.” P122
- “The only legitimate response to white supremacist ideology and practice is black self-love and black self-determination free of the tension generated by ‘double-consciousness’.” P140
3. double-consiousness- according to W.E.B. Du Bois, this is the level of enlightenment that blacks have that are a part of the white culture and see themselves through their eyes and have to fit in their own black culture. However, Malcolm X believes this applies not to all blacks, but only those that are caught in between the two cultures.
House Negroes- “those that love and protect the white master”
Field Negroes- “those that hate and resist the white master”
2. -W.E.B. Du Bois thought that blacks are not just capable of what little things the whites put aside for them, but also they are capable of everything that whites are able to do, and possibly more. I think Du Bois is has a lot of the same ideas and feelings that Malcolm X has, however I believe that Malcolm X is a lot more enraged about the plight of blacks in America. It is important to note that Malcolm X’s platform happened over 30 years after Du Bois’s platform.
-I have thought about all the roles blacks were given in TV and the media throughout the 60s and beyond. It has changed, but there are still some remnants of the roles the public was OK with giving the black people, like the comedian roles and the black people that needed help from the white people to survive.
1. What would West think about Obama and how he has conducted himself?