Black Rednecks and White Liberals

Whether you happen to be as hardcore a libertarian and believer in the power of the free market as Sowell or not (I'm not), there is an enormous amount of information here that's worth considering. His ability to present a counter-narrative other currently popular narratives and back it up with mountains of research and data delivered in a matter of fact way is almost unprecedented. He makes a good case that what you've heard about various issues might not be the whole story, the a whole explanation, and here are a ton of facts to that effect and other alternative theories that might explain them better. Is his own theory the whole picture, the perfect unifying description of the physics of race? Probably not, but it seems very likely that it's a not insignificant portion that needs to be considered and taken into consideration when seeking to address these problems in our own time. At the very least, I think he makes a case for his view of the facts of history that equals or betters its alternatives, and even on a purely practical level has some real potential. One of the problems with a lot of current race theories is that they don't seem to be able to get the results people (who actually want the problems bettered) want. They often seem to extend rather than resolve the problem, on a purely practical level, to erode rather than increase the ability of everyone to live together and enjoy mutual success and reconciliation. Sowell, ever the pragmatist, isn't very concerned with what would make people feel better or more comfortable, only with what seems to be the case and what would actually help make things better. And that's a very Sowellian approach. Life, in his view, is not about how you wish the world was, but is about facing up to what it is and making the best compromises you can to get what you want with the least cost, however you might feel about it. His question, I think, would be, what do you value more, your narrative that makes you feel better about yourself and the world, or actually improving your lot? He's not an idealist, he's a pragmatist. Better compared to what, worse compared to what, where is the proof, show me the results, are some of his favorite statements. He's also not one to be impressed by how noble an idea is or how mythic or lovely it sounds or how great it makes us seem or feel if it doesn't actually live up to the facts or produce real results. Personally, I'm inherently skeptical of some of his own approaches and recommendations. I would temper his libertarianism a bit. But he's surely won my respect as an intellectual more than the vast majority of all thinkers and historians currently writing today. If I had to sum up his theory, it would be that black people in America today are not primarily held back either their race (as racial supremacists might argue) or racism (personal or structural, as post-modern social justice advocates might argue), but by their own culture and actions. I don't think he's leaving out the possibility that some portion of their position might be and is the result of those forces. His theory, as I take it, is simply that these are not the primary source of the problems for black people today, nor are they the locus of their greateat opportunity for change and empowerment. He constantly turns his gaze on other cultures that have suffered tragedies and injustices and identities how, as a culture, a focus on where we can produce value is more important than how it is distributed, and the value of human capital as the ultimate social and economic power that all people can weird, regardless of their position within a society. Human capital being a kind of social and personal virtue, the kind of wealth that proceeds from being able to trust people within your group, from hard work and dedication and loyalty and care and kindness and faithfulness, from being clever and industrious and creative. Human virtue, he seems to argue, trumps all considerations of political or social influence. It is the primary generative power of social and economic wealth. And it lies within our individual power to seek and obtain. In denying black people the responsibility and the agency to obtain that power, we deny them the birthright of all humanity; we infantilize them, we do them a disservice, not a service. It can be done, he argues from many historical and contemporary examples. And it can be undone, he also argues with many examples. I think Shelby Steele's "White Guilt" is an interesting book to read as a followup to this one. Sowell isn't here to make either white people or black people feel good or bad about themselves. No one can be held responsible for the history and culture they are born into, he argues, white or black. Nevertheless, unless we shoulder the adult burden of either upholding, wasting, destroying, or surpassing that inheritance, we shall all remain merely children and ineffective, infantilized pawns of our own history. It is within the means of white and black people to lose by personal dissipation everything their predecessors worked for, and it is within the means of black and white people to gain by personal excellence everything their predecessors wished for. In this aspect I take Sowell to be an optimism and an individualist and a humanist. He doesn't write off the influence of other forces, but seeks to return our focus to the source of power and distress closest to us, the deepest well, and the one that is most within out own actual control. As a practical, pragmatic approach, it's hard to argue with. It asks a question of all of us, white or black, of who we could be if we were truly living up to our own greatest ideals. Of what limitations we might overcome, of what futures we might secure for ourselves and our children, as well as what futures we might lose if we don't have a care for ourselves and if we let ourselves be distracted by false promises of power without personal cost. Power, if I take Sowell correctly, does not live in the body politic, but in the human heart, in the family, in our own character. And no policy is good enough to save any society if it loses its focus on that character, nor is any policy powerful enough to long prevent a society from rising if it has that kind of human capital.

Dr. Sowell’s work is magnificently written in a logical and fact-based format. His review of cultures of Germans, Jews, Chinese, and other minority groups across global history is enlightening.The past history of colonialism and warfare carried many attitudes by the colonists and those conquered which historical evidence of attitudes and feelings don’t remain any longer.The contemporary ideas put forth in the liberal pop culture of “racism = holding black people back” is invalid. Sowell goes on to explain why on his theory of education being looked down upon by black culture and “acting white” being mocked by those who dare to challenge the status quo as the culprit of low achievement.Rather than to blame the black communities educational and career setbacks on the truth (low emphasis on education) and white liberals supporting this, he dismantles the hypocrisy of modern academia and liberal establishments who perpetuate the one size fits all destructive beliefs keeping Blacks down today.For example, the Native Indians were amongst one another savages and conquerers. Thus, it’s illogical to fully understand or grasp how the Arowaks (the tribe that met Columbus) felt in attitude, nor the attitudes of Columbus. Dr. Sowell’s brilliant warning of ignoring history’s lessons explains why this action of ignorance can lead to civil war repeatedly.Was it not the Mongols? Was it not the Ottoman Turks? Was it not the eastern civilizations that too slaughtered, enslaved, and conquered? Why is it the Western Civilization, the first leader in modern relative history to produce due process, to have freedom of religion, and choice, bashed by contemporary scholars because of American slavery?Slavery according to history existed in chattel, indentured servitude, and brutal forms across the globe. It is illogical to point to the state of American souther blacks today as solely the result of it.For example, Sowell in the first half of the book gives many concrete, fact based, historical examples of WHY Southern American negroes experienced a lack of education: THAT BEING the imported savage culture from Europe’s Celtic Fringe. In layman’s terms, the north Britons and southern Scots were uncivilized, barbarous, and illiterate peoples whose culture was brought to southern USA. This adaption of loose moral standards, sexual promiscuity, violent pride, and unabashed slang was a white cultural trait of southern antebellum America, which transferred to the emancipated slaves.The evidence is apparent in the education and literacy of free blacks in the north during antebellum America and post-emancipation.Several letters by Thomas Jefferson and Lincoln also prove in their own concern of the moral dilemma of emancipation of slaves in sudden form leading to the inability of these slaves to have resources or capacity to survive for themselves; something schools and media ignore.It was thus not as simple as history books taught! The dilemma in freeing slaves immediately was that the servants of owners would essentially have no direct support system, literacy, and or jobs to survive in the south.The southern redneck culture in itself brought a lack of industry, educational achievement, or care for it.Sowell in detailed scope gives evidence to why after emanicpation the Puritan, Quaker, and New England funded schools for blacks in the south led to the establishment of high achievement for the early black scholars, lawyers and inventors simply due to the importance of education by white northern teachers who setup thousands of small schools across the post antebellum south. The idea of education in New England style led to the success of Dunbar High School, which produced thought leaders like Vernon Brown, General Benjamin Davis, Sr., Nannie Helen Burroughs, and Charles Hamilton Houston, and Ivy League African American scholarship.Sowell also elaborated in this book the problems of applying visionary ideas which aren’t rooted in reality. The politics and money routes liberal establishments use to give symbolism that they want to help black communities often ends up hurting them more. The rooted reality of urban black culture being descendant of white redneck culture is the truth. Where morals, a value on education and literacy aren’t favored, death and violence ensue.Whites won’t in contemporary mass media admit due to not wanting to appear racist. Whereas, blacks to some extent seem to accept current conditions as an effect of slavery but not of culture.Enjoyed the read. Dr. Sowell is a gem. May his scholarship be persevered. I don’t agree with all his viewpoints. However, this book was introspective and helped me remove some of the mental blocks I had holding me back from being responsible and not being victim due to my conditions I was handed.

Well written and informative. Pay special attention to “the real history of slavery”.

Highly recommend.

Thomas Sowell is a very brilliant man who knows how to describe certain developments in the past and connect them to actual events in our time. This book has helped me a lot in understanding the relationships between different ethnic groups and the differences between the south and north of the US and the differences between west and east of Europe when it comes to history and development within Europe and his relationship.

J'écris mon commentaire en Français pour aider à la décision. Un ouvrage fantastique. Sowell challenge toutes les idees reçues dont les medias nous abreuvent sans réfléchir.Et il démontre leur folie avec des chiffres. On en ressort avec un immense respect pour cet homme.Pourquoi ce livre n'est il pas traduit ? Le titre est véritablement effrayant pour les éditeurs français qui sont toujours prêts à ramper devant la doxa progressiste...

A fearless statement of what the average person thinks and doesn’t have the courage to say.Sowell has arrived historically at the same place to which I travelled sociologically