Race Matters

With a new introduction, the groundbreaking classic Race Matters affirms its position as the bestselling, most influential, and most original articulation of the urgent issues in America's ongoing racial debate. Cornel West is at the forefront of thinking about race. In Race Matters he addresses a range of issues, from the crisis in black leadership and the myths surrounding black sexuality to affirmative action, the new black conservatism, and the strained relations between Jews and African Americans. He never hesitates to confront the prejudices of all his readers or wavers in his insistence that they share a common destiny. Bold in its thought and written with a redemptive passion grounded in the tradition of the African-American church, Race Matters is a book that is at once challenging and deeply healing. Despite the increasing climate of racial hatred and violence in America, discussions of race seem to be mired in traditional liberal and conservative rhetoric. Finally Cornel West provides a transformative voice willing to go to the heart of the issues and help begin the healing of our nation. Race Matters addresses some of today's most urgent issues for black Americans - from discrimination to despair, from leadership to the legacy of Malcolm X. West has the courage to break taboos of silence in the black community, while always acknowledging the realities of race in America. West, the grandson of a Baptist minister, has fused the love ethic of the African-American religious tradition with the political insights of the Black Panthers. From his fresh perspective on race in America, West is able to untangle even the issues that have been too painful or controversial for others: the new black conservatism, black-Jewish relations, and myths about black sexuality. Philosopher, theologian, and activist, West was described by the New York Times as "a cosmopolitan public intellectual among academic specialists ... [West] makes the life of the mind exciting." Scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., called West "our Black Jeremiah," and Harvard Divinity School's Dean Ronald F. Thiemann said West is "the only person on the intellectual scene capable of inheriting the mantle of Reinhold Niebuhr." Racial hierarchy, Cornel West warns, dooms us as a nation to collective paranoia and hysteria - the unmaking of any democratic order. With love and insight, West's Race Matters will help guide Americans toward a genuine multiracial democracy In this essay collection, many of which have previously appeared in journals, West, the director of Afro-American studies at Princeton & author of several books, addresses a number of issues of concern to black Americans: the LA riots after the Rodney King verdict; Malcolm X; Clarence Thomas & Anita Hill; & black street life. These topics are all timely yet timeless in that they represent the continuing struggle to include African Americans in mainstream American political, economic & social life without destroying their unique culture. The essays have the feel of a fine sermon, with thought-provoking ideas & new ways of looking at the same old problems. They can be quickly read yet take a long time to digest because of West's unique slant on life. Already well known in scholarly circles, he's increasingly becoming more visible to the general public. This book should make his essays more accessible to a greater number of people.-- Library Journal Preface Introduction: Race matters Nihilism in Black America The pitfalls of racial reasoning The crisis of Black leadership Demystifying the new Black conservatism Beyond affirmative action: equality and identity On Black-Jewish relations Black sexuality: the taboo subject Malcolm X and Black rage Epilogue to the Vintage edition First published in 1993 on the one-year anniversary of the L.A. riots, Race Matters was a national best-seller, and it has since become a groundbreaking classic on race in America. Race Matters contains West’s most powerful essays on the issues relevant to black Americans today: despair, black conservatism, black-Jewish relations, myths about black sexuality, the crisis in leadership in the black community, and the legacy of Malcolm X. And the insights that he brings to these complicated problems remain fresh, exciting, creative, and compassionate. Now more than ever, Race Matters is a book for all Americans, as it helps us to build a genuine multiracial democracy in the new millennium. Looks At The Issues Facing African Americans, Including The New Black Conservatism, Black-jewish Relations, Discrimination, Racial Sterotypes, And Despair. Race Matters -- Nihilism In Black America -- The Pitfalls Of Racial Reasoning -- The Crisis Of Black Leadership -- Demystifying The New Black Conservatism -- Beyond Affirmative Action : Equality And Identity -- On Jewish Relations -- Black Sexuality : The Taboo Subject -- Malcolm X And Black Rage. Cornel West. Originally Published: Boston : Beacon Press, 1993. With New Epilogue.