Countdown West Preface-4

Race Matters

5) Cornel West approaches the issue of race in a very bold and clear manner. After beginning to read this, much of what he says is the truth and in all honesty can be taken very offensively. If we do not address these issue and someone does not speak the truth, this issue can never be remedied. He lays out the issues of what the African American race continue to deal with and it completely grabs your attention. He shows that just because race was addressed and the issues were “dealt with” so many years ago, does not mean things are the way they should be.

4) “Yet the legacy of white supremacy lingers- often in the face of the very denials of its realities. The most visible examples are racial profiling, drug convictions, and death-row executions. And the less visible ones are unemployment levels, infant mortality rates, and special education placements, and psychic depression treatments” (West, XV).

“The liberal notion that more government programs can solve racial problems is simplistic- precisely because it focuses solely on the economic dimension. And the conservative idea that what is needed is a change in the moral behavior of poor black urban dwellers… highlights immoral actions while ignoring public responsibility for the immoral circumstances that haunt our fellow citizens” (West,5).

“The tragic plight of our children clearly reveals our deep disregard for public well-being. About one out of every five children in this country lives in poverty, including one out of every two black children and two out of every five Hispanic children” (West, 12).

“Nihilism is to be understood here not as a philosophic doctrine that there are no rational grounds for legitimate standards or authority; it is far more the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness hopelessness and (most important) lovelessness. The frightening result is a numbering detachment from others and a self-destructive disposition toward the world life without meaning, hope, and love breeds a coldhearted, mean-spirited outlook that destroys both the individual and others” (West, 22-23)

3) Nihilism: Philosophy extreme skepticism maintaining that nothing in the world has a real existence.

Tokenism: the practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a particular thing, esp. by recruiting a small number of people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality within a workforce.

Substantive: having a separate and independent existence.

2) I connected with the way West just came out boldly to state his opinion. However because of my background, I have not had much exposure to segregation in schools. I do agree with the majority of statements he said, provocative as they may be, as well as that I agree that these issues do matter. It is heart breaking to see on paper the issues that African Americans face because of a matter of race. I truly hate it and wish I with the little small influence that I have as an educator will be able to shine light on these issues.

1) I want to know more of what happened in his life that caused him to speak out so boldly?