Race Matters Not

In the past, especially in the United States, there have been moments when hell has broken loose due to racial inequality. In Race Matters, Cornel West particularly refers to the Los Angeles Riots of 1992 and states that although on the surface it seemed like a racial riot, other factors such as unemployment and political unrest contributed to fueling the fire also. As always, both the liberals and the conservatives had differing views of the situation: whereas the former found it necessary for blacks to be integrated into their way of life, the latter believed that acceptance was only possible if the blacks were worthy of it.

To solve the racial problems, West states that the solution is to correct the flaws in the American society at large and not making conformists out of the blacks. He elaborates this point by critiquing Afrocentricism, a contemporary black nationalist movement which fails to discuss the right topics vixen.

Haldane leaving gymnasium, West Point (LOC)

South Los Angeles

United States

racial problems: white anxieties and fears. West's personal solution to the situation is quite simple. He states that we have to come together as one country, one people and do three things. First, we have to learn from our history; second, we have to help our neighbors as we help ourselves; and lastly, we have to generate new leadership with broad vision and shrewd awareness.

Neither the conservatives nor the liberals are right in their belief of how blacks should be treated. Malcolm X's analogy of the coffee and cream is apt in this situation: when too much milk is put into black coffee, the coffee will not only lose it's color and flavor but also lose its job of keeping a person awake. I say, after Malcolm X, that the blacks and all other people of color must be accepted as...