Liberal Racism

by Jim Sleeper

Book Overview

A kind of sequel to Jim Sleeper's earlier The Closest of Strangers: Liberalism and the Politics of Race in New York, this is a tough-minded, provocative indictment of the failure of liberalism in the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670873918
• ISBN13: 9780670873913
• Release Date: July 1997
• Publisher: Viking
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Interesting issues about race and society

Liberals are supposed to believe in an inclusive society, where we take advantage of the contributions from everyone in it. And where each person has equal rights. That surely does not mean lowering standards. A doctor still has to meet standards to practice. A university student still has to pass exams to qualify for a profession. But it does mean letting people into that university independent of their race, religion, gender, sexual preference, creed, and so on. Maybe age discrimination would be an interesting question, but discrimination in favor of or against people of a specific skin color? That's supposed to be illiberal. A century ago, the bar was set higher for non-whites than for whites. That was racist and counterproductive. Jim Sleeper asks if we are setting the bar so low for non-whites today that we are denying non-whites the satisfaction of equal accomplishment and opportunity. Given my Asian background, I find this question interesting. Sleeper asks if, not out of malice but out of folly, many liberals have overemphasized black identity and thus behaved in a racist manner themselves. The author explains that conservatives still have some of the same exclusionary problems they've always had. This is not an apology for conservatism. It is a plea for genuine liberalism. As Sleeper explains, blacks have much to profit from a truly color-blind society. The first main topic Sleeper deals with is individual responsibility, as seen in court cases. In the past, blacks simply did not get treated justly in white courts. But there is still a threat of some of the same problems if we keep looking carefully at skin color in court cases. What is legal for whites must be legal for blacks and what is illegal for whites has to be illegal for blacks. The author gives some examples in which many liberals have strayed from this idea. The next issue is voting rights, where the threat by those who simply will not be color-blind is racial districting. After that, Sleeper discusses the media. He tells us that "good journalists are not crusaders or missionaries. Their job is to uncover the truth, even when it hurts." He contrasts the coverage of a 35,000 person Promise Keepers rally to the 400,000 person Farrakhan "March." Both of these events could have been treated sympathetically, fairly, or critically. But they were treated very differently. I wanted to see a more thorough discussion of affirmative action. I think there ought to be a clear and beneficial policy here. Namely this: everyone needs to meet the same standards to serve the community, independent of race. But those who are having trouble meeting standards should get some extra support. That is help so that they can meet standards, not a lowering of standards that renders those with credentials suspect. Giving some students extra help in high school makes sense. Kids are required to go to high school by law. Letting people into college who do not actu

Important

The author says his conversion to objective thought, from self-congratulatory liberal bias, occurred when he heard a black representative tell an audience, "Liberals can be the biggest racists of all." It took years for the author's thoughts to evolve to the point of realizing the truth of that statement. He says he wrote the book to "save others some time." An effective, truthful book.

For those with integrity only

In an intellectual climate where the questioning of highly personalised left wing attitudes towards race issues is responded to with instant dismissal, it is a difficult task writing a book like this. Jim Sleeper has managed to speak ten times louder, and argue tens times better than the liberals he is confronting. This is a superbly researched book, and Sleeper is a highly sophisticated critic.

Invigorating

Toughly argued; unafraid to be contentious; very difficult to ignore

Valuable; needs to be read in earnest by the Left.

I worked for an "affirmative action bureaucrat (my choice of words) for five years in civil rights law. He was a middle class black man, an army brat, who got the job because he's black, and held onto it until he retired young. Because of the crowd he surrounded himself with, and because of his "status" as a black man, he made himself a far greater victim than he ever was, or than some white, working class individuals are. Further, my daily exposure to whining from those other self-designated "victims" of racial or sexual oppression made me extremely wary of claims of "racism," something I, a long-standing liberal, called a "mantra" long before Limbaugh--whom I despise--called it that. Sleeper points out the many dimensions of what I've called a most insidious racism: "the minorities can do no wrong" approach to race relations. And he does so in an organized and succinct way. He offers examples of how the racism claim has become an industry unto itself, with many of its representatives booked solid and making a healthy living speaking on behalf of it. Many of my fellow leftists need to read--and discuss--this. After all, do we aspire to equality or just a redistribution of entitlements to people based on the ostensible status of their entire class? Do we free the ostensible victim of any responsiblity at all for his or her actions? And end up with more O.J. Simpson fiascos? No, Sleeper doesn't free the "Right" of its racist policies. Nor does he advocate them. But he examines effectively the fallacies of those who claim to be fighting racism, while actually perpetuating it in a different form. Many of his references are black and other liberal scholars who have some of the same questions as to where the "liberal racism" is taking us. Read it, fellow leftists! And, for the first time in years, heed your own warnings! Thanks, Jim Sleeper!