race matters essay

Race Matters

By Dr. Cornel West

Racial Justice & Human Dignity

The fundamental litmus test for American democracy-its economy, government, criminal justice system, education, mass media, and culture-remains: how broad and intense are the arbitrary powers used and deployed against black people. In this sense, the problem of the twenty-first century remains the problem of the color line. –from the new Preface

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.

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Race Matters by Cornel West: A Book Review Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

In Race Matters , Cornel West devotes an entire chapter to criticizing and justifying affirmative action. On the one hand, he claims that this policy is aimed at middle-class African Americans and harms other minority strata. On the other hand, West still justifies politics because he believes that “without affirmative action, racial and sexual discrimination would return with a vengeance” (West, 1993, p. 64). He believes that America tends to redistribute wealth on a racial basis due to the historical past. I think that West’s argument is vulnerable to criticism, as it can be refuted both factually and logically.

The rise of racist and sexist tendencies due to the lack of affirmative action is doubtful because it is not the only element in the fight against racial and sexual prejudice. I would argue that the liberalization trend is strong and prominent around the country and that the policy’s absence would not reverse it. For example, the affirmative action ban in universities such as Texas A&M, UW, University of Florida, did not decrease the number of Black and Hispanic students (Affirmative action, n.d.). In addition, West’s prediction of the return of racism is based solely on reference to the country’s past and historical experience. However, predicting the future requires a more variable factual justification since historical experience in its pure form cannot be used as a predictive tool.

West could reply that my arguments are valid only if we assume that the American social system has been restructured entirely and racism and sexism are wholly excluded from it. However, West is of the opinion that fascism, racism, and sexism are ingrained in human nature and cannot be exterminated (Miah, 2022). These beliefs can only be controlled by individuals and sets of politics that smooth out inequalities by redistributing resources.

Miah, M. (2022). Cornel West’s Race Matters . Against the Current . Web.

West, C. (1993). Race Matters . Beacon Press.

Affirmative action . (n.d.). Ballotpedia. Web.

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Against the Current

Cornel West’s Race Matters

Against the current, no. 50, may/ june 1994.

• Stonewall at Twenty-Five — The Editors
• Updating the Health Care Fight — Rick Wadsworth
• Understanding the AIDS Crisis — Corey S. Dubin
• Racism, Bigotry and the Origin of AIDS — Corey S. Dubin
• Lesbians Fight Against Attack in Mississippi — Ann E. Menasche
• Exxon Mine Menaces Wisconsin — Al Gedicks and Zoltan Grossman
• Workers in Haiti's Holocaust — Cecilia Green interviews Cajuste Lexiuste & Porcenel Joachim
• Lessons of the Hebron Massacre — Editors of Challenge
• A German Socialist Feminist's Agenda — Mary Janzen interviews Petra Blaess
• Abortion Rights in Unified Germany — Mary Janzen
• United Germany Disunited — Ken Todd
• The Uncertain Shape of Post-Apartheid South Africa — Patrick Bond
• The March 28 Battle of Johannesburg — Langa Zita
• After Chiapas and Colosio, Mexico's Difficult Futures — Olivia Gall
• Impressions from A Photojournalist — Dennis Dunleavy
• The AFL-CIO's Mission to Moscow — Renfrey Clarke
• The Refounding of Russian Labour Review — Renfrey Clarke
• The Rebel Girl: Not the Hallmark Version — Catherine Sameh
• Random Shots: Springtime in Michigan — R.F. Kampfer
• Cornel West's Race Matters — Malik Miah
• New Studies of U.S. Communism — Robbie Lieberman
• Generational Conflicts — Ernie Haberkern
• The Final Goal and the Movements — Justin Schwartz

I agree with West’s basic assumption: that “race” does “matter.” Our society has been and remains tainted by race divisions. There is no American nation per se. The USA is a multiethnic state. We don’t live in a “color-blind” society today, nor have we in the past. Those who advocate that we already live in a “color-blind” society (such as Reagan and the neoliberals), are generally the same people who defend the status quo that keeps Blacks and women in a second-class position. They are generally the same people complaining about “white male bashing.”

After saying all that, I nevertheless firmly believe progressives and socialists must advocate building new nation-states based on ending old ethnic divisions. We must fight for nonracial, color-blind societies as the African National Congress advocates for the new South Africa.

But, I also recognize, that such a transformation, including for South Africa, is only possible with the end of capitalism, a system which breeds divisions and bigotry. We already saw in South Africa the “same old ethnic crap” as the South Africans moved toward their first democratic elections . The battle in the United States is to fight for full democracy (which is why I, like West, consider myself a “radical democrat”) as well as to struggle to replace capitalism with socialism.

While I disagree with West’s focus on nihilism, I do agree with his criticism of such subjects as the role of women in the struggle (i.e. sexism in the movement), traditional liberalism, and anti-Semitism (such as preached by the Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan). West, of course, doesn’t present solutions to the many deep-rooted problems in the Black community and American society. He, however, does open a debate about issues generally not hung out to dry in the broad public. That’s good.

Nihilistic Threat to Black Survival

West, the former director of Afro-American Studies at Princeton University (he’s joining Harvard’s Department of Afro-American Studies and Divinity School this fall), considers himself a Christian and socialist. Not surprisingly, he sees the problem of Black survival in moral and political-economic terms. Unlike most socialists, he does not point his finger at capitalism as the primary source of the problem. Nor does he endorse Black nationalism or the revolutionary vision of Malcolm X as the answer. Instead, he says the main problem facing Black survival in the 1990s is nihilism.

It is not common for Black intellectuals to explain the problem of the Black community in such terms. I think it is one reason why West’s book became so popular in wider intellectual circles. Self-worth, or Black pride, is an important issue. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., talked about it in their time. It is a necessary ingredient to include in the political discussion to determine what to do next.

What Does West Say?

In the chapter, “Nihilism in Black America,” West observes “The liberal/conservative discussion conceals the most basic issue now facing Black America: the nihilistic threat to its very existence. This threat is not simply a matter of relative economic deprivation and political powerlessness — though economic well-being and political clout are requisites for meaningful Black progress. It is primarily a question of speaking to the profound sense of psychological depression, personal worthlessness, and social despair so widespread in Black America.” (12-13)

“Nihilism,” he continues, “is to be understood here not as a philosophic doctrine … it is, far more, the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaningless, hopelessness, and (most important) lovelessness.” (14)

“Nihilism is not new in Black America. . . . In fact,” West explains,”the major enemy of Black survival in America has been and is neither oppression nor exploitation but rather the nihilistic Threat — that is, loss of hope and absence of meaning. For as long as hope remains and meaning is preserved, the possibility of overcoming oppression stays alive. The self-fulfilling prophecy of the nihilistic threat is that without hope there can be no future, that without meaning there can be no struggle.” (14-15)

So nihilism is our number one problem as Blacks. Defeating white supremacy, of course, must be our central goal. To fight national oppression, African Americans must regain our hope and self-love. This is the main direction of West’s book, and I can agree with that. However, he fails to explicitly show the link between nihilism and the need to organize the fight to end oppression and exploitation. The lack of self-love is directly related to oppression.

Thus West analysis tends to minimize the role of capitalism (i.e. oppression and exploitation, the role of classes in maintaining racial and national divisions). The strength of his view is that he takes on taboo subjects (including Black anti-Semitism, sexism in the Black community, and homophobia) and demands a critical look at how to reverse Black degradation and remove the color line.

Liberalism and Conservatism

For example, he takes on the nostrums of liberals and conservatives:

“The liberal notion that more government programs can solve racial problems,” he notes, “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 (especially poor Black men, who, they say, should stay married, support their children, and stop committing so much crime) highlights immoral actions while ignoring public responsibility for the immoral circumstances that haunt our fellow citizens. (2) West supports government intervention to help the Black and poor communities. But unlike many liberals he says that’s not enough. Tinkering with the capitalist system has brought some improvements but not fundamental relief for the vast majority of poor Blacks.

Black conservatives, a small layer in the Black community, get some hearing precisely because liberal solutions haven’t worked. The debate between liberals and conservative Blacks is not over fundamental change but how best to reform the system that is responsible for the color line.

The liberals say it is a lack of resources. The conservatives blame the victim. They say equality was achieved in the 1960s with the end of legal segregation. The problem is the Black community hasn’t pulled itself up by the bootstraps to close the wealth gap, and so on.

It is not a new debate, of course. But unlike earlier times in American history when African Americans were mainly slaves or sharecroppers, Blacks today are legally equal and more integrated in all segments of capitalist society. Middle- class Blacks broke into new areas of employment and housing even under Reagan and Bush. And while many whites may not like it, whites have had to accept Blacks in leadership positions and holding positions of elected power.

Lani Guinier, the law professor who was smeared as the “quota queen” for supporting affirmative action and raising the idea that race is a central factor of American life, wrote an article for the OpEd page of the New York Times (October 19, 1993) that accurately posed what must be done to begin to fight institutional racism: “What is missing from public discourse is a vision of the future in which society commits itself to working through, rather than running from, our racial history and racial present. What is missing is leadership.”

Crisis of Leadership

West’s comments on “The Crisis of Black Leadership” pose many of the questions being discussed in the Black political movement. “There has not been a time in the history of Black people in this country,” West begins, “when the quantity of politicians and intellectuals was so great, yet the quality of both groups has been so low. Just when one would have guessed that Black America was flexing its political and intellectual muscles, rigor mortis seems to have set in. How do we account for the absence of the Frederick Douglasses, Sojourner Truths, Martin Luther King, Jrs., Malcolm Xs and Fannie Lou Hamers in our time? Why hasn’t Black America produced intellectuals of the caliber of W.E.B. Du Bois, Anna Cooper, E. Franklin Frazier, Oliver Cox, and Ralph Ellison in the past few decades?” (35)

West points to the failure of the new Black middle class. A relative term (not used in a Marxist sense), he notes that the middle class historically constituted no more than five percent of African-Americans before the civil rights era. In the last two decades, this percentage jumped to well over twenty-five percent.

“Yet,” he notes, “this leap in quantity has not been accompanied by a leap in quality. The present day Black middle class is not simply different than its predecessors — it is more deficient and, to put it strongly, more decadent.” (35-36)

Why? “Without a credible sense of political struggle, there can be no shouldering of a courageous engagement — only cautious adjustment is undertaken . . . .Presently, Black middle-class life is principally a matter of professional conscientiousness, personal accomplishment, and cautious adjustment.” (37)

“The nihilistic threat to Black America is inseparable from a [threefold] crisis in Black leadership.” First, he explains, the nonelectoral leaders (heads of civil rights groups in the main) are preoccupied with race. The problem? It “downplays the crucial class, environmental, patriarchal, and homophobic determinants of Black life changes.” The elected officials, he adds, lack moral vision. (43-44)

Second, the failure of the traditional civil rights leaders lets narrow nationalists like Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton fill the leadership void. These “protest leaders” as West calls them play on alienation and desperation among Black working and poor people. They use demagogy in some cases to expand their support but are not part of the solution.

Third, “this crisis of Black leadership contributes to political cynicism among Black people; it encourages the idea that we cannot really make a difference in changing our society.” (45)

“The crisis in black leadership,” West explains, “can be remedied only if we candidly confront its existence. We need national forums to reflect, discuss, and plan how best to respond. It is neither a matter of a new Messiah figure emerging, nor of another organization appearing on the scene. Rather, it is a matter of grasping the structural and institutional processes that have disfigured, deformed, and devastated black America such that the resources for nurturing collective and critical consciousness, moral commitment, and courageous engagement are vastly underdeveloped.

“We need serious strategic and tactical thinking about how to create new models of leadership and forge the kind of persons to actualize these models. These models must not only question our silent assumptions about black leadership — such as the notion that black leaders are always middle class — but must also force us to interrogate iconic figures of the past. This includes questioning King’s sexism and homophobia and the relatively undemocratic character of his organization, and examining Malcolm’s silence on the vicious role of priestly versions of Islam in the modern world.” (45-46) (West’s analysis includes no criticisms of Christian priests.)

“To be a serious Black leader,” West concludes, “is to be a race-transcending prophet who critiques the powers that be (including the Black component of the Establishment) and who puts forward a vision of moral regeneration and political insurgency for the purpose of fundamental social change for all who suffer from socially induced misery. For a moment, we reflect and regroup with a vow that the 1990s will make the 1960s look like a tea party.” (46)

While I don’t agree with some of West’s criticisms of King and Malcolm X, his basic premise is correct: the middle- class layers and established leaders are not providing answers to the decline of the Black community. My answer goes beyond a critique, however.

What’s needed is a new leadership based on the most exploited section of the Black population, the working class. The leadership must be based on militancy and unity. It must reach out to all people of color too. It must unite with the organized labor movement, and organizations and groups fighting for the emancipation of other peoples of color, women, and defending the rights of gays and lesbians, and other discriminated sectors of society. If this happens and a political fight challenging the ruling class occurs, the future battles will be more like the Boston Tea Party. There will be battles for state power.

Not the “Talented Tenth”

Race does matter. But it is more than just Black versus white. In the 1990s it is more and more a class problem. Under Jim Crow this was less the case since the first task was to end American apartheid. Today, the issue is which class will lead the freedom struggle. The middle-class layers of all colors are incapable of leading the oppressed and poor to their complete emancipation. The lessons of the past thirty years shows that. There can be and will be individual exceptions. But as a class, it will not be the “Talented Tenth” leading the fight for full equality.

The failure of the Black middle-class leadership and the failure of their liberal ideology (the conservative ideology will always have only a handful of supporters) points to the need for a new vision and strategy. Those Blacks who are workers and unemployed have the most to gain. The middle-class layers who suffer some discrimination (there is a colored ceiling) still live well enough not to want to shake the foundations that support them.

In the political arena, a new vision means a break with the two-party system. Jesse Jackson’s strategy of seeking to reform the Democratic Party has clearly not worked, and can’t. Although Jackson and the Congressional Black Caucus have played a valuable role in exposing racism in government, and have taken some positions that are unpopular with the powers that be, their refusal to abandon capitalist politics for independent politics has led to little relief for the majority of Blacks.

The media lynching of Lani Guinier was made easier precisely because the independent power of the Black community is not organized. Clinton wasn’t worried about losing supporters. He knew the liberal Black leaders have no alternative to him and the Democratic Party.

In the last five years, the Black Democratic Party mayors of four of the five largest cities have lost elections. Some point to racism (a definite factor). But the more fundamental reason was a lack of perspective to take on the poverty and corruption of those cities. It would have meant challenging the real powers. It would have meant organizing all people against the two parties. Such an effort would be the end of a promising career in capitalist politics. That’s why Jesse Jackson refuses to go beyond protest politics inside the Democratic Party to building a viable third party.

Not surprisingly, West’s observations about Malcolm X and his politics is his weakest. Malcolm did call for a break with the two party system. He did explain why the Democrats and Republicans do not serve our interests. Malcolm called for the formation of a mass independent Black movement with international alliances. But West’s discussion of Malcolm’s ideas focuses on nationalism, what West calls Malcolm’s articulation of “Black rage” and the notion of “psychic conversion,” i.e. Blacks not seeing themselves through the eyes of whites.

West also criticizes Malcolm’s view of the civil rights movement. “For Malcolm,” West writes, “the civil rights movement was not militant enough. It failed to speak clearly and directly to and about Black rage.”  (101)

Malcolm’s primary criticism of the civil rights movement, however, was not of the tactics used by the King leadership. He attacked their illusions that the system could be reformed to bring full equality for African-Americans. The main civil rights leaders believed the problem was legal rights and lack of opportunity and not the system itself. Malcolm rejected that notion. He said an anti-racist (not just a civil rights) revolution was needed. This was not an ultraleft or sectarian stance. He was simply speaking the truth.

West and his writings are a valuable addition to the debate over racism and discrimination and the divisions in American society.

ATC 50, May-June 1994

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• Racial Justice, Racial Equity, and Anti-Racism Reading List

In This Section

• Complete Collection

In the wake of violence against Black Americans and in a moment of national reckoning in Summer 2020, the HKS Library pulled together a reading list that is inspired and largely informed by Resources and Reading on Racial Justice, Racial Equity, and Anti-Racism published by the Institutional Anti-Racism and Accountability Project (IARA) at the Ash Center and in partnership with the HKS Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging . 

This reading list is a starting place to find resources that speak to racial justice, racial equity, and anti-racism.  If you have suggestions or feedback, please send us an email: [email protected] . Books are linked to e-book versions where available.

In addition to access through Harvard Library, we believe these titles should be a part of other academic and public libraries. If these titles are not a part of your local libraries, most libraries solicit and support community requests. If you have questions about how to request a title for inclusion in your local library collection, please feel free to reach out to our staff ( [email protected] ) and we are happy to provide guidance.

The New Jim Crow

The New Jim Crow  has spawned a whole generation of criminal justice reform activists and organizations motivated by  Michelle Alexander’ s unforgettable argument that “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.” As the  Birmingham News  proclaimed, it is “undoubtedly the most important book published in this century about the U.S.”

Citation:  Alexander, Michelle.  The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness . New York: The New Press, 2020.

• Read e-book @ Harvard Library
• View @ Publisher Site

One Person, No Vote

Carol Anderson follows the astonishing story of government-dictated racial discrimination unfolding before our very eyes as more and more states adopt voter suppression laws. In gripping, enlightening detail she explains how voter suppression works, from photo ID requirements to gerrymandering to poll closures. And with vivid characters, she explores the resistance: the organizing, activism, and court battles to restore the basic right to vote to all Americans.

Citation:  Anderson, Carol.  One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy . New York: Bloomsbury, 2018.

Carefully linking historical flashpoints when social progress for African Americans was countered by deliberate and cleverly crafted opposition, Carol Anderson pulls back the veil that has long covered actions made in the name of protecting democracy, fiscal responsibility, or protection against fraud, rendering visible the long lineage of white rage.

Citation:  Anderson, Carol.  White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide . New York: Bloomsbury, 2016.

The Fire Next Time

At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin ’s early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document. It consists of two “letters,” written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both Black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism.

Citation:  Baldwin, James.  The Fire Next Time . New York: Vintage, 1992.

• Read e-book @ Harvard Library

White Fragility

Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration,  Robin DiAngelo  examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

Citation:  DiAngelo, Robin.  White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism . Boston: Beacon Press, 2018.

Never Caught

A startling and eye-opening look into America’s First Family, Erica Armstrong Dunbar tells the powerful narrative of Ona Judge, George and Martha Washington’s runaway slave who risked it all to escape the nation’s capital and reach freedom.

Citation:  Dunbar, Erica Armstrong.  Never Caught: The Washington's Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge . 37Ink; Atria Books: New York, 2017.

• View @ Author Site

How to Be Less Stupid About Race

Crystal Fleming  provides your essential guide to breaking through the half-truths and ridiculous misconceptions that have thoroughly corrupted the way race is represented in the classroom, pop culture, media, and politics.

Citation:  Fleming, Crystal.  How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy, and the Racial Divide . New York: Penguin Random House, 2019.

The Broken Heart of America

From Lewis and Clark’s 1804 expedition to the 2014 uprising in Ferguson, American history has been made in St. Louis. And as Walter Johnson shows in this searing book, the city exemplifies how imperialism, racism, and capitalism have persistently entwined to corrupt the nation’s past.

Citation:  Johnson, Walter.  The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States.  New York: Basic Books, 2020.

How to Be an Antiracist

Ibram X. Kendi 's concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America - but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. Instead of working with the policies and system we have in place, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it. 

Citation:  Kendi, Ibram X.  How to Be an Antiracist . New York: One World, 2019.

Kiese Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about growing up a hard-headed Black son to a complicated and brilliant Black mother in Jackson, Mississippi. By attempting to name secrets and lies he and his mother spent a lifetime avoiding, he asks us to confront the terrifying possibility that few in this nation actually know how to responsibly love, and even fewer want to live under the weight of actually becoming free.

Citation:  Laymon, Kiese.  Heavy: An American Memoir . New York: Scribner, 2018.

The Condemnation of Blackness

The idea of Black criminality was crucial to the making of modern urban America, as were African Americans’ own ideas about race and crime. Chronicling the emergence of deeply embedded notions of Black people as a dangerous race of criminals by explicit contrast to working-class whites and European immigrants,  Khalil Gibran Muhammad  - HKS Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy - reveals the influence such ideas have had on urban development and social policies.

Citation:  Muhammad, Khalil Gibran.  The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010.

The Color of Law

In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein , a leading authority on housing policy, explodes the myth that America’s cities came to be racially divided through  de facto  segregation—that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather,  The Color of Law  incontrovertibly makes clear that it was  de jure  segregation—the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments—that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.

Citation:  Rothstein, Richard.  The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America . New York; London: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2017.

• View @ Harvard Library

Courageous Conversations About Race

Glenn Singleton  explains the need for candid, courageous conversations about race so that educators may understand why student disengagement and achievement inequality persists and learn how they can develop a curriculum that promotes true educational equity and excellence.

Citation:  Singleton, Glenn.  Courageous Conversations about Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools . Los Angeles: Corwin, 2015.

This book is  Bryan Stevenson 's (MPP/JD 1985 LLD 2015) unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice. Stevenson was honored by HKS in 2018 with the 2018 Alumni Public Service Award .

Citation:  Stevenson, Bryan.  Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.  New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015.

• View young adult adaptation @ Publisher Site

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, white, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy?  Beverly Daniel Tatum , a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential if we are serious about enabling communication across racial and ethnic divides.

Citation:  Tatum, Beverly Daniel.  Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations about Race . New York: Basic Books, 2003.

From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation

In this stirring and insightful analysis, activist and scholar  Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor  surveys the historical and contemporary ravages of racism and persistence of structural inequality such as mass incarceration and Black unemployment. In this context, she argues that this new struggle against police violence holds the potential to reignite a broader push for Black liberation.

Citation:  Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta.  From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation . Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2016.

• R ead e-book @ Harvard Library

Race Matters

Race Matters  contains Cornel 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.

Citation:  West, Cornel.  Race Matters . Boston: Beacon Press, 1993.

As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power--which groups have it and which do not. In this book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.

Citation: Wilkerson, Isabel. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents . New York: Random House, 2020.

Charleston Syllabus

In the aftermath of the Charleston massacre, Professors  Chad Williams ,  Kidada E. Williams , and  Keisha N. Blain  sought a way to put the murder-and the subsequent debates in the media-in the context of America's tumultuous history of race relations and racial violence on a global scale. They created the  Charleston Syllabus  on June 19, starting it as a hashtag on Twitter linking to scholarly works on the myriad of issues related to the murder.

Citation:  Williams, Chad, Kidada E. Williams, and Keisha N. Blain. (Eds.)  Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence . Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2016.

Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence

If you believe that talking about race is impolite, or that "colorblindness" is the preferred approach, you must read this book.  Derald Wing Sue  debunks the most pervasive myths using evidence, easy-to-understand examples, and practical tools.

Citation:  Wing Sue, Derald.  Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race . Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2015.

The Sum of Us

The Sum of Us is a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here: divided and self-destructing, materially rich but spiritually starved and vastly unequal. Heather McGhee marshals economic and sociological research to tell an irrefutable story of racism's costs, but at the heart of the book are the humble stories of people yearning to be part of a better America, including white supremacy's collateral victims: white people themselves. With startling empathy, this heartfelt message from a Black woman to a multiracial America leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than a zero-sum game.

Citation: McGhee, Heather. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together . New York: One World, 2021.

• Hannah-Jones, Nikole. (2019). The 1619 Project .  The New York Times Magazine .
• Coates, Ta-Nehisi. (2014). The Case for Reparations .  The Atlantic .
• DiAngelo, Robin. (2017). Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism .  Huffington Post .
• McIntosh, Peggy. (1989). White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack . Peace and Freedom .
• Serwer, Adam. (2020). The Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying .  The Atlantic .
• Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem. (2020). Don’t Understand the Protests? What You're Seeing is People Pushed to the Edge .  Los Angeles Times .
• Hinton, Elizabeth. (2020). The Minneapolis Uprising in Context .  Boston Review .
• Hannah-Jones, Nikole. 1619 .  The New York Times .
• Muhammad, Khalil Gibran and Ben Austen. Some of My Best Friends Are . Pushkin .
• Carroll, Rebecca. Come Through with Rebecca Carroll .  WNYC Studios .
• Biewen, John. Seeing White .  Scene On Radio .
• Raghuveera, Nikhil and Erica Licht. Untying Knots .  SoundCloud .
• Moyo, Thoko. A historic crossroads for systemic racism and policing in America .  PolicyCast . Featuring Khalil Gibran Muhammad and Erica Chenoweth .

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Cornel West

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Cornel West (born June 2, 1953, Tulsa , Oklahoma , U.S.) is an American philosopher, scholar of African American studies, and political activist. His influential book Race Matters (1993) lamented what he saw as the spiritual impoverishment of the African American underclass and critically examined the “crisis” of Black leadership in the United States .

West’s father was a civilian U.S. Air Force administrator and his mother an elementary school teacher and eventually a principal. During West’s childhood the family settled in an African American working-class neighbourhood in Sacramento, California. There West regularly attended services at the local Baptist church, where he listened to moving testimonials of privation, struggle, and faith from parishioners whose grandparents had been slaves. Another influence on West during this time was the Black Panther Party , whose Sacramento offices were near the church he attended. The Panthers impressed upon him the importance of political activism at the local level and introduced him to the writings of Karl Marx .

In 1970, at age 17, West entered Harvard University on a scholarship. He graduated magna cum laude three years later with a bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern languages and literature. He attended graduate school in philosophy at Princeton University , where he was influenced by the American pragmatist philosopher Richard Rorty . (West briefly abandoned work on his dissertation to write a novel, which was never published.) After receiving his doctoral degree in 1980, West taught philosophy, religion , and African American studies at several colleges and universities, including Union Theological Seminary, Yale University (including the Yale Divinity School), the University of Paris , Princeton University, and Harvard University , where he was appointed Alphonse Fletcher, Jr., University Professor in 1998. He returned to Princeton in 2002 as Class of 1943 University Professor in the Center for African American Studies.

West’s work was characteristically wide-ranging, eclectic , original, and provocative. His several books analyzing issues of race , class , and justice or tracing the history of philosophy typically combined a political perspective based on democratic socialism , a Christian moral sensibility, and a philosophical orientation informed by the tradition of American pragmatism . His best-known work, Race Matters , a collection of essays, was published exactly one year after the Los Angeles Riots of 1992 , which were sparked by the acquittal of four white policemen on charges of aggravated assault in the beating of Rodney King, an African American motorist. The book discussed the pervasive despair and “nihilism” of African Americans in poverty and criticized African American leaders for pursuing strategies that West believed were shortsighted, narrow-minded, or self-serving. West also considered issues such as Black- Jewish relations, the renewed popularity of Malcolm X , and the significance of the Los Angeles Riots themselves.

West was always a political activist as well as an academic, and he did not hesitate to participate in demonstrations or to lend his name or presence to causes he felt were just. At times his activism created tensions with the administrations of the universities where he taught. In 2001 the new Harvard University president, Lawrence Summers , reportedly admonished West in private for devoting too much time to political activity and other extracurricular pursuits. Their dispute was soon joined by supporters and detractors of West both inside and outside the academy, who debated not only the merits of West’s scholarship but also the commitment of Summers and Harvard to affirmative action programs. Eventually West resigned his position at Harvard and moved to Princeton.

In June 2023 West announced his bid to become the nominee of the progressive People’s Party in the United States presidential election of 2024 . Soon thereafter he switched his affiliation to the Green Party , citing in interviews the party’s much greater ballot access, including in some key battleground states. In October he declared that he was no longer seeking the Green Party’s nomination and would run as an independent candidate instead.

West’s other works include The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Genealogy of Pragmatism (1989), The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought (1991), Beyond Eurocentrism and Multiculturalism (1993), Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism (2004), and (with David Ritz) Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud: A Memoir (2009). He recorded a hip-hop-like spoken-word album, Sketches of My Culture (2001), and a collection of spoken-word and music, Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations (2007). In 2003 he appeared as the character Councillor West in the popular movies The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions .

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On Race Matters and Social Justice

• Essays, Peer-Reviewed Articles, and Other Web Resources
• Video Presentation About this Guide
• What Can I Do?
• Anti-Racism Resources
• Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus from JStor
• On Police and Policing
• Podcasts on the Topic
• Selected Books that Inspire, Instruct, and Inform
• The Times, Are They A-Changing?

Resources for the Classroom

• A Syllabus for Students When Dealing with Law Enforcement Created in 2014 by Nate Bowling, Teacher, Writer, Podcaster and 2016 Teacher of the Year Finalist. It includes a handout for a workshop that he uses to teach his students on their rights when dealing with law enforcement, particularly dealing with the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments.
• FBI releases Hate Crime Statistics new! The 2021 hate crimes data, submitted by 15,136 law enforcement agencies, provide information about the offenses, victims, offenders, and locations of hate crimes. Of these agencies who submitted incident reports, there were 7262 hate crime incidents involving 8673 offenses. Over 64.8% of these hate crimes were ethnic/race/ancestry related.
• Teaching Resources from the American History Association From the American History Association, this website provides a list of resources in response to ongoing racist violence in the United States. AHA envisions utilization of these web resources by the following people: "Teachers can use them in classrooms to help students understand the history of the present; journalists can draw on them to provide historical context for current events; researchers can draw on them to inform future scholarship. Due to the nature of this history, many of the resources contain references to violence and assault."
• Talking About Race Tools to talk about race from Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture. Tools are available in three categories for: an educator; a parent or care-giver; or a person committed to equity.
• The 1619 Project Neatly summarized by Diversity Best Practices, "The 1619 Project" is an ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country's history by placing consequences of slavery and contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our narrative." Curriculum, guides and activities for students can be found at the Pulitzer Center: https://pulitzercenter.org/1619. Also available as a Podcast: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/podcasts/1619-podcast.html
• Structural Racism: A Maynard Institute Case Study A list of 250+ studies, dating back to 2010, from institutes, universities, and reputable newspapers on the subject of racial disparities in various aspects of American life. Categories include: housing, health, employment, education, criminal justice, COVID-19, and wealth. Many of the studies were conducted by The Urban Institute, Brookings Institution, The Marshall Project, The Vera Institute of Justice, Pew Research Center, Education Trust, The Sentencing project, the Center for American Progress, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
• Black Freedom Struggles in the United States: A Selection of Primary Sources A curated selection of primary sources for teaching and learning about the struggles and triumps of Black Americans. Developed with in put from Black history scholars and advisors, this website is freely available to libraries. The information is organized into six (6) crucial phases of the U.S. Black freedom struggle: i) Slavery and Abolitionist Movement (1790 -1860); ii) Civil War and Reconstruction Era (1861-1877); iii) Jim Crow Era to the Great Depression (1878-1932); iv) New Deal and World War II (1933-1945); v) Civil Rights and Black power Movement (1946-1975); and vi) Contemporary Era (1976-present). All materials are from ProQuest collections.
• The State of Black America Since its first appearance in 1976 under the stewardship of the late Mr. Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., the organization’s fifth president, the State of Black America® remains one of the most highly- anticipated benchmarks and sources for thought leadership around racial equality in America. The report explores the inequities across America’s economics, employment, education, health, housing, criminal justice, and civic participation systems through research and the words of our contributors. Each edition contains penetrating commentary and insightful analysis from recognized authorities and leading figures in politics, the corporate and tech sectors, the nonprofit arena, academia, and popular culture. [Taken from the "About" webpage]

Essays on the Topic

• I Can't Even Enjoy This' #BlackBirderWeek Organizer Shares Her Struggle As a Black Scientist An interview from "Science Careers" with Corina Newsome who expresses challenges she experiences as a Black scientist who works outdoors. She also provides recommendations on improving the situation. Written by Kate Langin, this article appeared in Science Magazine on June 5, 2020. The CSI Library has a current subscription to Science Magazine .
• Fix the System, Not the Students new! From Science Magazine , this article discusses that rather than giving students the help they need, Physicist Mary James and other Black physicists say, the priesthood too often decides that those students are unworthy of joining the profession. That way of thinking is so common in physics that it even has a name. Diversity scholars call it the deficit model. Written by Jeffrey Mervis and published on March 2nd, 2022. The CSI Library has a current subscription to Science Magazine .
• Confronting Racism and Supporting Asian Communities in the Wake of COVID-19 This article was featured in The Blog of the Urban Institute's Race and Ethnicity section. It was written by Danielle Kwon and published on March 24, 2020.
• Study Finds Black Access to Healthcare Lags in States That Show a High Level of Structural Racism The results showed that the higher the level of racism in a given state, the less access Black people in that state had to health care. The higher the level of racism in a given state, the more access White people had to health care. In addition, the worse the state’s racism score, the higher the quality of care White people reported receiving. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education , July 26, 2021. The CSI Library has a current subscription to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education .
• Diversity Regimes: Why Talk Is Not Enough to Fix Racial Inequalities at Universities Author, James Thomas, Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, discusses his book of the above title with Editor, Scot Jaschik. Published in Inside Higher Ed , June 16, 2020.
• Higher Ed's Toothless Response to the Killing of George Floyd Subtitled "Statements by college leaders reflect an unholy alchemy of risk management, legal liabilities, and trustee anxiety," this article challenges colleges leaders to act rather than use superficial language. It was published in the Chronicle of Higher Education of June 8, 2020. It was written by two professors from Carnegie Mellon University - Jason England, Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Richard Purcell, Associate Professor of English and Director of Literary and Cultural Studies Program. The CSI Library has a current subscription to the Chronicle of Higher Education .
• Urban Policing WITHOUT BRUTALITY Taken from the abstract, this article "discusses the improvement of policing process in Cincinnati, Ohio. Topics covered include the establishment of the Citizen Complaint Authority (CCA) in Cincinnati, the reasons that motivated the city government to adopt a far-reaching police reform and the city's efforts to further improve transparency, community engagement and diversity." Written by Nathalie Baptiste for The American Prospect , Summer 2015. The CSI Library has a current subscription to The American Prospect .
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