Culture is such an important factor that people keep forgetting. You can have the same skin tone and physical attributes, but if we were raised with different values and different cultures, we would be different. You can have a room filled with white people and it's diverse because they all have different backgrounds and opinions while you could also have a room that "looks" diverse but they all think the same.
Coleman Hughes is always interesting. Various writers and artists and regular black people are now pushing back against 'blackness'or what I've called the 'black ideology'. Influential black leaders and public figures with white progressive allies have become the authorities who define what blackness is, or see it as their role to speak on behalf of all black people. I hope that the rebellion grows, some of us want to assert our individuality, some want to challenge the meaning of race, other want to maintain a pride in the achievements of their community, and a sense of responsibility for their community.
Black Americans have been the figureheads for black people across the world. When I was young growing up in the UK (and this may sound weird) I confused the colour 'black' with the word 'American'. My mother has told me that what probably happened was that when she saw a black person on the TV, she might say 'oh look there's an American actress', my brother and sister picked up on this and passed it on to me and a confusion happened somewhere down the line. My mother came to the UK as a nurse, from Guyana in 1958 while waiting for her US visa, many of her friends and relatives went to the US, she came to the UK and stayed (many relatives were here also). In her early years in the UK my mother saw great American performers Harry Belafonte and Paul Robeson on UK tours.
When I went to Guyana in 1966, my grandmother called me Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali), as I was so pretty (Ali didn't wait to be told he was pretty, and to be fair he was). Ali, like US icons MLK, Malcolm X and others, was hugely popular and influential among black people throughout the world.
Today black America (and America in general) seems to have lost it's way. Black America remains influential but I would argue not in a good way. Causes like Apartheid in South Africa, and Anti-Colonialism in Africa and the Caribbeans no longer unite black people around the world. We have black identity politics, which we have imported from the US into the UK but sits uncomfortably. Black identity politics has taken hold among black leadership cliques, but the black population in the UK has changed and diversified. In the 50's and 60's we were predominantly West Indian, today we have black people from all over Africa, we have different generations and a growing mixed race community.
I'm on the side of those who feel 'blackness' has become a straitjacket or worse a political identity that they have not signed up for, and who seek individual autonomy. Paradoxically black people may have to combine to achieve individual freedom. That said I can understand why some black Americans remain proud of their achievements (they have a lot to be proud of) and have mixed feelings (or even hostility) about the potential loss of their identity.
Colour blind is considered by some to be racist which is stupid in the extreme. What this article does not seem to reference is that the authors of the CRT books are Marxist communists through and through.
Marxism needs division and used to divide along class lines, today they deliberately divide along race and sex.
Great to see you highlighting the facts, because the tide could turn very quickly if we don’t fight it, thank you
I’ve always thought that there’s a Marxist element to racial politics. I think that white Marxist has used the black community for their own political advantage.
This is an excellent book review. I have followed Hughes for a while now and starting reading the book. I have been shutdown by the 'lived experience' argument because I am a privileged white male. I tried to speak to that but they don't want to hear it. it's nice to see it addressed in the book. I think looking at social class is key for gov policy. it's fair across the board. the unfortunate thing is the can of worms was opened and now, like the tea party caucus influence, gov policies reflect that influence and it will be ingrained into the political system for years to come.
Growing up in Chicago, I observed four distinct Black identities: African immigrants focused on family and education, Baptist church members committed to civil rights, self-destructive “ghetto” identities, and Nation of Islam followers who clung to Malcolm X’s early ideology. The last two felt like ticking time bombs, with unresolved issues beneath the surface.
In my firsthand experience, those last two groups often display intense hostility toward white people, even pronouncing “white” with a heavy emphasis on the “H” in a way that feels deliberately condescending and derogatory. The boogeyman for all things that go wrong in their life.
It’s troubling that some celebrities still support figures like Louis Farrakhan, treating him as a hero despite his reputation as a Nazi sympathizer.
In this context, anti-racism often seems like a smokescreen, masking hostility toward white people and American culture. Instead of striving for true equality, there seems to be an intentional separatism that fuels division. The Nation of Islam’s influence on some Black Marxists suggests that, for some, Black supremacy is seen as justified—and it’s crucial for white “allies” to recognize the risks of aligning uncritically.
Thanks for writing this review. It reminds me to buy the book. Hughes is one of my favorites. Coates gets most of the praise for his writing on what it means to be black because the liberal left loves the victim. Maybe the white liberal left likes feeling guilty ? I look forward to more discussion about this.
Culture is such an important factor that people keep forgetting. You can have the same skin tone and physical attributes, but if we were raised with different values and different cultures, we would be different. You can have a room filled with white people and it's diverse because they all have different backgrounds and opinions while you could also have a room that "looks" diverse but they all think the same.
Coleman Hughes is always interesting. Various writers and artists and regular black people are now pushing back against 'blackness'or what I've called the 'black ideology'. Influential black leaders and public figures with white progressive allies have become the authorities who define what blackness is, or see it as their role to speak on behalf of all black people. I hope that the rebellion grows, some of us want to assert our individuality, some want to challenge the meaning of race, other want to maintain a pride in the achievements of their community, and a sense of responsibility for their community.
Black Americans have been the figureheads for black people across the world. When I was young growing up in the UK (and this may sound weird) I confused the colour 'black' with the word 'American'. My mother has told me that what probably happened was that when she saw a black person on the TV, she might say 'oh look there's an American actress', my brother and sister picked up on this and passed it on to me and a confusion happened somewhere down the line. My mother came to the UK as a nurse, from Guyana in 1958 while waiting for her US visa, many of her friends and relatives went to the US, she came to the UK and stayed (many relatives were here also). In her early years in the UK my mother saw great American performers Harry Belafonte and Paul Robeson on UK tours.
When I went to Guyana in 1966, my grandmother called me Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali), as I was so pretty (Ali didn't wait to be told he was pretty, and to be fair he was). Ali, like US icons MLK, Malcolm X and others, was hugely popular and influential among black people throughout the world.
Today black America (and America in general) seems to have lost it's way. Black America remains influential but I would argue not in a good way. Causes like Apartheid in South Africa, and Anti-Colonialism in Africa and the Caribbeans no longer unite black people around the world. We have black identity politics, which we have imported from the US into the UK but sits uncomfortably. Black identity politics has taken hold among black leadership cliques, but the black population in the UK has changed and diversified. In the 50's and 60's we were predominantly West Indian, today we have black people from all over Africa, we have different generations and a growing mixed race community.
I'm on the side of those who feel 'blackness' has become a straitjacket or worse a political identity that they have not signed up for, and who seek individual autonomy. Paradoxically black people may have to combine to achieve individual freedom. That said I can understand why some black Americans remain proud of their achievements (they have a lot to be proud of) and have mixed feelings (or even hostility) about the potential loss of their identity.
Colour blind is considered by some to be racist which is stupid in the extreme. What this article does not seem to reference is that the authors of the CRT books are Marxist communists through and through.
Marxism needs division and used to divide along class lines, today they deliberately divide along race and sex.
Great to see you highlighting the facts, because the tide could turn very quickly if we don’t fight it, thank you
I’ve always thought that there’s a Marxist element to racial politics. I think that white Marxist has used the black community for their own political advantage.
The skin colour of Marxist communists is irrelevant. They only want division.
This is an excellent book review. I have followed Hughes for a while now and starting reading the book. I have been shutdown by the 'lived experience' argument because I am a privileged white male. I tried to speak to that but they don't want to hear it. it's nice to see it addressed in the book. I think looking at social class is key for gov policy. it's fair across the board. the unfortunate thing is the can of worms was opened and now, like the tea party caucus influence, gov policies reflect that influence and it will be ingrained into the political system for years to come.
Thank you, the book is indeed excellent.
Growing up in Chicago, I observed four distinct Black identities: African immigrants focused on family and education, Baptist church members committed to civil rights, self-destructive “ghetto” identities, and Nation of Islam followers who clung to Malcolm X’s early ideology. The last two felt like ticking time bombs, with unresolved issues beneath the surface.
In my firsthand experience, those last two groups often display intense hostility toward white people, even pronouncing “white” with a heavy emphasis on the “H” in a way that feels deliberately condescending and derogatory. The boogeyman for all things that go wrong in their life.
It’s troubling that some celebrities still support figures like Louis Farrakhan, treating him as a hero despite his reputation as a Nazi sympathizer.
In this context, anti-racism often seems like a smokescreen, masking hostility toward white people and American culture. Instead of striving for true equality, there seems to be an intentional separatism that fuels division. The Nation of Islam’s influence on some Black Marxists suggests that, for some, Black supremacy is seen as justified—and it’s crucial for white “allies” to recognize the risks of aligning uncritically.
Thanks for writing this review. It reminds me to buy the book. Hughes is one of my favorites. Coates gets most of the praise for his writing on what it means to be black because the liberal left loves the victim. Maybe the white liberal left likes feeling guilty ? I look forward to more discussion about this.