cover image Racism or Attitude?: The Ongoing Struggle for Black Liberation and Self-Esteem

Racism or Attitude?: The Ongoing Struggle for Black Liberation and Self-Esteem

James L. Robinson. Insight Books Inc, $24.95 (269pp) ISBN 978-0-306-44945-1

Robinson, a freelance writer, here offers a derivative synthesis of black dissenting views on racial issues. After quoting such writers as Glenn Loury and Shelby Steele on the dangers of claiming victimization, he draws on William Julius Wilson's analysis that deindustrialization helped create the ghetto underclass. Robinson also reprises Wilson's argument that entitlement programs should benefit all the poor, not just blacks. He suggests that blacks should emulate the unity of Latinos and Asians to rise up the economic ladder, and he endorses workfare proposals, noting that in his youth, blacks disdained those on the dole. More interestingly, he observes that the push for all-black male schools signifies black middle-class distrust of integration, and he suggests that whites can't grasp the notion of institutional racism. His main recommendations: blacks must build institutions to spur black social and economic development, and blacks must be less adversarial in dealing with white America. A probing look at hitherto intractable problems. (May)