Two Nations : Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal

Hacker's personal guilt must be all consuming 2009-09-30

Reviewer: R. Lohaus

I chose to read this book for a history course, wanting to spread my wings a bit and examine a point-of-view I don't consider often enough. Certainly, I am not the white man Mr. Hacker imagines all white people to be. Even if one considers himself a good person judging people on merit rather than skin color that should not be the end of the discussion. All Americans need to recognize and honestly look at the current state of race relations in our country. If we can look at things with an honest eye, we can then attempt to fix the problems that do plague race in our country.

On the other hand, this book is useless in a more practical sense and even harmful. Hacker makes innumerable blanket statements about white people (of which I am one and he is one). I get a strong sense that Mr. Hacker is experiencing transference in place of any sort of objective analysis. He claims to write about the "realities" of race relations, but make no mistake; he is telling you his personal opinion on the subject from start to finish. He weaves into the story many statistics, but you cannot find any number of statistics that can support blanket statements about the hearts of people. His analysis is highly biased, composed of many statements that cannot possibly be true. He appoints himself of the personal spokesman of white people's deepest, thoughts, feelings, and prejudices. Only on such a touchy subject is such marginal scholarship praised.

I have lived in the lower middle class all of my life and attended a school in which I was a minority. I have had black friends and got a decent view of black culture. I am not a perfect person, but I do try to keep my prejudices about a great many things under control, including race. I was raised in a household where my father was a hateful racist, and I had to overcome my learned prejudices. I do not suffer guilt about being white, my conscience is clean. That is not to say that I believe there is equality and justice in race relations, there is not. Yet, going off the deep end bloviating and stereotyping does zero to move the race discussion forward. Unfortunately, some people might take Hacker seriously when he suggests that all or most white people believe black people are inferior. If people like Mr. Hacker are to define future race discussions in our country, I have already jumped ship. Of course, Mr. Hacker has an answer at the ready for me; I am simply lying about my true feelings. That is the core flaw in all of his reasoning and the fatal in his book. Maybe Hacker and Kreskin can team up for his next book on race, maybe giving some validity to his mind reading.

Great book for it's honesty and and intellectual acumen 2006-08-31

Reviewer: E. D. Daniels

Having read this book in 1992 and recently purchased it for my collection, this a great read with various chapters based on history, politcal,and social mores of African- Americans (in the black corner)and our archenemies White Americans (in the white corner). got to hype up the race war angle some of you white conservatives who are doing it in your reviews about this book. If you have a politcal agenda you will either like or hate Hacker's book based on your politcal afilliation, If you are a Liberal, you may like the senstive and fair airing he gives towards the history of why we became two nations.If you are a conservative or Neo- Nazi type like the white racist from georgia that African- Americans have no morals,or you will hate that he's giving Black folks a pass on their moral problems.

Well as a Black Nationalist who believes that intergration is bad social policy but a majority Black commonwealth on American soil may be benefical, I think that historical factors presented in Hacker's book would prevent both sides from ever seeing each other in any rational sense as Americans because

1. Whites see each other as intellectually, morally superior to African - Americans (even the lowest white trash person) and will never consider them equal in the eyes of U.S. law or in their hearts

2. African - Americans (especailly males) will never forgive or forget what the majority White population did to their families, culture, livelihoods and community structures especailly after Slavery.

Hacker has crafted an excellent book through great research and in many ways he is on point throughout the book, when he states the the majority white population will make Hispanics and Asians "honoray whites" demonizing Black Males for politcal and social advantage against charges of racism by blacks. And many of your reviewers are right about some blacks hating whites, I think 387 years of continual defacto racism would create some blacks who would hurt their fellow blacks (in a self- destructive way) whites and other citizens (some blacks hate whites like the Arabs hate Jews).I consider that like the scene in the movie "Independence Day", when "President" Bill Pullman asked the Alien,

Pullman - can there be peace between our worlds

Alien - NOOOOOOOOO NO PEACE !!!!

Pullman - What do you want from us?

Alien I want you to DIE !!!!!

Let the hate mail begin !!!! at least I was "candid" in our so- called dicussion on race.

Two Nations: Black and White, Seperate, Hostile, Unequal 2006-03-14

Reviewer: Andrea Overmyer

This book points out, that even in the 21st Century; the separation of black and white, with hostility and un-equality still exists.
The United States is still seen as two separate nations, with the two races living different worlds. The dimensions of race and how it still controls the lives and divisions of our society is still present.
His book has 12 chapters, but I am focusing on chapter 7 which is the "equity in employment, qualifications and quotas". It is unfortunate to say, that this is still a sensitive race-related issue, without a proper balance; even so affirmative action is involved. The statistics which are used in his book are indeed fact. Hacker tried to be fair, however struggled to accomplish this goal of equal employment.
Hacker argues that as recent as the year 2000, areas of employment were still closed to African Americans; he used the census to document the representation, which was only 11.3%. On another note was the income gap among the African American population vs. the white families which earned more. He argues that the African American woman finds jobs easier then her male counterpart, however these jobs are considered "black jobs"; this would include services such as housekeeping.
Affirmative Action brought about some change for the workforce, but mainly for the females, white or black, which left out the African American male. Hacker points out that the possibility of why the African American male struggles with obtaining an average position could be because the white man is threatened by the African American male, or feels uncomfortable in a business that has an abundance of African American males working and therefore only employs a minimal number. It is pointed out in his book that the people in power use the race as a means of domination and discrimination. He also points out that it is America which made being a member of the black race so difficult. It is noted that the inequality of pay difference gives the African American population a lesser start in life.
If race plays the role in how people fare financially, why is it then that the with American tells the African Americans that there is plenty of work, when what black Americans want is no more and no less than what with Americans wants; a chance for steady employment at a decent pay.....to be black in America is to k now that you remain last in line for so basic requisites as the means of supporting yourself and your family. The discrimination exists, as well as the un-equality which is faced in every level of society. Overall, the problem to the African American is not how to deal with this knowledge, but how to make the society as a whole aware of these inequalities.
The book states also that the white American s believe is, that there are no issue at hand in respects to this continuous problem.
Hacker does not offer any solutions to this problem our society faces. He points out the truth, that African Americans and whites live in different worlds. The discrimination the African American race is facing, shows that common sense can tell us that racism is far from ending; therefore we all must begin to work towards a solution.

What If the Shoe Fits? 2005-06-22

Reviewer: Poniplaizy

First, I would say that this book is refreshingly dispassionate and un-overheated, both qualities that have been sorely lacking in recent discussions of race. Also, there is plenty of truth in it--some explicitly stated, some not quite so obvious. But truth is a two-edged sword, and Mr. Hacker doesn't come clean about all of it. I think he truly believed he was presenting an objective discussion, and he actually came pretty close, but for a few caveats.

The book does a good job of showing the daily trials black people face, and includes a clever exercise that can jolt you into awareness of just how much you do value your white skin. It also talks straight about how much racism runs deep underground or happens behind the façade of political correctness, and about both sides of the slavery issue. But it runs into trouble in a few ways. First, the author theorizes that other minorities such as Asians and Jews, become "honorary whites" by virtue of their achievements. He thinks the dichotomy is white/nonwhite, but I think it's just the opposite: black/nonblack. Nobody thinks Asians or Arabs are white, but because they're not black, they get more openings and more respect than black people do.

Then there is the statistical data. In every chapter, Hacker gives plenty of it, but then explains or excuses away what the numbers say. And some of his arguments are pretty specious. He says that blacks do less well in school because the oppressive presence of whites makes them feel so hopeless they just give up before they start. Well, that's on a par with my saying that I never did well in math because the fact that there were Asian kids in my class made me feel so insecure I didn't even try. If I'd tried that excuse at home, my parents would've laughed in my face and then told me to quit blaming everybody else, get off my hind end, and either hit the books or go to my teacher for extra help. Hacker never connects the dots, but the data say that blacks have sex earlier and less responsibly; do poorly in school and are more likely to drop out; and commit a disproportionate amount of crime, usually on each other.

Hacker offers the usual explanation for all this: It's white people's fault. I'm willing to grant that it's probably not a lot of fun to be black, and that blacks have suffered some unbelievable injustices that still sting and probably leave a psychological residue. But Hacker leaves unsaid the problem that blacks keep digging their own graves in a lot of ways. He seems to think white guilt is some kind of solution to the problem; but if he were to publish a second edition (the book was published in 1992), he would have to address the growing feeling among whites that they're just not buying it anymore. Nobody's saying pretend all those terrible things never happened--but nobody's holding a gun to your head telling you to start having babies in your teens, drop out of school, start dealing drugs, and commit crimes on your fellow citizens either. At some point you have to take some personal responsibility.

So if anybody wants to foam at the mouth and call me a neo-Nazi, go ahead...I'm just saying what most people would say if they were honest with themselves and each other.

This book was sometimes interesting but 2002-11-08

Reviewer: L. G. Schilling

the plethora of percentages and numbers weigh it down. The views of the author were one sided and sometimes a little biased agaisnt the majority. This is a small quibble and does not really take away from the main message the author is trying to convey. This book is, however, quite an eye opener especially for those who believe that in this country all men are created equal. This book proves that it simply isn't so.