num_pages: 536
description: "Blacks cannot succeed because white America is Racist." If you're like many others, this statement doesn't sit well with you. Yet for decades, this has been the claim of civil-rights leaders who have put their own political advancement ahead of interracial harmony. How can we counter the inflammatory charge that we live in a racist nation, a country of victims and victimizers? John Perazzo's powerful new book, The Myths That Divide Us, gives you the answers. In it, you discover how black-white relations are sabotaged by a parade of demagogues who march under the righteous-sounding banner of "civil rights." You find out how they mischaracterize our country as routinely abusive of its black citizens. Above all, you see their false claims demolished by hard facts. Through careful analysis, Perazzo shows you that the most serious social and economic problems currently afflicting black Americans are not due to societal racism but to issues within the black community. Drawing on hundreds of references to important sociological research, he demonstrates * White racism in the U.S. has declined dramatically since the 1950s, and no longer has the debilitating effect it once had on black Americans.* The tragic breakdown of the black family, and not societal racism, is at the heart of black poverty and crime.* Affirmative action has heightened racial tensions while doing virtually nothing to improve the economic condition of black Americans.* There is little evidence of systemic antiblack bias in any aspect of contemporary American college admissions, the criminal-justice system, mortgage-lending practices, workers' wages, voting patterns, or the manner in which the media portray blacks. Perazzo further shows that civil-rights advocates consistently use a double standard when they evaluate matters of raceglobal as well as local. You learn, for example, how they focused world attention on the evils of South African apartheid, but said virtually nothing about the far greater atrocities perpetrated by black governments throughout Africa. You also see how these denouncers of past centuries' white-on-black enslavement remain silent about the black-on-black servitude that pervaded Africa during the very same epoch. What's more, they turn a blind eye to the modern-day slavery that still exists in several African nations today. The Myths That Divide Us dares to reveal the thorny but vital realities that both white and black America must accept if we're to get over the notion that white racism is the primary cause of black troubles. Just consider a few of the hundreds of key facts Perazzo gives * Scarcely 1 in 100 whites favors racial discrimination against blacks in the workplace.* 93 % of eligible whites would be willing to vote for a black presidential candidate.* Black full-time workers earn slightly more than white workers of the same age and I.Q.* Black families with two college-educated, working adults earn more than similar white families in every age group and in every region of the United States.* Regardless of race, growing up fatherless is by far the most-accurate predictor of a child's future criminal behavior.* Black defendants are slightly less likely to be prosecuted and convicted of felonies than white defendants charged with similar crimes.* Though blacks commit more than half of our nation's murders, nearly 60 % of all Death Row inmates are white.* 94 % of all black homicide victims are slain by other blacks.* Violent white criminals select black victims for just 3 % of their crimes, while black criminals choose white victims for 54 % of their crimes. All told, 89 % of all interracial violence is black-on-white.* Because of affirmative action, black applicants are much more likely than white applicants to be admitted to the college of their choice, even though whites score about 200 points higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.* Even under apartheid, more blacks actually moved into South Africa than left itbecause the economic and social conditions in neighboring African nations were worse. Clearly, there is much we haven't been told. "If we misdiagnose the cause of our troubles," says Perazzo, "we cannot possibly prescribe effective remedies. We will have racial harmony only if enough people dare to recognize and reject the deceptions of demagogues who thrive on conflict." The Myths That Divide Us provides the knowledge you need to refute the false, divisive charge that ours is a racist nation.
language: English
title: The Myths That Divide Us: How Lies Have Poisoned American Race Relations
titlecomplete: The Myths That Divide Us: How Lies Have Poisoned American Race Relations
genres: Sociology
ratings_count: 7
publisher: World Studies Books