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

Getting some insight and information, that some people don’t talk about in the open or rather at all.

Very insightful, though there were a lot of things I was already aware of as an African African American. I believe it's a must read for those of any race/ethnicity.

Purchased to share with others who needed a "white" perspective on institutional / systemic racism.

Remember the multiple choice exams with only one right choice? Remember the tweaked version with three seemingly right choices but really only one right choice? If you did well on those exams, then you can read this book. It purports to be straight-forward and serious academic scholarship but it fails in several ways.The author is an old White liberal and makes no bones about it which adds color (no pun intended) to the study and keeps it from becoming dry but you need to keep on your toes in order to distinguish fact from conjecture. He is also an intelligent well-read university professor but beware giving him too much credit. He's an ivory tower academic used to reading tables of statistics. As my coworker used to say, if all you own is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail. The first chapter both sets and doesn't set the tone for the entire book. It sets the tone in that for purposes of expediency and let's face it, sheer laziness, the author proposes creating two buckets: white and black and putting everybody in one or the other. Even foreign students (grad and undergrad) get tossed into the blender. He then proposes speaking with one voice for the entire mix of "white" and another voice for the entire mix of "black". He then glosses over several issues within the black community that have been well documented and references several studies in order to establish credentials. Remember, all this in chapter one. Then he collects some random facts from the U.S. Census Bureau and the FBI and talks about them one by one in the remaining separate chapters. Each time, he makes observations about the facts in question but backs up none with any studies hence the references in chapter one were a ruse. Close inspection shows that observations in some chapters are refuted in others but that apparently doesn't matter. The part that makes me wince is every chapter includes the insight that "this is what 'white' people really think" after always first prepending an appropriate disclaimer that no studies of "white" views on this topic have ever been done. It's very much like saying, I can say this about Black people because one of my friends is Black. Similarly, we get "this is what 'black' people really think" but without the disclaimer for some odd reason.If the buckets concept doesn't bother you, you should have your head examined. Among other things, because Asians get to be "White", it explains away the higher SAT test scores for Asians and Whites rather than giving the issue serious analysis. Similarly, higher rates of Blacks in prison are blamed on hip hop music. Seriously. Can you say HATER? In retrospect, why not pick video games like everybody else? :) If the lack of breakdown by social class doesn't bother you, reflect on how many people you hang out with regularly and admire that just happen to be in lower social classes. Why then would you assume that people you don't know would behave in a monolithic fashion despite having dramatically different incomes?While, the author is somewhat aware of rifts in the Black community such as a generation gap, an income gap, a social class gap, assimilation vs. preferred segregation, northern heritage, southern heritage or caribbean heritage, but an over reliance on summation data from his two sources severely handicaps analysis. But don't worry, painting with broad strokes is still allowed. After all, he assures us that behaving as a monolith is better for minorities. I would really love to expose him to some of the minority on minority prejudice I have to put up with but I digress. We get dramatic observations like blacks only get jobs that whites no longer want. That sure explains all of those Hispanic fast food workers in my neighborhood. Similarly it explains the 33% earning 50-100K per year. Who's job did Naomi Campbell steal BTW? I guess he isn't a fan of America's Next Top Model. Similarly, there is an observation that the private sector is more discriminatory than the public section because of less scrutiny effectively blocking entire occupations from hiring blacks. Proof? 30% of blacks that declared their occupation as X to the Census Bureau work in the public sector. OK. Doesn't that imply that a) blacks are able to work in said career and b) the remaining 70% work in the private sector or did I miss something?On the plus side, the author is old, well-read and an academic with established credentials. So his unreferenced observations do share some insight into what was happening before many of us were born and how it may have spilled over to today. The big question of course is, is this real information or his spin. For example, "all 'whites' are racist" sounds a bit extreme and rightfully so but he probably means that unknown to you, many "white" businesses have established business practices that deliberate exclude "black" candidates from employment. If you aren't invited to interview candidates and don't work in HR, how will you know aside from taking a break to examine the demographics in your work environment? OK, I remember American history. I did not sleep in class. I remember thirteen colonies: some with slavery, some without. I remember consistent and repeated fights over the peculiar institution in Congress. I remember limits on acceptance of new states into the union. I remember the abolitionist movement. I even can recall the Civil War and Reconstruction. But I don't remember reading the part where all those racist Southern plantation owners fled north with all their gold and co-opted all major sources of jobs in order to impose apartheid in the workplace and still managed to keep it that way in the south too. That's actually quite an accomplishment. Consider the amount of planning required, the ability to execute on such a large scale and the initiative. And one wonders, did every immigrant with money that moved here afterwards just willingly buy into this system of apartheid? Truly amazing. Why is this not taught in school?The author does shine in one area. He will note when a specific topic has only been explored from the minority perspective rather than from a comparison of minority to majority. It's a shame he only has two buckets or he might consider multiple minority perspectives. However, in all such cases, he claims that the majority "white" view will reflect badly hence it has deliberately been covered up. He may have a point or it may be like the fascination with the poor half of blacks prevents any meaningful study of successful blacks. Come on now. 33% earning above 50K/year in just one generation? Now that's a story! While I don't recommend not reading this book, I definitely recommend reading it with care. I also recommend reading "Don't Believe the Hype" which covers many of these statistics from a different perspective.

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.

I am a reader and ordered it because I am using it for research on a project. the info was very helpful.

50 years and nothing has changed

Its a good book of accurate information, it just clarified what I had been thanking.

Fantastic thanks!!