Black Women, Ivory Tower- Revealing the Lies of White Supremacy in American Education, Jasmine L. Harris
Although the author admits that she and Michelle Obama came from upwardly mobile and intact black families, she doesn’t attribute her success or Michelle’s to that background, rather she spends the first 2/3rds of the book trashing their treatment by white supremacists. It seems it is in every avenue of life and effects them negatively. They share no responsibility for the outcome of their lives. She speaks of someone who wanted to change her roommate because her roommate was of color, but does not refer to anyone like my daughter, who actually requested her black friend to be her roommate! So, as a white Jew, I found this book to be racist. I have always felt like an “other” as well, but I don’t blame anyone else for my success or lack of it. Yet, I have been an “other” with a history of slavery for thousands of years, not 300.
Therefore, rather than knock the book, let those who wish to read it, enjoy it. I cannot go on reading about how awful white people are, when she graduated from Vassar, a school I could not afford to attend, and the three previous generations of women in her family all became teachers and graduated from college. My father had to quit school after the sixth grade, and my mom never attended college because her family also did not possess any ability to either pass on a legacy to her or to provide that education for her. Methinks her “innocence protest too much”, about her ability to accumulate any capital from her education or her ability to pass on a legacy of success to anyone from it.
I tried hard to keep an open mind while reading this book, because my aim in reading it was to gain a better understanding of the racial issues we are facing today that seem far worse than those in the recent past, but what I am reading is a treatise on her perceived white supremacy. However, I have never been a part of that, nor have I ever had the benefits she has had offered to her giving her a leg up she did not even appreciate. Rather, I have dealt with quotas and antisemitism and chosen to work harder to succeed. I have not advocated for Jewish-only schools or separate dormitories or safe spaces. Actually, I could not afford to live in a dormitory. In addition, I wanted to be mainstreamed and be an American, with no precursor to the word American. I did not want separate facilities to make me feel even more of an “other”, although it would have given me more power. I did not want power or special privileges. I truly wanted equality of opportunity, and not equality of outcome. This is not a book for people like me. I am sure, however, there is an audience for it.
The author speaks of being “the only”, in a room of others, and of feeling like the “other”. She thinks that she is the only one who feels that way, yet how does she think I felt in a Christian world? I was often the “only” in a room full of others, but why should I feel “other” unless I want sympathy or special privileges and unwarranted power? I chose to belong in whatever positive way I could.
Using other authors who have been called racists, to back her up, like Coates, Kendi, Wilkinson, etc., she directs the book only to those who feel cheated by life, and only to those of color. Yet, she has accomplished far more than I was able to at her age, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. The author does not appreciate her accomplishments and her ability to navigate a system she rails against. She should not complain about the road taken, but she should be happy about her accomplishments when she arrived at her destination. She should encourage others with positive approaches, rather than looking to cast blame on others for the failure of some in her community. They chose their path, as well.
The author graduated from Vassar and is a professor there promoting black studies. I, on the other hand, am witnessing students marching against the Jews and demanding the annihilation of Israel. I am witnessing the intimidation of Jews on campus, the world she is part of, and the support of this intimidation often comes from her demographic. Yet, it is she who feels short-changed by the white world and I am not allowed to feel that way about hers without being called a racist.
In every example she provides, she trashes white institutions as racist and never gives both sides of the story in any incident, but immediately assumes the results were racist. White people have been in America far longer than black people. That is one of the reasons there are greater numbers of successful white people, aside from the issue of slavery and the prevention of people of color from getting a good education or to own property, wherever they wished. I suffered the same indignities. Yet she trashes me as a white woman who has made her feel like an “other”.
Yes, the system was flawed, and it still is, but it had improved in what was historically, a brief period of time, improved that is, until a President proceeded to divide us by our identity.
Why did one group prosper and another fail? You cannot blame it all on racism, some of the blame is on the shoulders of the people of color. In many instances, because the immediate cry was racism, even in the face of incompetence, job security and options became limited. Also, not all black teachers lost employment when the school system was integrated, but you can’t have it both ways. You can’t demand integration, and then demand all the teachers be employed in fewer places if fewer staff is needed. Those in place remained. I do not think that they lost their jobs because of racism or that it was intentional. I do think that when the demand was made for schools to close and to offer equal education to all which was appropriate and well deserved, the system should have provided options for the teachers who became unemployed when their schools closed down because of lack of attendance.
Still, today, look at reality. On television shows, news programs, talk shows, in ads, in the government, in the sports and entertainment world, black people are in positions of power and are actually in greater numbers, and are often excused of their own racist views and comments. The author spins the egregious behavior by white society to make it seem worse than it is, for instance, she writes that less than 10% of black students are in elite schools, but they are only 13% of the population. That is a great percentage for any demographic. I could cite further examples, but I do not wish to critique the book further. I cannot continue to read a book that is so anti-white. The message is repetitively hostile and the tone is disappointing to me. Regardless of the issue, it is interpreted to make the people of her demographic the victims of white supremacy. The author does not seem to want to unite us, but to divide us further.