Who’s Afraid of a Large Black Man?

the solution to racism, as discovered for himself by the late, great, martyr of America, Malcolm X, al-Haj Malik al-Shabazz, is to be found in Islam where. ``a black man is not better than a white man and a white man is not better than a black man; an arab is not better than a non-arab and a non-arab is not better than an arab...``

Prompted by paindupastry`s post, a review of ``Lies My Teacher Told Me`` by Woody Gutherie is appended in the following. It seems interesting.

Mohammad Gill


``I ain’t the world’s best writer, ain’t the world’s best speller
But when I believe in somethin,`’ I’m the loudest yeller``
( W O O D Y G U T H R I E )

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Lies My Teacher Told Me:
Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

by James W. Loewen

Not too long ago a shocking realization hit me. Though I was an attentive history student in high school, and later earned a college degree in American history, I realized I knew absolutely nothing about the Vietnam War. How could that happen, I wondered? How could someone who spent so much time studying history in school, and even more time studying it outside of school, be ignorant of such an important event? And more importantly, if it had slipped by me, what about others like me?

James Loewen provides the answer in Lies My Teacher Told Me. It turns out that 90 percent of high school history classes never even mention Vietnam – and those that do paint an incomplete and misleading picture. Loewen believes American students are being systematically lied to and misled in their history classes. His book chronicles the litany of outrages perpetrated in those history classes and in our educational system as a whole. Though its unabashed left-wing perspective makes it unlikely to appeal to our country’s conservative educational institutions, Loewen’s book should be a wake-up call for anyone interested in history or education.

History, ultimately, is a selection of facts, and Loewen argues convincingly that current textbooks have chosen to include all the wrong facts. It is no wonder that most students find history boring when it is taught as merely a succession of presidents, with a pleasant little war every now and then to spice things up. But shouldn’t students learn all aspects of our history? Instead of being spared the unpleasantness of racial violence, shouldn’t they learn that over a three-year period in the 1860s, an average of one African-American per day was murdered in Hinds County, Mississippi? Shouldn’t American students learn that president Woodrow Wilson was a vicious racist and that the Federal government, which was integrated when he took over, had been purged of African Americans by the time he left office? Shouldn’t they learn about the government’s kidnapping and deportation of thousands of Mexican-Americans – including many who had been born in the United States – in the 1930s? Shouldn’t they learn about the concentration camps in which Japanese Americans were confined during World War II? Shouldn’t they learn about Paul Robeson, perhaps the most talented performing artist in American history, whose acting and singing career was prematurely ended by McCarthyism? Shouldn’t they learn that America’s foreign policy during the 20th century consisted of violently overthrowing the government of any country that refused to bow to U.S. corporate interests? Shouldn’t they learn that the CIA, acting on behalf of the United Fruit Company, hunted down and murdered one of the century’s most important revolutionaries, Che Guevara, in 1967?

But there are no villains, Loewen points out, in American history textbooks. No American has ever done anything wrong. Bad things just “happen.” In high school history there are slaves but no slaveholders, wars but no warmongers, crimes but no criminals. After all, it might confuse students to learn that Thomas Jefferson raped slave women, or that Abraham Lincoln often used the word “nigger.” Textbooks do a good job of covering up for American heroes, but in doing so they rob education of its greatest potential lesson: that in life, there are no easy answers. George Orwell’s 1984 was supposed to be satire, but the prediction he made in it – that history would be falsely rewritten by the government in order to remove its most distasteful aspects – has become literally true. American history as taught in public schools is propaganda of the highest order, just like that once used in Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. The result of all this, sadly, is that one can learn far more about how our society works from a single Ani DiFranco song than from an entire U.S. History textbook.

Why is history taught like this? The main reason is that textbook publishers, to ensure that their books will make money, self-censor their works to remove all material that might remotely offend someone. Because textbook adoption committees in most states are dominated by a powerful and well-organized coalition of right-wing activists, books dealing honestly with issues of race and social class have no hope for adoption. In most high schools history is not a form of education, but of indoctrination. Textbooks’ sunny, blindly patriotic view of history discourages activism by promoting the falsehood that if one does nothing, everything will turn out fine in the end. A textbook then becomes merely a tool for preservation of the status quo – it keeps the Haves in control, and assures the Have-nots that there is no need to worry. In Texas, state law explicitly states that “textbooks shall not contain material which serves to undermine authority.” Perhaps this is why Texas students are never taught that theirs is the only state that has fought three wars – the Texas War for Independence, the Mexican War of 1845, and the Civil War – to preserve slavery.

The most common theme in American history textbooks is the idea that the United States is a land of opportunity, and that anyone, no matter how poor, can succeed through hard work – an idea that is pure hogwash. Authors conveniently omit the statistics showing that the United States has the world’s greatest disparity between rich and poor, and that opportunities for social mobility are far fewer here than in most other countries. Textbooks fail to chronicle how corporate influence over government has steadily increased since 1900. They ignore the fact that in order to aspire to our nation’s highest office – the presidency – one must be born white, male, and rich. But history textbooks are utterly unconcerned with such social issues. U.S. history as taught in textbooks is nothing more than blind patriotism, a flag-waving story of American achievement. For those of us who cannot wave such a flag, it is a history that rings false.

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just for anyone who may want to learn more about issues of racism and why they are not really being solver should read

``Lies my teacher told me`` by James Loewen....a really amazing read into american history.

Dr. Gill: Thanks. I will try to get the book (and find the time) to read. I guess it is possible to learn something from any source. (Personally, I am very distrustful of what politicians and political leaders say, though. That’s why I consider GWB a refreshing change from the norm.) Beej
PS: Sorry you got so few interacts. I think this review was quite thought-provoking (at least for me).

Mr. BeeJay:

The book is not about Charles Barkley although he is the author. The title might betray it`s about him. In my very first sentence, I had said the title is silly. There is no chapter on Barkley in it and you know what, none of the basketball superstars including Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan is profiled.

The point that you have made regarding parting of the ways between the blacks and Jews might be correct and there is probably much more to it; the reason that I mentioned was not mine. That was given by the Rabbi.

Having said that, the book is important for its own sake. It gives valuable views of President Clinton on race and education. The blacks should pay attention. The chapter on Jesse Jackson is valuable. He is part of the black man`s heritage. The other profiles are interesting and revealing how some of the black people managed to climb to the top against heavy odds.

If you happen to lay hands on this book, read it, if not all, at least a few chapters. You`ll have a few things to learn from it.

Mohammad Gill

I`m scared of a ``Large Black Man``.I`m a skinny , good looking indian male and i certainly don`t want to be in the same room as a large black man.We all know what is well known about a certain part of their anatomy and their proclivity for seeking pleasure in areas where the sun don`t shine a whole lot!!.Scary!!.

Gill Saab:

I haven’t read the book, so I must give my opinions strictly based on what you have written.

Although Barkley is probably as famous for some of his colorful acts off the court as on it, and indeed his language is known to be quite colorful itself at times, I doubt that he has the minimal level of sensitivity that being a writer would probably require. Therefore, I wonder how much of the book’s contents truly represent his own inner thoughts and how much derives from those of the co-author Michael Wilbon, the famous sports columnist.

I am always amazed at the gall of some of these sports celebrities who self-appoint themselves as representatives of the race, after they have nothing else left to do. Sure, they have been victims of racism, as has been the entire black community (and other ethnic groups to a lesser extent) and sure they have every right to complain about it, yet who has a better opportunity to set a good role model for future generations of blacks (as well as sports-minded kids of other races) who idolize them. Yet, half the time one finds these “celebrities” indulging in all kind of vile acts, foul-mouths, drugs, womanizing (with a few exceptions, a surprising number of these athletes invariably have white girl-friends, as if they are trying to prove some point through such a choice), petty crimes, serious crimes, even murder plots, many times losing all their money and ending up in the jail! Talk about really blowing it! (There are some good examples, of course, but they show up few and far between, unfortunately.)

How an athlete behaves after their “prime” time on the court is over tells us a lot about the character of the individual.

Also, since Jesse Jackson is mentioned in the book, I have watched the evolution of Jesse Jackson over the last 2 decades and his “maturing” from a low-level civil rights leader to a high-profile presidential aspirant and beyond. I personally feel very disappointed (since I originally had high hopes from him) that here is another person (not an athlete in this case) who had a chance to do something really worthwhile, yet wasted his primetime in making name, fame, and money mostly for himself!

I disagree with your observation: “Later on, both of them (Blacks and the Jews) went their own ways not because of any basic disagreement but because they were caught in the maelstrom of their own community problems. The Jews became pre-occupied with concerns about Israel in 1960s and 1970s.” You are wrong on this score, sir! The problem started with the Supreme Court’s Alan Bakke decision in 1978 which outlawed race-based quotas. Jewish groups were generally opposed to such quotas while the blacks generally supported them.

Other notes:

[When Barkley played in the NBA, he focused single-mindedly on his game and the thoughts of winning as many of them as possible. The idea of becoming a role model to others was quite repugnant to him. He had said as much in print and had advised his colleagues to play the ball game and desist from thinking of being role models. Now, after retirement from the NBA, he is unwittingly assuming the role of a role model and this book is a great step in that direction.]
I could not disagree with you more! The fact is that Barkley was indeed a role model during his playing days, just a bad one!

[It is quite appropriate too because now in his mature wisdom, he can lead; he can show the way and there may be millions who want to follow his lead.]
You bring all those zingers totally out of the blue, without any real basis!

[Although there are others who think he’s the same old loudmouth that he was when he played in the NBA.]
I guess I am among the “others”.

[He hasn’t lost his flair of being provocatively witty. To a question from Bob, “How have you changed since retiring from the NBA?” Barkley responded, “Number 1, my boobs are getting bigger, and my ass is getting bigger…those two things I really need to work on.” ]
“Provocatively witty”? No kidding! I almost thought it was plain crass!

Thanks.
Beej

nice article Gill Sahib.

Best.

Charles Barkley is one of the most witty, wise and astute people around in sports. This book should be a good read. Thanks for the article.
My problem with racism is that maybe we are reaching the correct conclusions, but I dont think we are asking the right questions. Here is an interesting article.

poor ol barkley.
even he has to succumb to this
its of no use really books shook whateva. the ppl in the south have `strong values` and these arent too much in favor of the blacks. he is a Schwartze and always will be!

i don`t know if ``who`s afraid of a big black man`` is really as silly a title as edward albee`s ``who`s afraid of virginia woolf.`` behind that title is the truth that more than a few of us are afraid of african-americans, be they tall or not.

thanks for bringing this here gill sahib. haven`t read it. but the ideas are not out of scope of discussion :)

--ana