America\'s International Relations Americanization and Anti-Americanism

Liberal Racism

Racial division in American society has always been a critical social, political and economic issue. Andrew Hacker in his work 'Tow Nations' argues that racism still plagues our society and its various sectors and also accounts for poor performance or low representation of blacks in various job and educational sectors. Glenn Loury attacks Hacker for his oversimplified vision in his own review of Two Nations entitled 'Liberal Racism'. I agree that Hacker's is probably the most cliched argument we have ever heard and what is even more hackneyed about the whole writing is the way Hacker tries to impose his views without presented any evidence to support his thesis. Granted, blacks are not as dominant in medicine or that black children's performance on SATs and other standardized tests is at par with their white counterparts but how can we prove that it is due to poor exposure which restricts their reasoning power. There are no studies that the author could use to prove his argument even though he does cite some studies to suggest that blacks are poorly represented in some educational fields. Hacker also goes on to attack the terms that described people from other races and one wonders what makes him think that entire English language reflects biased white attitude towards colored people. What is even more frustrating is Hacker's inability to be objective when discussing rising crime rate among blacks. It is true that racism still exists in subtle ways but to excuse someone's criminal behavior on grounds on racism is totally unjustifiable. To make a piece of writing on a controversial subject more credible, it is important to use peer reviewed studies, to view the issue with complete objectivity and to never compromise on universal agreed upon moral and ethical boundaries. For example, to kill someone is wrong and if a black person does that, we shouldn't try to justify it on the grounds of racial victimization that the criminal has endured. Though every sane white person would want to see racism eradicated from the society, there is no justice in trying to reduce all criminal acts to nothing but reactions to racism. The author rightly condemns Hacker's attempts to see things from one narrow perspective. And even though at times, you might find him being very harsh towards Hacker's Two Nations, the truth of the matter is that everyone, white or black, understands that when a white person goes on to speak in favor of blacks, there is usually a hidden agenda. And when there is none, there is simply an overzealousness to patronize blacks which results in lop-sided vision and complete absence of objectivity. Hacker also exonerates blacks of all responsibility towards improving themselves. He treats them as non-thinking machines who cannot improve their lot unless whites change their attitude. This in turn constitutes another kind of racism where you try to reduce a human being to the status of a brainless rat who relies on the mercy of white people.

Questions

1. What is Andrew Hacker's explanation for lower number of blacks in dentistry?

2. What does Hacker think is the reason behind poor performance of black kids on standardized tests?

3. Why do whites need to reform themselves?