Black Response Paper

Brian Bass

Essay Writing

Ceci Cravens

2.25.04

            The article by Glen C. Loury simply explains the message and meaning behind Debra J. Dickenson’s book The End of Blackness: Returning the Souls of Black Folk to Their Rightful Owners.  The point of the book is that the reason why African Americans are still oppressed today is because African Americans are putting themselves down.  The author says:

Their focus on racial grievances, however legitimate, keeps them from having to fashion a constructive way of viewing their role in American life.

            I agree a lot with what Dickerson has to say.  Obviously, other races have been the culprit in this problem of racism against African Americans, but the constant sympathy call from today’s black spokesmen simply does not help.  When Dr. Martin Luther King was an activist in the Civil Rights era, he did not ask for sympathy.  He believed in the African American people to be strong and to fight for their rights, but today it seems the leaders of the African American associations are continually blaming others and begging for grievance.

            On the opposite side of this viewpoint lies Michael Omi’s essay “In Living Color: Race and American Culture”.  His essay entails a synopsis of some of the misrepresentations of African Americans in the media.  Although he brings up some interesting arguments on stereotypes, Omi is simply repeating the obvious.  If we as a nation want to change and evolve are race issues then we have to stop the blame game.  We need to accept that we have these problems but in order to change we must look beyond the past.

            Both essays are interesting in their own way, although I admit that I do agree with Loury’s essay a lot more than Omi’s.  Loury seems to talk about something new and positive, while Omi simply dishes out all the negative and distasteful points of view.