Winning the Race - Beyond the Crisis in Black America (Paperback, Annotated edition)

In his first major book on the state of black America since the "New York Times" bestseller "Losing the Race," John McWhorter argues that a renewed commitment to achievement and integration is the only cure for the crisis in the African-American community.

"Winning the Race" examines the roots of the serious problems facing black Americans todayapoverty, drugs, and high incarceration ratesaand contends that none of the commonly accepted reasons can explain the decline of black communities since the end of segregation in the 1960s. Instead, McWhorter posits that a sense of victimhood and alienation that came to the fore during the civil rights era has persisted to the present day in black culture, even though most blacks today have never experienced the racism of the segregation era.

McWhorter traces the effects of this disempowering conception of black identity, from the validation of living permanently on welfare to gansta rapas glorification of irresponsibility and violence as a means of aprotest.a He discusses particularly specious claims of racism, attacks the destructive posturing of black leaders and the ahip-hop academics, a and laments that a successful black person must be faced with charges of aacting white.a While acknowledging that racism still exists in America today, McWhorter argues that both blacks and whites must move past blaming racism for every challenge blacks face, and outlines the steps necessary for improving the future of black America.