Evidence-based accounts of American racism

I appreciate the E-R letters section as a forum to discuss important issues. Carl Ochsner responded to my suggestions for reading with suggestions of his own. Both “Authentically Black” (John McWhorter) and “White Guilt,” (Shelby Steele) have some validity. McWhorter’s work legitimizes black dialect as a fully developed language. But Steele’s notion of white guilt misses the point. Guilt is useless in trying to right the wrongs of racism in America. Rather than feeling guilty, Americans need to act to respond to the social and political hole—years of economic and social barriers — that African Americans have to dig out of to gain an equal footing.

I have nothing good to say, however, about Dinesh D’Souza, an Indian-born Indian of privilege who started his career in the US at an Ivy League school and has no understanding of the struggles of African Americans. I am dismayed by his lack of solid evidence and knowledge. Moreover, he’s a convicted felon and a conspiracy theorist who often seems to me to be off the rails.

I do agree with Carl Ochsner that we need evidence-based accounts of American racism. I’m going to repeat a suggestion I made earlier in a letter to the E-R. I recommend the Smithsonian History of Racism. The Smithsonian is an enormous group of scholars, researchers and museums which represent the best work in this field (and many others) to provide evidence and extensive resources.

— Susan Tchudi,

Yankee Hill