Polk Law Blog

I just finished reading four books in a row with a common theme, entirely unintentionally. Two were random bookstore purchases, one was recommended by a law school professor, and the other a recommendation from amazon. They were all good reads, and I’d like to present a summary of each.

Wise, Tim, White Like Me 2d ed. (2007). White Like Me is a slap in the face for white people. A good, solid, “whap!” right where it hurts. Wise’s point is that white people go about our daily lives without really having to confront issue of race. His critique of whiteness is very harsh and hard to swallow for those that do not feel they have come from privilege. But we have. He explains how privilege informs and helps us along nearly every day of our lives, without us even knowing it.  His final message is that by succeeding on a foundation of privilege, whites have lost something more important than what we gained: our own cultural identities.

Reading White Like Me struck me as a white person in exactly the same way as Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex did as a man when I first read it back in college. It really opened a door into something I had never really thought about in quite that way. Like The Second Sex, which is far more philosophically informed, White Like Me suffers from a lack of truly careful analysis of ideas that are more nuanced than what is indicated. But that’s OK. When we are slapping people in the face to wake them up, we do not necessarily want or need to cover every nuance. For example, Wise does not mention that there are numerous white populations that are are nowhere close to “privileged” that derive little or no benefit from institutional racism. Furthermore, many of his points were probably made by black authors a lot earlier, but this book is no less interesting for that failure. And if you are white, it comes from a voice you can identify with more readily.

Gladwell, Malcolm, Outliers (2008).  Outliers is basically a series of extremely thought-provoking anecdotes and case studies about success. What makes a person successful? Undoubtedly, success comes from aptitude combined with hard work. But is more required? For Gladwell, the answer is a resounding yes. Though the examples he highlights are not rigorously analyzed from a scientific point of view, they are statistically curious enough to get one thinking. For example, he points out that elite athletes, even adult elite athletes, often have birthdays grossly skewed to one part of the year. Why? Gladwell argues it is because these are the cut-off dates for youth sports. In youth sports programs, the slightly older, stronger kids have a leg up on the kids whose birthdays are just past the cutoff. They are disproportionately selected and further trained because of perceived skills that are merely the result of being a little older. This selection process causes us to miss out on a good 50% of our pool of elite athletes for an entirely arbitrary reason. Gladwell does not address race at length (though it is discussed), but his ideas do explain a mechanism for racism other than blatant bigotry.

Outliers is thought-provoking, entertaining, and gives one an opportunity to seriously consider where one came from, where one is going, and how much or how little of that has to do with ones own aptitudes and labors.
Chomsky, Noam, Understanding Power (2002). For those of you who have heard of Chomsky, bear with me for a brief introduction. Noam Chomsky is an MIT professor and a libertarian socialist, which, I am told, is loosely equivalent to an anarchist. Anarchy in this context does not mean car-burning glass breaking chaos, it means a political theory based on the dismantling of systems of power. According to Chomsky, all power naturally perpetuates itself at the expense of those without power. Therefore, power must be decentralized as much as possible.  From my perspective, hard left anarchy fails as a political theory for the same reason that hard right libertarianism fails: it sounds nice in theory but the devil is in the details. If you think Ayn Rand was on to something, you are going to HATE Chomsky.

Love him or hate him, there is no denying that Chomsky has an encyclopedic command of the facts of history and politics. This book is a lengthy compilation of speeches and Q & A sessions given by Chomsky over a period of a couple of decades. I would not recommend it as an introduction to his thought. Being a compilation of the spoken word it is too rambling and lengthy for that. But reading it feels like one is having a conversation with a very interesting, if radical, man. Chomsky provides a thoughtful analysis of how systems of power (be they race, class, gender, or otherwise-based) have oppressed people throughout recent history. If you disagree with some of his points (as I do), putting together sound counter-arguments is challenging.

Butler, Paul, Let’s Get Free: A Hip-Hop Thery of Justice (2009). Butler is a professor of law at my alma mater: George Washington University. He was a very dynamic and popular professor, but alas, his schedule and mine did not play well together during the semester I wanted to take evidence, the class he was teaching at the time. This book was mentioned by a professor I did take a class with who blogged about it.

Basically, Let’s Get Free is Butler’s critique of the criminal justice system, particularly the way in which it treats African-Americans and those charged with minor drug offenses. It’s an eye-opening look, but only one point of view among many. Butler, a black man, was a well-respected federal prosecutor for several years who was himself arrested for a crime he did not commit while he was a prosecutor. Ultimately, Butler concludes that the system is fundamentally broken and advocates that change should be effectuated via a controversial tool: jury nullification.

Jury nullification is when a jury, knowing that a defendant is guilty of violating a law, intentionally finds that defendant not guilty. He advocates for such action only for defendants charged with minor drug offenses, not violent crimes with direct victims. Interesting ideas, but the thought of asking juries to vote “not guilty” to effectuate social changes messes too much with a system I have too much respect for. I cannot agree with Butler, but we can take his criticisms to heart to make the system better.

So, there you have it. Four books with interesting things to say about race and privilege in America. Read any thoughtful books about race lately? Have you read any of these? Post a comment and tell us about it.