Race Matters (12 page)

Beacon Press

25 Beacon Street

Boston, Massachusetts 02108-2892

Beacon Press books are published under the auspices of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.

© 1993, 2001 by Cornel West

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

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Earlier versions of some of the chapters in this book appeared in the following publications: “Learning to Talk of Race,” in the
New York Times Magazine,
August 2, 1992; “Nihilism in Black America,” in
Dissent,
Spring 1991; “The Pitfalls of Racial Reasoning,” in
Raceing Justice, Engendering Power,
edited by Toni Morrison (New York: Pantheon, 1992); “The Crisis of Black Leadership,” in
Z Magazine,
February 1988; “Demystifying the New Black Conservatism,” in
Praxis International,
July 1987; “Beyond Affirmative Action: Equality and Identity,” in
The American Prospect,
Spring 1992; “On Black-Jewish Relations,” in
Emerge,
January 1993, and in
Tikkun,
January/February 1992; “Malcolm X and Black Rage,” in
Malcolm X in Our Own Image,
edited by Joe Wood (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

West, Cornel.

        Race matters / Cornel West

            p.      cm.

        eISBN 978-0-8070-0904-8

        ISBN 0-8070-0972-5 (alk. paper)

        1. United States—Race relations.  2. African Americans—Social conditions—1975–  I. Title.

E185.615.W43 2001

305.8'00973—dc20                                    92-35170