Black Rednecks and White Liberals
Black Rednecks and White Liberals is a collection of essays by Thomas
Sowell, published in 2005.
Title essay
The title is based on his thesis about the origins of modern black culture. He argues that what is claimed to be ‘authentic black culture’ is actually a relic of a highly dysfunctional white southern redneck culture. This in turn came from the ‘Cracker culture’ from the regions in Britain, mainly on the harsh English border, from which they immigrated. Sowell gives a number of examples that he regards as supporting the lineage, e.g.,
- an aversion to work, proneness to violence, neglect of education, sexual promiscuity, improvidence, drunkenness, lack of entrepreneurship,… and a style of religious oratory marked by strident rhetoric, unbridled emotions, and flamboyant imagery.
Sowell also provides figures to support his argument that there was a far bigger divide between the cracker/redneck culture and the North than between white and black. E.g. Northern blacks tried to stop redneck blacks coming up from the South, and the same happened between northern whites and redneck whites.
Other essays
The book also has chapters on the "generic" nature of Jews, slavery, Germans home and abroad, and black education.
Editions
Black Rednecks and White Liberals, Encounter Books, ISBN 1-59403-086-3
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