Click Here for Issues & Views: The Dual Mind of Black America

"While exposing the role that the post-civil rights leadership has played in compounding the already existing sense of victimhood among blacks, McWhorter also acknowledges a sad truth. That is, 'sitting at the core of the African-American soul,' is the belief that blacks are inferior to whites. He correctly views this disposition as the initiator of much of the vituperation directed toward whites. In this self-defensive mindset, it is comforting to believe that the continuing 'racism' of whites prevents any upward social or economic movement.

"McWhorter claims that for many ordinary blacks, this sense of inferiority is a deepseated problem and they are not being dishonest about their perception of racial barriers, no matter how incorrect that perception might be. Those blacks in prominent leadership positions, however, are fully conscious of the cynical political ploys they engage in when they rail against the system, charging it with 'institutionalized racism.' Their sole purpose is to play on the weaknesses of the vulnerable black masses. "