Juan Williams’ most recent appearance at Politics & Prose, a Washington, D.C., independent bookstore, felt more like a grass-roots community action meeting than a traditional, literary speak-and-sign.
The Fox News and National Public Radio correspondent spoke in his hometown about his latest book, Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America—and What We Can Do About It, which Williams describes as a “call to arms” and “a challenge to cross racial lines to change the way we discuss race and poverty.”
The author of Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary, and Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965, acknowledged that he could face castigation for picking up the gauntlet thrown down by Bill Cosby in a fiery polemic in 2004.
Cosby’s unexpected remarks at the NAACP’s 50th anniversary celebration of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruling to desegregate public schools, evoked controversy and backlash. Cosby shocked many when he scolded blacks for not taking responsibility for the social and economic plight of the underclass. He accused middle-class blacks of being afraid to “air our dirty laundry.” Critics accused him of blaming the victim, forgetting his own roots and siding with right-wing talk show hosts and their followers who hold blacks responsible for the lion’s share of crime and chaos.
Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America—and What We Can Do About It
By Juan Williams
Crown Publishers, New York, www.crownpublishing.com.
Williams said he wants this book to re-open the discussion, starting by going back in recent history to identify when and where the culture strayed from the philosophy of the Civil Rights-era. He identifies that period as a time when African Americans mobilized to overcome obstacles, and rightly prized education as the most effective way to fight racism. He wants to pinpoint when and what caused blacks to adopt an identity and “a culture that celebrates failure. America has to compete economically with the rest of the world. Our market wants talent, all the smart people it can get, no matter what color they are.”
“We have to speak honestly about the hard facts,” including the 50-percent high-school dropout rate of young men and the 70-percent rate of children born to unwed mothers in the black community, he said.
Like Cosby, Williams attacked what he sees as the negative aspects of hip-hop culture as it is marketed to young people. This includes the way that gangsta rap glamorizes crime, promotes instant gratification and misogyny and celebrates a lifestyle that denigrates traditional avenues toward upward mobility for lower-income black people. “Those who strive to attain academic excellence are ostracized, ridiculed, considered to be acting white,” Williams observed.
The author urged African Americans to abandon the idea of reparations, calling the concept of financial compensation for slavery a “dead-end issue.” In a spirited exchange with a retired schoolteacher who said her grandparents were slaves, Williams agreed that the government should serve a role as a social safety net, to regulate safety issues. But, he insisted, “We can’t wait for the government to solve this.”
According to Williams, about half of blacks and 90 percent of whites are against reparations. And, once a check is written, most of society will consider all of the injustices of slavery bought and paid for, he believes. Rep. John Conyers (D.-Mich.) has tried to get Congress to address the issue since 1989, said Williams. “Let’s stop wasting energy and move on to things that we can get done.”