The Miseducation of the Negro - Carter G. Woodson

This was a fascinating book to read more than 70 years after it was written. There were some passages that were sadly still so accurate ... yet others that I'd at least like to think are no longer true. For example, from the chapter entitled "Political Education Neglected":

"The undesirable aspect of the affair is that the Negro ... is never brought into the inner circle of the party with which he is affiliated. He is always kept on the outside and is used as a means to an end."

Tupac Shakur said something similar more than 60 years later when he recorded his song "Changes" - "And although it seems heaven sent, we ain't ready to see a black president ..." Has President Obama changed all this? Or, even if he's brought into the "inner circle" - is he still being used as a "means to an end"?

Another interesting passage from Woodson:

The New Negro in politics, moreover, must not be a politician. He must be a man. He must try to give the world something rather than extract something from it. The world, as he should see it, does not owe him anything[.]"

Is Barack Obama this "New Negro"? Woodson also talks a lot about how the "educated Negroes have been taught facts of history, but have never learned to think;" and how they have completely lost touch with the general black community ("After having this honor conferred upon them, these so-called scholars often rest on their oars.").

This was a fabulous (and very deep) book. It would have been great to read and discuss over coffee at Borders ... but since I'm already on to book #38, feel free to post a comment instead ...