Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity

Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity by Michele Norris

The book started with the "race card project". People were asked to send back 6 words describing how they felt about race. Then additional anecdotes were added. The book is a mixed bag that goes on too long. It is interesting how people get wrapped up in some notions about race that were given to them, yet fight against others. White is viewed as a "pure" race, while others are viewed as diluted this purity. It feels society should have moved on from that long ago. There were some cases that talked about how they were the "non-white" race before but are now considered "white". Is talking about race causing the problems with race? After all, race is a social construct. Government classifies people in buckets, so those buckets get an identity. A century ago, people saw themselves as Irish, Italian, etc. Now those are just "white", and there is no box to check to identify as those. Will we get that way with others? There is talk about the US being majority-minority by some date. But hasn't the country been majority-minority for decades if not centuries now? As more mixing takes place people it will make less sense to try to categorize.

If He Hollers Let Him Go

If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes

Robert Jones is an Ohio-born black man living in Los Angeles during the time of World War II. Things seem to be going pretty well for him. He has a well-to-do girlfriend, a nice car and a well-paying supervisor job at the shipyard that exempts him from military service. Then everything falls apart due to racism. It is his response to racism that causes just as much problem as the racism itself. Things start when a white Texas girl uses a racial slur. He responds with a racial slur of his own. This gets him demoted and he later gets beat up by some white guys. He plots to kill the ringleader that beats him up. He even appears a few places near him to scare him. However, sense prevails and he doesn't carry it out. Then he tries to talk with the girl. She thought nothing of the incident. Her relative then spouted off about Texas coloreds knowing how to stay in their place. He finds himself falling for her. He goes to her house and is let in. She tries to encourage him, but he ends up thinking better and leaving. He finally comes to his senses and decides to focus on his girlfriend. He has put the rage behind himself. He proposes to his girlfriend and plans for the future. He is now ready to be contrite at work and try to get his job back.

Then everything falls apart due to a fluke. As he is walking around the ship, he happens to stumble upon the very Texas girl off sleeping in a compartment. She tries to come on to him and locks the door. She later screams "rape" when she hears voices nearby. He gets beat up by the white guys. Then after waking up from his injuries, he tries to run from the law. Eventually, he is caught after a routine traffic stop in a white neighborhood. He happened to have a gun in the car and is hauled in for that. The rape charge is dropped. The judge offers to drop other charges after he serves in the military. The book ends with him enlisting.

The portrayal of war-time Los Angeles is very dark. While some periods are described as hot, it is hard not to view this as the sepia hues of detective movies. What may seem like an innocent comment by a single person ends up setting off the chain reaction that leads to the destruction of another's life. (And it came close to destroying a few other lives.) There are many steps where people could have stopped the chain reaction, but didn't. It is a challenging message for society.

Hollow Fires

Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed

An Iraqi-American student brings a homemade jetpack to school and is then accused of being a terrorist. He is later murdered. A Muslim journalism at the school tries to tell the story. The book is filled with the language of racism, even though the concern seems to be primarily with anti-Muslim discrimination. The muslim and BIPOC students are portrayed as noble people suffering in a society of others that are mostly islamophobic buffoons.

By the second half of thee book, it becomes clear that this is a modern day telling of the Leopold and Loeb story. Alas, the modernization does not quite cut it. The south side of Chicago is not the uber-wealthy area it was back then. Trying to reproduce the same Jackson Park setting does not work as well.  Leopold and Loeb were both from wealthy Jewish families and had completed college while teenagers. They murdered Bobby Franks, a boy from another wealthy Jewish family that they knew. The case was especially concerning because it involved the educated, well-to-do intellectually descending into depravity and taking one of their own. This modern retelling misses that and becomes just a case of rich bullies being suckered into bad behavior by bad internet forums. 

It is a shame the author tries so hard to mix the Islamophobic and the Leopold and Loeb stories. The story is engaging and would succeed well if it didn't try to blur the two.

Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam

Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam by Vivek Ramaswamy

I was expecting this to be a Fox News style attack on woke ideologies written to advance presidential ambitions. Instead, it is an indictment of big business.  Big companies are more than willing to perform window-dressing to help them gain advantage. The book provides various anecdotes such as companies that provide "service" that involves a day at the pub, or mandate "diverse boards" after all boards are diverse. 

He feels that the requirement that corporations seek to maximize shareholder value is a feature, not a bug. When they drift to other areas, they can obtain too much power in society. "Social Good" can help to produce value. However, it can also lead to "faking it". The example of Volkswagen faking admissions results was given. They tried to show they were being good and maximized value, but did so by cheating. Other companies like "beyond meat" have helping the environment integrated into their shareholder mission. He gives them a pass.

He criticizes the unwritten requirements that people voice support for Black Lives Matter, while not being allowed to disparage China's human rights record. 

The end is an attack on big tech. They have become a defacto communications platform, yet they are exempt from first amendment requirements. They are thus able to shut down content that they view to be "fake news" or "hate speech". While some of this content is negative, other is legitimate part of the debate. Moving dissenters off the mainstream can lead to further separation of society.

The argument is fairly well reasoned. The examples from the Covid-19 pandemic helped emphasize the points. Big tech was encouraged to de-prioritize and censor arguments that went against the official stance. However, the official police was evolving. At first, human to human transmission was not acknowledge. The CDC initially saw no benefits in masks. Later both of these were flipped. Even more problematic were restrictions on policy discussion. The policies started to become more and more nonsensical. (Parts of stores closed off as being "non-essential". Working outside was a danger, while protesting with crowds was not.) The burdens of the policies were disproportionately felt. Office workers could continue to work from home without issue. Low wage service workers could collect unemployment that exceeded their previous wages. Middle-wage blue collar workers, freelancers and small business owners had the biggest challenges. They couldn't work. Unemployment didn't cover what they lost. While there was government aid, it was not easy to come by. There was also the simple desire to work rather than be on the dole. By silencing arguments along party lines this further discouraged these people from following other policies that they might agree with.

What are the solutions? He has a few. One is a legal argument similar to how sex discrimination protections were extended based on sexual attraction. Wokeness has become almost a state religion. The constitution provides freedom of religion. Thus people are equally free to not follow the woke religion. He also proposes changes to liability for companies when they delve outside the realm of maximizing shareholder value. Furthermore, if tech companies are large gatekeepers, they should also be subject to the first amendment. While communication has been open to seemingly many voices today, it has been centralized at various chokepoints. One persons "hate speech" may be another persons heart-felt belief. We must keep all communication open to survive as a society.

The Weight of Blood

The Weight of Blood is structured as a podcast series detailing a devastating event that took the lives of most of the high school seniors in a small southern town. As such, we know a big climax as coming. The structure gives us plenty of time to explore the characters and understand why it happened.

Maddy Washington had lived a sheltered life with her father. He was trying to protect her from some dark family secrets (his mother had telekinetic abilities) and make sure she was raised with the good word. When she was older, she was forced to go to public school, where she was teased by others. Her father was white and she had been living as a white girl. However, racism was very alive in the small town. After her hair got wet, she was seen as black and the teasing got worse. 

The peak of teasing came when a spoiled rich girl mocked her by dressing in blackface in a school skit. This lead to the rich girl getting expelled and losing her college admission. The rich girl's friend also distanced from her. The friend was a smart girl who was working at upping her standing. She was dating the super-start black quarterback. The two were not expecting to go to prom, since the school had separate independent black and white proms. She encouraged her boyfriend to go with Maddy to prom to help make things better. 

The school tries to have an "integrated prom" for black and white students. (Though there is still a smaller "white prom" at the country club.) The quarterback agrees to ask Maddy out. However, he also decides he wants to get to know her. He talks to her and goes out for a milkshake with her. He realizes that he really does like her. She doesn't see him as some super-star and he can be himself around her. He can actually talk about himself and his interest, and not just be treated as a dumb jock. He becomes smitten by Maddy and loses interest in his girlfriend. Maddy is also attracted to him and is excited to participate in some "normal" activities with others. She based her experience on classic movies. He feels bad that he had not stood up for her earlier.

They go to prom together and are having a great experience, including their first kiss. They are voted prom king and king. However, it turns out that this was rigged in order for mean girl to pull a practical joke. As they are sitting on the "throne", buckets of white paint come down all over them. They are soaked and go out of the building. Outside, there are a few protestors and cops. As people are out there, the quarterback gets accidentally pushed into a trigger happy cop. This cop starts beating him. Maddy thinks he is dead and lets her wrath come out.

She is extremely upset. She raises cars in the air and throws them to the ground, she sends electric surges around. She stops a train and derails it. She causes a trail of destruction that kills most of the high school class. The internal hurt has become external.

Ironically, the mean girl only loses an arm. The smart girl also survives and secretly helps her to escape the town. (Though she never admits to it.) The cruelties of bullying and modern-day racism come alive in the book. The retaliation ends up taking the lives of many that were not active participants - but they did stand by while others did happen. Maddy Washington had a peak high followed by a peak low.

The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide

The Viral Underclass purports to explore how inequality leads to negative societal outcomes when diseases hit. In actuality, it takes advantage of interest in racism and COVID-19 to talk about AIDS. The arguments both overreach and contradict themselves. On one side, there is sympathy for essential workers, sex workers, trans and people of color because they cannot work from home during an epidemic. On the other hand, anti-maskers that cannot work from home are criticized. They are lumped together with wealthy white anti-vaxers. He bemoans poor states for the high rate of COVID deaths. Is because the poor don't have access to prophylactics? Or is it that they don't want to?

The bulk of the book discusses gay culture and AIDS. The author covered a case where a gay black man was convicted for spreading AIDS to others. He legitimately criticizes the stigma and approach to testing. If somebody never tests, then they cannot be convicted. Testing is beneficial to society, yet a positive test can lead to somebody being subjected to penalties.

Beyond AIDS, the author reaches for strings for just about anything to make his argument. Racism, Speciesism, Ableism. Any group that "others" discriminate against is part of the viral underclass. It is not their fault they get sick, they are just victims of society. The argument is weakened by cherry-picking facts based on a certain worldview.

Capitalism is attacked for producing this underclass. It is also criticized for charging money for vaccines and other prophylactics. (Missed is the fact that capitalism was able to quickly produce COVID-19 vaccines. A few companies succeeded and made a lot of money. Many other companies tried, yet failed to produce working vaccines.)  Anarchy is viewed as the solution that would resolve this. Everybody would just work together nicely without big government and business in the way. In the ideal world, maybe. But with billions of people? Small scale communes have broken down. Could earth survive? 

This could have been a good book about the stigma of AIDS and the need to balance punishment of bad behavior with public health. Instead it tried to cast a wider net and failed miserably.

Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal

With the title and subtitle, I was expecting something fairly inflammatory. What I was not expecting was for such an emphasis on racial inequality. This book continues the popular scheme of using the tools of western civilization to say that everything that western civilization has brought us is bad. The old "we are so awesome because we can say that we are evil" argument.

Animal, Vegetable, Junk traces the evolution of eating habits. The modern industrialized diet is heavily criticized for the negative impact it has on us. The USDA has primarily been focusing on the needs of food producers. Yet, it is also tasked with providing nutrition information. This goal itself is also confused, alternating between a desire to ensure adequate consumption while controlling for overconsumption. Farmers have been able to produce huge amounts of crops, but have needed help finding markets. Thus, we get things like ethanol and high fructose corn syrup.

There are plenty of diet fads out there. Food producers are more than happy to provide us with products to fulfil these. However, we would be better off focusing on plants and more basic foods.

The book focusses on various "exploitations" that have occurred through time. Famine is usually caused by government policies. (For example, the British helped contribute to famines in India and Ireland through their policies.) Food producers are often exploited in different ways. The Atlantic slave trade was launched to help raise sugar. Midwestern farmers are at the mercer of the large seed sellers and grain buyers. Modern agriculture is dominated by monocultures and migrant workers.

The solutions advocated are a mixed big. A return to small-scale organic polyculture is desired. However, unionization and high wages for farm workers is also advocated. Healthier, local food does sound nice. But would we be willing to sacrifice the convenience? Would this lead to even more of a separation between the rich and the poor? History is wrought with examples of society moving forward to a "worse" situation that we can't move back from. Industrialized agriculture may be the same. Cheapness is important to people. Attempts to improve food production that result in huge increases in price will not be met kindly. Society is more likely to support huge interventions to fight a monoculture blight than a more expensive polyculture. The best solution may be a gradual move to better soil-maintaining practices. Maybe GMOs will help us there? (The book is strongly on the anti-GMO route.) Many of the other arguments in this book are more coherently advocated for in other books.

Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership

The book opens with the story of a black single mother who was unable to find a place to rent. She was encouraged to buy a place instead. This ended up being a dump that should have probably been condemned. The author places the blame on the real estate professionals and the government's complicity. There is a conflict in seeing housing as a place to live and as an investment. Well-meaning intentions to expand access end up backfiring. 

Much of the book focuses on the HUD during the Nixon administration. George Romney was Nixon's in-party rival, so Nixon attempted to relegate him to the backwaters of the housing department. Romney, however, really wanted to help the poor and especially racial minorities. He had worked hard to integrate housing. He ended up working too hard. His attempts to integrate suburbs was leaked and was disbanded for political expediency. Romney ended up having a fall-out with Nixon.

In spite of Romney's intentions, all was not well with the HUD. Black employees tended to earn less than their white counterparts. There were also cases of the government signing off on poor quality housing that it insured. There were many areas of corruption throughout. Some required repairs may not be done. Some appraisers and inspectors may be doing double duty other places and have incentives that were not in the best interest of others.

The narrative of black housing ended up using color-blind rationale to continue segregation. Black homeowners were seen as not being able to maintain their housing. Minority neighborhoods were less desirable than white ones. With free choice, people would still choose to cluster. On top of these arguments, local communities argued that they should have control. Many zoning ordinances made no mention of race, but served to make things difficult for black homeowners. There ended up being a whole "throw the baby out with the bathwater" mentality. Local communities enact restrictive zoning regulations that ended up driving up the cost for everyone while also making neighborhoods more isolated, spread out and car dependent. 

Red Queen

"Silvers" have silver blood. "Reds" have red blood. The Silvers rule and have power over the reds. The reds often work as servants to the silvers. The reds don't like this, so they start some terrorist actions. There is also a war going on between a couple of different Silver/Red factions.

The protagonist lives in this world. She works the streets, pick-pocketing bits from the wealthy. She tries to avoid serving in the war. She lucks out and pickpockets somebody who gives her a job with royals. She discovers that she has lightning powers. The royal family decides to "make" her appear to be a silver. Meanwhile, her brother was killed for his role in the rebellion.

It seems to be a fairly strong metaphor for slavery, with many of the silver not seeing how the reds could not have it any other way. 

Eventually, things take a bunch of turns, people that we thought were dead are alive, and revolutions and counter-revolutions break out. It somewhat comes to a conclusion, but is obviously the first book in a series.