The Myth of Race/The Reality of Racism: Critical Essays - Softcover

Mahmoud El-Kati

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0988288338 ISBN 13: 9780988288331

Publisher: Papyrus Publishing Inc., 2014

Synopsis

There is an Ashanti proverb that says If you know the beginning well, the end won t trouble you. In this 20th anniversary release of Mahmoud El-Kati s The Myth of Race The Reality of Racism, he poses his thesis on the concept of race and the impact of racism. In this second edition, El-Kati adds several key essays addressing ideas that are often confusing to many such as nationality, culture and ways to address man s most dangerous myth - race. His critical analysis of race, racism and the doctrine of white supremacy provide profound insight into the destruction caused to human dignity and the impact on society s growth.

Mahmoud El-Kati, a historian who taught at Macalester College and the University of Minnesota, lays down the fundamental construct and history of race. He eloquently sheds light on the pseudoscientific underpinnings that has been built into the fabric of this nation - the United States of America. El-Kati warns that the lack of social justice for the U.S. s second oldest population - people of African descent - is the Achilles heel of this great nation. As a former Facing Race Ambassador Award recipient from the St. Paul Foundation, Professor El-Kati's book, The Myth of Race The Reality of Racism is intended to be a teaching tool for social justice, community dialogue, and the education of our youth. Reverend Alfred Babington-Johnson, CEO of the Stairstep Foundation has written the Foreword and Professor John S. Wright, Morse-Amoco Distinguished Teaching Professor of African American Studies and English at the University of Minnesota has written the Introduction to this edition.

Professor El-Kati has also authored the following publications: Politically Considered: 50th Commemoration of the Supreme Court Decision of 1954, The Hiptionary: A Survey of African American Speech Patterns with Critical Commentary and A Digest of Key Words and Phrases and Haiti: The Hidden Truth. Please visit at mahmoudelkati to learn more about the inspiring work and writings of Mahmoud El-Kati.

About this title

About the Author:

About Mahmoud El-Kati to be published in program or booklet

Mahmoud El-Kati is a lecturer, writer, and commentator on the African American experience. He specializes in African American history and advocates institution building within cultural communities. He is an advocate of building one s humanity through the understanding of their own and others culture, history and community. He currently lives in the Rondo neighborhood, St. Paul s historic Black community.

El-Kati is Professor Emeritus of History at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Macalester College has established the Mahmoud El-Kati Distinguished Lectureship in American Studies in recognition of his scholarly and community work. This endowment is used to bring distinguished scholars to Macalester for an extended engagement that includes public presentations, classroom appearances and conversations with students, faculty and the local community.

El-Kati as a writer has written articles, essays, and reviews that deal with a variety of issues including the myth of race, Ebonics, gangs and Black youth, education, African Americans, sports, and other issues. They have appeared in several newspapers and publications including the New York Times, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minneapolis StarTribune, Insight News, The MN Spokesman-Recorder, and The Nigerian Times. As a published author, he has written such books as Politically Considered: 50th Commemoration of the Supreme Court Decision of 1954 and The Hiptionary: A Survey of African American Speech Patterns with Critical Commentary and A Digest of Key Words and Phrases, Haiti: The Hidden Truth and The Myth of Race/The Reality of Racism: Critical Essays.

He is a frequent commentator through a variety of mass media outlets locally and nationally. He is a regular columnist for Insight News and the Minnesota Spokesman Recorder. He is a consistent commentator for the local radio stations KFAI and KMOJ. El-Kati hosts a weekly public affairs radio show called Reflections and Connections on KMOJ radio in the Northside of Minneapolis. He also moderates a monthly viewing and discussion on various Black classic films at the Fourth Fridays at the Movies held at Golden Thyme Cafe in St. Paul. Please visit his website at Mahmoudelkati and join his Facebook page at Dr. Mahmoud El-Kati: Books, Events and Speaking Engagements.

(763) 717-8854 Papyrus Publishing Inc.

Review:

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

The Myth of Race, The Reality of Racism by Mahmoud El-Kati

Papyrus Publishing Inc.

Paperback, $8.00, 92 pages

ISBN: 978-0-9882883-3-1

Book Review by Kam Williams

From today s perspective in a media-soaked world all too familiar with the genomic footprints of human DNA and the tracings of the double-helix back to an African origin, it has become considerably easier to accept the notion that, like nations, races are what Benedict Anderson calls imagined communities social constructs, fabrications made in history by historical forces, and which acquire meaning only in relation to identifiable others.

But it is also easy to forget that just 20 years ago, the explanatory power of race had not yet been deconstructed thoroughly enough to prevent the best-selling publication of... Charles Murray s The Bell Curve, wherein the ancient logics of racial inferiority and domination were reconfigured in full display, with all the illusory trappings of authoritative social science.
-- From the Introduction by Professor John S. Wright (page 2)

The Genome Project has proven scientifically that there s only one race, the human race. But despite definitive proof that race is purely a fabrication of man s imagination, racism continues to persist.

That confounding conundrum is the subject of The Myth of Race, The Reality of Racism, a collection of enlightening essays by Mahmoud El-Kati.

Professor El-Kati, a distinguished lecturer in History at Macalester University, makes the most of this opportunity to trace the derivation of the word race back to 1570 before chronicling the subsequent evolution of racism into an oppressive political and cultural ideology employed by Europeans to rationalize the exploitation and marginalization of so-called inferior races.

Defining racism as prejudice plus power, the author sees it as largely an institutional phenomenon based on aggression, domination and greed. However, he warns that it can also be observed on the individual level in a variety of everyday social habits, nuances and traits, like in a condescending look or a halfhearted handshake.

Nevertheless determined to eradicate the false notion of race, Professor El-Kati assails it as a superstition no less ridiculous than the belief in witches that once led to innocent women being burned at the stake. For, he would argue that it is patently farcical to associate a host of negative stereotypes with black skin ranging from criminality to laziness.

The book comes equipped with viable solutions for the problem, too, as it suggests we not only create a new vocabulary, but condemn racist institutions and become actively involved in overhauling society. After all, as in Ralph Ginsburg s encyclopedic study 100 Years of Lynchings, until relatively recently, no white person had ever received the death sentence for taking the life of a black person in the whole history of capital punishment in the United States.

An insightful tome repositioning America in the Age of Obama as less a post-racial utopia than a work in progress in terms of dignity for all and the demise of white supremacy. --Kam Williams, Insight News - St. Paul, Minnesota

About this edition

• Publisher: Papyrus Publishing Inc.
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0988288338
• ISBN 13: 9780988288331
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 96