Book Review: Solving The Race Issue In America

Book Cover Images image of Solving The Race Issue In America

by H. J. Harris

    Publication Date: Aug 27, 2019
    List Price: $16.95
    Format: Paperback, 170 pages
    Classification: Nonfiction
    ISBN13: 9781890199074
    Imprint: New Paradigm Publishing
    Publisher: New Paradigm Publishing
    Parent Company: New Paradigm Publishing

    Read a Description of Solving The Race Issue In America


    Book Reviewed by Robert Fleming


    This slender book, written by Harris, states it holds the solution to American racism, examining the checkered history of the country, the painful legacy of slavery, the institutional impact of Jim Crow, and the present divided society fueled by the white nationalist President. The author details the hypocrisy of the existing civil rights laws, which counter to the obstacles of hate and discrimination existing in contemporary America.

    With the current toxic environment following the supposed post-Obama liberal mindset, conservatives have “taken back the country” after the rise of Trump in 2016. Harris comments on how Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton dropped the ball during the last race, the tribal appeal of Trump to whites, and the Russians undermining the election. It’s against this backdrop that the overview of racist America analyzed by Harris from our origins as a weak British colony to the hate-riddled present.

    In strong language, Harris laments the iconic slogan, “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and compares the inhumane treatment suffered by Blacks in New Orleans during the Katrina hurricane. He writes of this racism: “that Blacks were a human sub-species with no rights that a white man is obligated to respect.”

    Along with the terrible history of discrimination, the author documents the horrible toll of lynching with America killing 3,416 Blacks from 1882 to 1968. No anti-lynching bill passed in Congress during this time. However, he talks proudly about the resilience of Blacks despite the lethal consequences of hate leveled against them. “But the kidnapped African would not die!” Harris proclaims.

    Harris is preaching to the choir, when he expounds on the legacy of slavery and its evil twin, Jim Crow. He recites a familiar fact of more Black men being in prison or jail than in college. He suggests “the Paradigm of Slavery” is the creation of white Christian Americans and only be changed with a “Paradigm of Freedom” based on love, equality and justice. Whites must own up to their past sins against the Black race, he notes.

    Here the argument is buttressed with various Biblical verses about equality, morality and evil, but the Christianity Harris is addressing is quite different from the one spotlighted in the media. This Christianity is based in division, intolerance, and prejudice. Nevertheless, Harris applies an Old Testament approach to the solution of “The Paradigm of Slavery,” citing that “virtually nothing has been done to date by white Christian Americans to undo the damage they have done to Black Americans for the last 400 years.”

    One of the most promising segments of the book is his astute discussion of the political origins of America by the founding fathers who penned the Declaration of Independence, yet owned slaves. This section should have been extended, along with the psychological mindset of the slave mentality and its contemporary attitude of modern Blacks. He exposes the motives of sports, media manipulation on TV and film, and personal relationships between Black men and women. He terms it: “the New Slavery.”

    In the end, Harris looks around at this morally crippled society and concludes that America is serving the God of Profit, Power and Pleasure.” Anyone remotely aware would agree with Harris’ view.

    Read New Paradigm Publishing’s description of Solving The Race Issue In America.

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