Larry Elder - Whats Race Got to Do with It?: Why Its Time to Stop the Stupidest Argument in America

Praise for Larry Elder

Whats Race Got to Do with It?

Larry Elders book... rips into the festering sore of what passes for discussions these days about race. [He] confronts the I-am-a-victim attitude that corrupts peoples sense of self-confidence and causes them to interpret the everyday difficulties people face in life through a prism of racial animosity.

John Lott, author of Freedomnomics

The Ten Things You Cant Say in America

Elder slays dragons and sacred cows with wide, authoritative research and witty, entertaining, informative prose that is sure to enlighten most readers who live in a culture where truth is elusive.... Trenchant... He is not afraid to sound provocative.

Kirkus Reviews

Los Angeles radio host Elder is not just another black conservative. More libertarian than conservative, he argues empirically, from facts and trends.

Booklist

This conversational, bluntly candid manifesto should prove... controversial... Readers will... find his candor and straight talk refreshing.

Publishers Weekly

To say that Larry Elder is a man of great courage would be an understatement.

Walter E. Williams, chairman, George
Mason University department of economics

The Ten Things You Cant Say in America is just one of those books that is gonna piss people off.

The Source

The Ten Things You Cant Say in America is one of the few books that delivers more than it promises. People like Elder... are needed to blow the whistle on what is really happening.

Thomas Sowell, Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow,
The Hoover Institution, Stanford University

[Elders] iconoclastic wit and intellectual agility makes him a particularly attractive voice in a nation that seems weary of traditional racial dialogue

Los Angeles Times

Showdown: Confronting Bias, Lies,
and the Special Interests That Divide America

Closely reasoned... lucid... exhaustive.

Milton Friedman

Not not for the timid and weak of mind... no special interest group escapes the authors indictment... Elders voice is refreshing even when you disagree with him.

Publishers Weekly

WHATS RACE
GOT TO DO
WITH IT?

Also by Larry Elder

The Ten Things You Cant Say in America

Showdown

Why Its Time to Stop
the Stupidest Argument in America

LARRY ELDER

ST. MARTINS GRIFFIN NEW YORK

WHATS RACE GOT TO DO WITH IT? Copyright 2008, 2009 by Larry Elder. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address St. Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

The extract on pages 156157 is excerpted with permission from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, copyright 2006. For more information about reprints by PARS International Corp., visit us online at www.ajcreprints.com

Design by Sarah Maya Gubkin

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Elder, Larry.
Whats race got to do with it? : Why its time to stop the stupidest argument in America / Larry Elder. 1st Griffin paperback ed.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of : Stupid Black men : how to play the race cardand lose / Larry Elder. New York : St. Martins Press, 2008.
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-54147-7
ISBN-10: 0-312-54147-3
1. African AmericansSocial conditions1975 2. African AmericansAttitudes. 3. African American leadership. 4. African AmericansPolitics and government. 5. ResponsibilityUnited States. 6. Political correctnessUnited States. 7. United StatesPolitics and government2001 8. Mass mediaPolitical aspectsUnited States. 9. United StatesRace relations. 10. RacismUnited States. I. Elder, Larry. Stupid Black men. II. Title.
E185.615.E393 2009
305/896073dc22
2008050779

Originally published as Stupid Black Men: How to Play the Race Cardand Lose by St. Martins Press

First St. Martins Griffin Edition: April 2009

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

T O V IOLA E LDER

(J ULY 2, 1925J UNE 13, 2006)

I would first like to acknowledge the hard work, persistence, and dedication of my personal assistant, Dana Riley. Danas researching and editing efforts were tireless, and her suggestions were invaluable.

I also want to thank Jennifer Hardaway and Aaron Hanscom for their assistance.

I also want to thank, for the third time, my patient and understanding editor, Elizabeth Beier. Elizabeths enthusiasm and support make her a writers dream to work with.

[T]he greatest challenge we face... is the oldest, and in some ways today, the newest: the problem of race, says famed O. J. Simpson defense attorney Johnnie Cochran.

Nonsense.

These statements would be funny, if not so tragic. Americans want safe streets, good schools, and economic opportunity. But safe neighborhoods, especially urban ones, need community support of the police and of the criminal justice system. Good schools place high standards on students, demand homework, and expect parental involvement. Good economic opportunities require a skilled and motivated labor force, a safe location for employees, and a business-friendly environment of low taxes and limited regulation.

The civil rights movement properly demanded justiceby government. Many of todays so-called black leaders seem incapable of distinguishing between equal rights and equal results. Results stem from hard work, focus, education and training, and the assumption of the consequences of ones own actions.

Yet racism, say black leaders with their co-conspiring Democratic Party, remains the real roadblockthe moat, the ditch, the barrierto self-improvement.

On todays vital issues of crime, education, and employment opportunities, where does the black leadership stand? Unfortunately, theyre usually AWOL, stuck in a time-warped, decades-old fight against racism that vacuums up time, energy, and resources.

In reality, the formula for success is simple: work hard, make sacrifices, focus on education, delay gratification, avoid bad moral mistakes, and maintain optimism.

Bad schools, crime, drugs, high taxes, the Social Security mess, the health care crisis, unemployment, welfare state dependency, illegitimacyand race and racism. What do these issues have in common? So-called black leadersaided and abetted by the mainscream media, and cheered on by the Democratic Partylie to us about them. They lie about the cause. They lie about the effect. They lie about the solutions. They make the most outrageous statementsand get away with it. Why? Many people refuse to challenge these outrageous statements for fear that they will be branded as racist. Others say nothing because keeping blacks angry and unduly concerned about racism advances the political agenda of the Democratic Party.

In reality, the formula for success is simple: work hard, make sacrifices, focus on education, delay gratification, avoid bad moral mistakes, and maintain optimism.

Negative outlook produces negative results. For example, when asked whether hard work offers little guarantee of success, 27 percent of whites agree. But a whopping 41 percent of blacks agree with that statement.

Overcoming laziness remains one of lifes hardest challenges. Good parents tear their hair out trying to motivate their children to study. But give kids an excuselike The Man holds him backand watch them use this excuse as a badge and a shield instead of accepting personal responsibility for their own actions.