Rediscovering Black Conservatism

Leading black intellectuals and scholars contribute original essays providing a comprehensive introduction to the full range of black conservatism--its origin, key figures, and major themes and practices. They explore the political role and functions of black neo-conservatives. The authors have provided a historical context for the reader with several articles examining the origins and development of black conservatism.

In the last three decades, a brand of black conservatism espoused by a controversial group of African American intellectuals has become a fixture in the nation's political landscape, its proponents having shaped policy debates over some of the most pressing matters that confront contemporary American society. Their ideas, though, have been neglected by scholars of the African American experience—and much of the responsibility for explaining black conservatism's historical and contemporary significance has fallen to highly partisan journalists. Typically, those pundits have addressed black conservatives as an undifferentiated mass, proclaiming them good or bad, right or wrong, color-blind visionaries or Uncle Toms. In Black Conservative Intellectuals in Modern America, Michael L. Ondaatje delves deeply into the historical archive to chronicle the origins of black conservatism in the United States from the early 1980s to the present. Focusing on three significant policy issues—affirmative action, welfare, and education—Ondaatje critically engages with the ideas of nine of the most influential black conservatives. He further documents how their ideas were received, both by white conservatives eager to capitalize on black support for their ideas and by activists on the left who too often sought to impugn the motives of black conservatives instead of challenging the merits of their claims. While Ondaatje's investigation uncovers the themes and issues that link these voices together, he debunks the myth of a monolithic black conservatism. Figures such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the Hoover Institution's Thomas Sowell and Shelby Steele, and cultural theorist John McWhorter emerge as individuals with their own distinct understandings of and relationships to the conservative political tradition.

In these challenging times, the resident population served by the predominantly African-American church demands and deserves specific attention in order to preserve the uniquely cohesive nature of the African-American community. While this work is specifically focused on one local church community, there is a shared hope among church members, clergy, civic and lay professionals, and the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology that this project will serve as a model for success beyond its local audience. This work was conceived to help mitigate growing environmental and social concerns beyond traditional emergencies--such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, severe weather, and power outages--imposed upon communities already strained by economic and social inequities. This book is designed to provide guidance on crisis and emergency preparedness by offering an example of how a church or similar institution may undertake the task of setting up an appropriate emergency planning structure for its congregation and community.

"Former NFL star Kermit Alexander tells the ... true story of the ... massacre of his family and his subsequent years of despair, followed by a spiritual renewal that showed him a way to rebuild his family and reclaim his life"--Amazon.com.

The Prodigal Republican chronicles the historic relationship between blacks, Democrats, and Republicans. It is based on three topics: voting your values, family leadership, and Christian faith, all geared toward strengthening the American family generally and the black family in particular. The Prodigal Republican encourages everyone to return to core values by being self-reliant and realizing that government aid is never a pathway to prosperity; by promoting the sanctity of human life; and by favoring traditional marriage to perpetuate humanity. The Prodigal Republican is a guide to strengthen the family through a common-sense approach by avoiding teen pregnancy before marriage, graduating from high school and university or trade school, considering marriage, and having a work ethic. The Prodigal Republican makes a case for Christians to actively engage in the political process. Christians are called to engage in the political process in order to elect godly leaders and to consequently impact the community with their Judeo-Christian values.