Black and Conservative by George S. Schuyler

Black and Conservative Reviews

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  BMR, LCSW

  I picked this up on impulse off the shelf in the Biography section.
  
  The author was so deep into respectability politics, it was difficult to get through. His ancestors looked down on the formerly enslaved. As if any of the slaves had a choice! Schuyler really believed that the key to acceptance by Whites was to "behave properly." As we know, you can be the POTUS and folks will still call you a n!gger.
  
  For those who still don't know, being a seemingly model citizen is no protection against systemic oppression. Those who don't believe ethnic minorities deserve equal protection under the law won't change their minds because you wear a suit, have a haircut that is corporate approved, or have a bunch of degrees and letters behind your name.
  
  Schuyler did not believe in civil disobedience of any kind. He did not understand the Watts rebellion, or any other uprising of marginalized persons. He hated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Maybe if he paid more attention to MLK, he would have understood the reasons for the riots of the 60s, even if he did not agree with them.
  
  “I think that we’ve got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard. And, what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the economic plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years.” - Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. in a 9/27/1966 interview w/Mike Wallace of CBS
  
  An interesting take on American history, through the lens of a Conservative Black man.
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  Bob Bingham

  Overall an interesting book about a man who experienced a wide variety of challenges in his life, and largely stood alone in his attempt to promote a right understanding of cultural issues. The final chapter could easily describe what is currently happening with respect to BLM and Critical Theory, even though written 65 years ago.
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  Nate

  an interesting first person look at a polarizing and controversial figure. a lot of the page count is dedicated to anti-communism, virtually nothing on his fiction career aside from a few off-hand mentions
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  Oliver Bateman

  An interesting autobiography of a skilled author, but drags a bit when it reaches Schuyler's later years as a conservative "better dead than red" iconoclast. His early days as a student, soldier, and critical part of the Harlem Renaissance are quite interesting (he seems to have had good relationships with people of all political stripes, from A Philip Randolph to HL Mencken, provided they were loyal and paid him for the creative work he did).