Reflections on "The End of Anger: A New Generation's Take on Race and Rage" by Ellis Cose

In this month's edition of the Diversity Be Like Book Club, we will be discussing Ellis Cose's book The End of Anger: A New Generation's Take on Race and Rage. In this book, the author uses to the results of surveys as a point of discussion about the generational differences on the topic of race in the African American community and how the younger generation's optimism has resulted in less frustration/rage. Here are my top takeaways from the book.

Rage and Optimism Among African Americans

The premise of this book appears to be a continuation of the thought of Cose's 1993 book The Rage of a Privileged Class. According to his description in this book, Cose says that the premise of his previous book was that middle-class African Americans would never be able to break through the glass ceiling in many aspects of American society, regardless of how talented they might be. This resulted in frustration/"rage" in African Americans that our country still did not live up to its promise that if you got a "good education" and "played by the rules" that you'd be able to "advance and achieve according to your ability."

It appears that in the nearly 20 years between that book and this one, which was published in 2011, Cose noticed a change in attitudes of African Americans, particularly after the election of Barack Obama to the highest office as President in 2008. Although many African Americans still noted that race was a large factor to consider, it was not an automatic disqualification as it had been in previous generations. He particularly noted that surveys showed optimism among middle-class African Americans (less so among lower-income ones) that any achievement was possible in this country, although it may still require more effort than white counterparts.

The Generational Divides

Cose notes that the optimism felt was definitely one that could be distinguished based on what generation the person belonged to. Cose broke down the African Americans in his book into 3 generations. Generation 1, who Cose labels as "Fighters", were the ones born before 1945, and who led the Civil Rights Movement to force the country to acknowledge blacks as fully human. This generation was the one who grew up with signs that read "whites only" and remember a white American that was "hostile" (the term he gave to their white counterparts of this generation) to their wanting to be acknowledged as full members of this society. As a result, he noted that many were probably among the most skeptical of our society because they remember a time where they were not even acknowledged as people.

Generation 2, who Cose labels as "Dreamers", were the ones born between 1945 and 1969, who were children of "the Dream" Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of. He noted that this generation were the counterparts of the baby boomer generation, who continued to push our society and were the participants in many of the "urban explosions" of the 1960s. They were the first major waves of African Americans that poured into universities, corporations, and other institutions that were almost exclusively white. Many of them were the first to break barriers in these spaces and as a result, the first to encounter the glass ceilings in place of African Americans. While many noted that race was a large negative factor in their career trajectories, they felt that their children and grandchildren would have more opportunities as a result of their efforts.

Generation 3, who Cose labels as "Believers", were the ones born between 1970 and 1995. Cose notes that this generation is the one who grew up where explicit forms of discrimination were illegal. This group was far more familiar with interacting and competing with people from other races, as many had been doing so their entire lives, and as a result, go into many environments with the expectation of being treated like everyone else. Although the interviews showed that most in this generation still saw race as a factor they needed to navigate in their lives, it was nowhere as important of a factor as it was for the previous 2 generations.

Aspirations vs. Realities

One of the things Cose noted that was interesting was the level of optimism among African Americans despite the financial setbacks of the recession of 2008, which came down particularly hard on African Americans. Cose noted that much of this was due to greed, which tends to disproportionately affect the most vulnerable and in our society tend to be people of color. Yet despite being largely taken advantage of by the financial system, many were still hopeful of the future for themselves and their children. In other words, many African Americans saw Obama's rise to the office of the presidency as a sign of hope of what one may aspire to be, the reality for many African Americans seemed to be far less hopeful.

Another thing that I kept wondering as I read the book is if the optimism Cose wrote of has changed between 2011 when he wrote the book and today 2011, similar to how it seemed to have changed a great bit after he wrote his 1993 book. Particularly, after the election of Donald Trump, a seemingly endless number of cases of police and vigilante violence against black people, voter suppression efforts of black people, and continual efforts to revise history around the country, would black people still have the same level of optimism as they had 10 years ago or would they show similar frustrations as they did during his 1993 book?

Conclusion

Overall, this book provides a good look at the shifting generational views of African Americans on what is possible in this country and I'd love Cose to do a follow-up to see if that optimism has shifted at all in the 10 years since he wrote the book.