Being cool, as how it was used by Alexander in his paper, does not refer to the literal meaning of being cool. It somehow refers to culture, specifically the Black American and the White American culture. For many years, these two cultures have battled, killed, and persecuted their counterparts for the mainstream American throne or as how it was delivered by Alexander, who is cooler? Black or White Americans?
I want to commend the way how the author (Alexander) delivered his message. However, since we are talking about race and culture, issues and conflicts are almost inevitable. For example, there is a passage in his paper wherein he indirectly stated that Black Americans are authentically cooler than the whites because of the depth of their history, and the richness of their culture. I entirely disagree with this idea because the whites are the ones who first inhabited continental America than the Blacks. This basis alone would lead to the impression that the White American culture should be more mainstream than the Black one. And, this could be best evidenced by the events and trends today.
Alexander’s paper brings out the long-history of racism in continental America. The common line of thinking suggests that whites are superior to the blacks. However, what Alexander pointed out in most paragraphs in pages 2-3 of his work is that the Black Americans spearheaded the American culture’s rise to the top. He even gave examples of Black personalities who contributed to that. Despite my utter disagreement with such statements, I agree that “the question “are black people cooler than white people?” is not an important one” and that what’s more important is to know how to want to be cool and how to be cool (Alexander). It does not matter whether a person is black or white as long as he can make his country proud.
Works Cited
Alexander, D. (1997). Are Black People Cooler than White People? Might Magazine.
