History of race, and what 'selling out' means

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SELLOUT: THE POLITICS OF RACIAL BETRAYAL

By Randall Kennedy

Pantheon, $22, 228 pages

REVIEWED BY JOHN GREENYA

"Do not be a slave to any form of selling out," Oprah Winfrey told the graduating class of Howard University last May. But, as Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy points out in "Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal," his fourth book, "any form of selling out" covers a lot of ground. So, immediately after starting this fascinating and thought-provoking book with the Winfrey quote, he sets to work defining his terms.

"A sellout is a person who 'betrays' something to which he is said to owe allegiance. When used in a racial context among African Americans, 'sellout' is a disparaging term that refers to blacks who knowingly or with gross negligence act against the interests of blacks as a whole. Defining it that clearly, however, offers a misleading sense of clarity. 'Sellout' is a messy, volatile, contested term about which disagreement is rife, especially when it comes to applying the label to specific persons or conduct."

As the book's format is academic, some of its most interesting information is found at the bottom of the page (where Mr. Kennedy drops in relevant little factual gems and professorial bon mots) and in the notes at the back.

For example, he explains that to sell out can also refer to a performance in which no more tickets are available, and then adds, "On the other hand, critics castigate as sellouts performers who are deemed to have compromised their artistry for the sake of popular approval . . . such luminaries as Luciano Pavarotti, Bob Dylan, and Louis Armstrong. In political struggles, those who compromise with adversaries often run the risk of being branded as sellouts. Examples include Michael Collins, Mohandas Gandhi, Anwar Sadat, and Yitzak Rabin — all of whom were assassinated."

The structure of Randall Kennedy's explication is clear from the titles of his five chapters: 1. "Who is 'Black?'" 2. "The Idea of the Sellout in Black American History" 3. "The Idea of the Sellout in Contemporary Black America" 4. "The Case of Clarence Thomas" and 5. "Passing as Selling Out."

As for allegations of selling out, he lists " . . . marrying a white person, passing, 'acting white,' 'speaking white,' 'thinking white,' describing oneself as 'multiracial,' living in a white neighborhood, serving as a police officer or a prosecutor, working as an attorney for an elite law firm, opposing affirmative action."