politics

Despite an over reliance on personal anecdote and pop psychology, which mars his book, Shelby Steele offers one really terrific insight, that "...the racial struggle in America has always been primarily a struggle for innocence" and therefore :

Guilt is the essence of white anxiety just as inferiority is the essence of black anxiety.

This perception yields an invaluable analytical tool for examining race relations : always look to see who has cloaked themselves in the mantle of innocence.

The great strides in civil rights came when the peaceful demonstrations of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. were met with violence and even murder. Clearly whites had much to feel guilty about and blacks properly felt aggrieved, therefore programs were passed. But then came the riots, some triggered by the assassination of King, and white guilt was replaced by white fear. Then came the confrontation over use of affirmative action programs and whites, the overwhelming majority of whom had played no part in the oppression of blacks, were able to reclaim title to innocence. Since then, relations between the races have become much more problematic, with temporary flare ups of white guilt, justified or not, after episodes like the Rodney King beating and the Mark Fuhrman revelations, quickly replaced by white outrage after the King riots and the OJ verdict. The general trend though is towards a relative lack of guilt, even a lack of sympathy, on the part of whites for the black predicament. This trend really came to a head in the fight over Welfare Reform, passage of which (with some Democrat support no less) would have been unthinkable just twenty years earlier.

The problem for blacks, as Steele points out, is that blacks have not abandoned the victims role. "Leaders" like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton continue to make claims for special treatment solely on the basis of skin color and historic bad treatment. But their claims fall on increasingly deaf ears and unfortunately serve to foster a corrosive atmosphere of black dependence on white largesse. Helpless victimhood might have some value, though it seems unlikely, if it was still at least winning financial and political concessions from the white majority, but to continue in this beggarly posture even after the spigot has been turned off can not be doing the black community any good.

One interesting newer issue to apply Steele's insight to is the movement for Reparations--compensation to blacks for the economic costs of slavery. I've stated previously that one reason the idea is worth exploring is because it might help to permanently dispose of this innocence/guilt idea. A massive cash settlement would in all likelihood both assuage white guilt and buy off black victimhood. This transaction, no matter what kind of high toned language the actual process was dressed up in, would be exactly as crass, self-serving and distasteful as it sounds here, essentially allowing white America to repurchase the moral high ground for the modern equivalent of forty acres and a mule. At any rate, you can see how Shelby Steele's way of looking at our racial divide helps to illuminate such an issue and strips away the noble facade to reveal the rather tawdry psychological moorings which really underpin it. His book is worthwhile for this contribution alone.

GRADE : C+

Shelby Steele's strong opinoins and in that context contraversial lifestyle choices (i.e., being a tenured professor having a white psychologist as a wife) leads one regardless of race or political/philosophical leanings to instinctively back away from what he has to say- unless you are a hard core conservative with a secret axe to grind. Yet this book is a constnt reminder that it is a lot more than the strange impulse that makes people look at car wrecks or moths fly into flames that makes you not just hear him, but listen.

This book can be painful for black people and white liberals alike, but it is a symphony of illumination and a love letter for every American. His unveiling of the (not so) secret architecture of psychology that lies underneath the actions and arguments of so much of us when caught in the race issue and experience, is a much needed call to stand up and regain the honor and integrity that has to a large degree been lost as we all continue to cross over into the promised land, but lose the spirit that got us there. I first read this book several years ago, and it has since become all the more important, as the changing information society is still making us all run to old expressions of made up social fears to mask our personal insecurities.

He has never been, nor I believe will he ever be, stupid enough to believe that racism as an issue has disappeared from the American landscape. Nor would he say that it has stopped being a dynamic deeply affecting if not destroying the opportunities, spirit and lives of many many people. in fact, if anything, he is saying that it is there almost as strong as ever, just in such a complex and hidden form that negative ideas and problems are prostituting once powerfully positive solutions.

This book is deeply effective and affecting, and would make you think hard about what Martin really meant when he gave the speech from which its title is derived.

Among countless other things, we owe Martin reading books like this with an open mind and courageous heart. He teaches us a great deal about what constitues our souls, which transcends color.

In the book, The Content of Our Character,Shelby Steele expresse very strong views about racism in the black community. He, at times, has valid responses to some of the problems that America faces with racism, but some of his opinions(keyword opinion)comes of very strong and seems unsympathetic to some of the struggles that African-Americans have faced in the past as well as the present.
While I hope he may be sensitive to the hardships hardships that have fallen upon the black race, I think his basic point of the book is that although blacks have been victims of racism for decades, there is no sense in "milking the cow" for more reasons to fall as victims to racism. There are situations that African-Americans can change in their own lives to keep from being pulled into negative stereotypes. For example,in one of his arguments he states that there are blacks who complain of living in poverty and that its the "white man's" fault. He says there are things that you can do to change that situation such as going for a higher education and actually apllying yourself to achieve that goal. As with anything in life there will be sacrifices made and that something you have to do. Meaning you can place the blame on anyone or anything why your life is the
way it is but what are you going to do to change it? No one can hold anyone back from achieving anything. He defends most of his arguements this way-- by offering "suggestions" on how not to fall to being a victim of racism, at least in your own eyes because you are doing all that you can do to try your best to improve your life(if improvement is needed). He's stating racism is not the sole problem fore African-Americans, some just use racism as a crutch to make an excuse about why their not getting ahead in life.
But at a different point of view, it seems for a second he for a second he forgot he is a black man. He stated that he felt nostalgia when in black neighborhoods( but as I stated offers suggestions on how not to fall as a victim to racism and stereotypes) and he stated that while at a party he felt ok for a moment by making whites who were at the party feel guilty about struggles(even though he stated that those African-Americans who use racism as a crutch and shouldn't) and he's married to a white woman. How did she feel knowing he at one time was ok with that? His opinions are very strong and can be taking the wrong way. I feel as if he is very opiniated and at times unsympathetic to the hardships. I would recommend this book to read, just keep your own opinions at heart and remember there just opinions.