Reply #49: Shelby Steele

[ellisonz]

Steele is a self-described Black conservative.<3> He opposes movements such as affirmative action, which he considers to be unsuccessful liberal campaigns to promote equal opportunity for African-Americans. He contends that blacks have been "twice betrayed": first, by slavery and oppression, and second, by group preferences mandated by the government that cause blacks to lose their self-esteem.<4>
“ The great ingenuity of interventions like affirmative action has not been that they give Americans a way to identify with the struggle of blacks, but that they give them a way to identify with racial virtuousness quite apart from blacks.<4> ”
Steele believes that the use of victimization is the greatest hindrance for black Americans. In his view, white Americans see blacks as victims to ease their guilty conscience, while blacks attempt to turn their status as victims into a kind of currency with no purchasing power. Therefore, he claims, blacks must stop "buying into this zero-sum game" by adopting a "culture of excellence and achievement" without relying on "set-asides and entitlements."<4>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_steele

Author of: A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win
http://www.amazon.com/Bound-Man-Excited-About-Obama/dp/1416559175/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200122222&sr=8-1