A Clue for Shelby

Of course this is a hot topic in the U.S. right now, and has been for the last 30 years. I'm slightly familiar with Shelby Steele's work, and I don't remember liking it that much. I do know that a blanket condemnation of Affirmative Action is redundant at best, and counter-productive at it's worst. The truth in what he is saying resides in history of the successes of black people in a segregated America. But the mistake he is making is in not elaborating on why America was segregated in the first place, why it chose to desegregate itself, and the {positive} role Affirmative Action played in the process. He is correct in assessing some of the ills that are the result of A.A., but in a way that completely ignores the value of the federal gov't forcing the America to segregate. What would he have them do instead? What should have been the alternative to A.A.? I agree with Steele also in the idea that the concept of A.A. is intrinsically flawed, and eventually should be abandoned, but I won't retroactively condemn it, and ignore the good it's done - or doing. For example, white students are attending historically black colleges in ever increasing numbers as a direct result of A.A. This provides black colleges with the much needed tuition money, as well as helping with national accreditation maybe due to a more diverse student body, and/or higher level of academic participation and community involvement (compared to the late eighties and early nineties). White students and foreign students are saving black colleges because of Affirmative Action. Nine times out of 10, if a black student has the grades he's going to Stanford or Duke or Harvard instead of Shaw, or Virginia State, or Bethune-Cookman. Without getting too much into the educational part of it, Steele didn't acknowledge at all the effect on women or the disabled. People talk about unqualified blacks getting jobs, but you rarely hear that same criticism about women (unless she has huge tits) or the disabled. And obviously when an unqualified white man is hired or promoted that surely isn't the fault of A.A. Women still earn less than men for the same work, even though statistically women are more likely to attend and graduate college. I'm sure they would gladly prefer to be dealt with as competent job applicants rather than minority quotas. But they don't make the rules, do they? I don't believe in quotas. I also don't believe that white, mainstream, American society is ready to give up it's position of privilege. Who would? Who has? And as so far as guilt is concerned, Steele should be focusing more on the dynamic disappearing of African-American intellectual culture. Affirmative Action is not to blame for the widespread infection and commercialization of misogyny and violence in negro culture. We've "progressed" from Paul Robeson and Adam Clayton Powell to Puff Daddy and Busta Rhymes. And where's the black leadership in our communities? Where's the church? Who speaks for whom now days? I'll take my share of the blame. Maybe I should be speaking out more. Maybe I should be a leader. I'd rather be lounging in Amsterdam, but at least I'm willing to be honest. I always blame the people for everything. I say, "Put down that 40, and pick up a pencil, and write somebody." It's ironic that Steele in his attempt to express (and separate) black individuality from white guilt relies heavily on the "institution" of Affirmative Action to explain(?) the ills and troubles of the black community, never examining the lack of initiative on the part of that community to nurture itself, and protect itself, and educate itself. The world was a very different place 80 years ago. Separate was never equal, and never will be in a society that is so motivated and influenced by race and money. Now our challenge should not be assimilation or equality, because those things have either already happened, or never will happen, but for a greater understanding and appreciation for the concept that we all share a common humanity and heritage, and that history includes all of us as does the future. More specifically, the greatest weakness of the black man in America is the isolationist attitude that fosters ideas of black nationhood (within America), and black identity as a concept that is something other than American. We want people to ignore our skin color while at the same time we embrace it and are proud of it. Either it has a value or it doesn't, but it can't go both ways. Malcom X never abandon his commitment to the advancement of black people (worldwide), but after Mecca he merged the struggle of the African-American into the struggle of all people for freedom, and justice, and self-determination. He was definitely a man ahead of his time.