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Witness: Blacks, whites, and the politics of shame in America -- by Shelby Steele
Opinion Journal (Wall Street Journal) ^ | October 26, 2005 | Shelby Steele

Posted on 10/26/2005 9:20:58 AM PDT by EveningStar

Probably the single greatest problem between blacks and whites in America is that we are forever witness to each other's great shames. This occurred to me in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, when so many black people were plunged into misery that it seemed the hurricane itself had held a racial animus. I felt a consuming empathy but also another, more atavistic impulse. I did not like my people being seen this way. Beyond the human mess one expects to see after a storm like this, another kind of human wretchedness was on display. In the people traversing waist-deep water and languishing on rooftops were the markers of a deep and static poverty. The despair over the storm that was so evident in people's faces seemed to come out of an older despair, one that had always been there. Here--40 years after the great civil rights victories and 50 years after Rosa Parks's great refusal--was a poverty that oppression could no longer entirely explain. Here was poverty with an element of surrender in it that seemed to confirm the worst charges against blacks: that we are inferior, that nothing really helps us, that the modern world is beyond our reach...

(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: greatsociety; katrina; poverty; racism; responsibility; shelbysteele
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To: nmh
BY the incessant drawing of attention TO RACE, we remain racists.

Well stated. The obsession with race in this country is sickening (see the idiotic thread here today about a barber who won't cut black hair.) I always say, it's the culture not the race!

21 posted on 10/26/2005 9:40:56 AM PDT by Revolting cat! ("In the end, nothing explains anything.")
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To: baltodog

"Shopping" is a euphemism for stealing, just as "getting paid" is a euphemism for robbing somebody. Shoplifting is also sometimes called the "five finger discount."


22 posted on 10/26/2005 9:42:47 AM PDT by livius
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To: edcoil

"We don't expect to see looting"

I have a thought on this, but am having difficulty putting it together concisely, so bear with me, here.

I have honestly begun to believe that the MSM, with their out of focus tunnel vision on so many things, collectively thought that focussing so heavily on mayhem, and painting a picture that only included black faces in the looting and shooting "mobs" during the aftermath of Katrina, was somehow an indictment of our society as a whole, as well as a "racist" southern state. It was meant to be a compelling cry for more state intervention, to show us all how bad we still were. It didn't quite come across that way, and now the MSM is suddenly reporting looting in the aftermath of every hurricane, in an attempt at rationalizing away the messy perception that they created themselves, unintentionally.

Does this make any sense at all?


23 posted on 10/26/2005 9:43:03 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry (Esse Quam Videre)
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To: martin_fierro

I am from around here. I was merely hoping that the irresponsible folks with diarrhea of the fingers would STFU for once.


24 posted on 10/26/2005 9:43:34 AM PDT by EveningStar
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To: Revolting cat!
"I always say, it's the culture not the race!"

Absolutely right!

It appears we didn't have to read the article to figure that out.

God made all of us. There are good and bad in every conceivable color, shape and size.
25 posted on 10/26/2005 9:44:32 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: EveningStar

I kid, I kid. I kid because I love.


26 posted on 10/26/2005 9:44:34 AM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: martin_fierro

I know. :)


27 posted on 10/26/2005 9:45:15 AM PDT by EveningStar
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To: baltodog

BTW, these phrases are used not only by blacks, but by people of any color who do this sort of thing. I've heard (white) college students talk about the five finger discount.


28 posted on 10/26/2005 9:45:30 AM PDT by livius
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To: Arpege92

I saw the tape........incredible!


29 posted on 10/26/2005 9:45:58 AM PDT by calrighty (Taglines for sale or let......1 liners 50 cents! C'mon troops, finish em off!!)
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To: popdonnelly
The issue is in owning the shame that comes from being where you are and owning it enough to make changes. Whites (not all) had a hand in keeping blacks down with segregation. Once that became unacceptable things started to change. What has happened here is that too many (not all mind you) blacks have relied upon white man/liberal guilt instead of taking responsibility for making their own way and we as a society have suffered. Think about how much further ahead America would be without all of the entitlement spending and instead with a strong black middle class with far less fatherless families and far less crime in the community.
30 posted on 10/26/2005 9:46:26 AM PDT by misterrob
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To: EveningStar

good luck with that, and I join you in that hope.


31 posted on 10/26/2005 9:46:46 AM PDT by King Prout (many accuse me of being overly literal... this would not be a problem if many were not under-precise)
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To: EveningStar
The politics of shame taken to an even higher level:

"We Have to Exterminate White People" -Dr. Kamau Kambon of Howard University

32 posted on 10/26/2005 9:47:39 AM PDT by TaxRelief ("Conservatives are cracking down!" -- Rush Limbaugh, October 13, 2005)
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To: EveningStar
Yep, one commentator we know said it took the people of Louisiana three days to turn their dome into a ghetto.

I think in all honesty they suffer the dependence they have achieved by relying on government and 40 plus years of believing the Democrat party.

I really wish them well, but if all they have is their hate of other races as an excuse and the Democrat party as their mentors, they are doomed.

They need to change, not the whole rest of the productive world and that is the bottom line whether you want to hear it or not.

Those that get away from the dependency culture thrive like anyone else in America, so this really isn't a race issue, it is a culture issue IMO.

They are the result of their own lack of effort.

33 posted on 10/26/2005 9:47:56 AM PDT by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: All

Another great quote by Steele from the article:

"President Johnson's famous Howard University speech, which launched the Great Society in 1965, outlined this balance of power by explicitly spelling out white responsibility without a single reference to black responsibility. In the 40 years since that speech no American president has dared correct this oversight."

The harm that the Great Society has wielded on people in general and blacks in particular cannot be understated.


34 posted on 10/26/2005 9:48:36 AM PDT by EveningStar
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To: baltodog

Well....looting! ;-}


35 posted on 10/26/2005 9:49:48 AM PDT by Arpege92 ("I am happy, be it yourselves." - Pope John Paul II)
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To: EveningStar; All
It was not just blacks that did things to merit shame...

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

36 posted on 10/26/2005 9:49:56 AM PDT by WilliamWallace1999
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To: EveningStar

<< Let's keep this discussion on a high level, please. >>

The cost of the positive disencentive to taking responsiblity for oneself, also known as the "Great Society," is up around Ten Trillion Dollars.

That high enough for you?

And God alone knows how many more Billions of creative and innovative and productive and industrious Americans' confiscated Dollars in white and black hands have been cynically blown on turning Louisianna's black and white indolent into effectively-hopeless and helpless state and city dependants.

On buying their votes.


37 posted on 10/26/2005 9:50:00 AM PDT by Brian Allen (Patriotic [Immigrant] AMERICAN-American by choice - Christian and Aviator by Grace)
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To: EveningStar

How's this for a high level...

I was recently charged with being a racist by my coworker because my coworker(who happens to be black) overheard my desktop radio at very low volume levels I might add)and got offended becuase I happened to be listening to Sean Hannity on WABC AM radio. Sean was talking about the "Millions More" march and had on various black leaders as guests. My coworker, made the charge with my boss, went to HR even blew up and made a scene in the office at me in front of all of my coworkers, gossiped about it to the rest of the office and even harrassed me in our breakroom. All becuase she blamed her offense at me as if I control her actions and emotions.

Dispite the treachery I was recieving, I did the right thing, kept my mouth shut, documented the entire transgression and didn't speak a word of it to anyone except my boss.

After all was said and done, she wasn't reprimanded either verbally or written becuase she was black and had the race card in her pocket. Had the roles been reversed, as a white male, you betcha I would have been fired.

The only satisfaction I recieved was knowing that her own actions and words, despite how illogical and irrational, are perpetuating the culture of 'low expectations' so prevalent in the black community. The saddest part is that she is completely oblivious to the fact that her own actions were racist and bigoted, that she is the only one accountable for her own actions and words (not me), and that it is her own personal issue and perogative over what offends her (not mine).

Liberals indeed have a some sort of mental disorder, race and skin color aside.



38 posted on 10/26/2005 9:50:51 AM PDT by Frenetic
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To: kipita
"Rosa Park's generation would have taken responsibility for themselves, their family and their neighbors."

Couldn't have said it better myself.
I am a white male. If I need something or I want something for me or my family, I have to get it myself. The gummit never crosses my mind. If my family needs help, I do it. I find a way to do it myself. It is called responsibility. It is called self worth and dignity.
The generation of Rosa Parks fought and worked hard and even died for what they believed in to better themselves. The generation of today lives off the government and passes down the welfare checks for the next generation to mooch. No pride, no dignity, just a free ride.
39 posted on 10/26/2005 9:52:16 AM PDT by HOTTIEBOY (Maybe in your house. Not in mine.)
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To: livius

See post 34.


40 posted on 10/26/2005 9:52:18 AM PDT by EveningStar
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