Shelby Steele: 'The Souls of Black Folk'

Opinion Journal ^ | 04/29/03 | SHELBY STEELE

[Pokey78]

Why are we still caught up in century-old protest politics?

One hundred years ago this month, W.E.B. DuBois--one of 20th-century America's leading intellectuals--published what may be the most prophetic book written on the subject of race: "The Souls of Black Folk." Its most famous prophecy was simply that the 20th century would be the century of the "color-line." If this prediction was ultimately qualified by the great ideological struggles against communism and fascism, it was also borne out by the struggles against segregation, apartheid, caste and world-wide colonialism. So, for its prescience alone, this book deserves the many centennial celebrations it is now receiving around the nation.

[rvoitier]

Thanks for posting this Pokey. I'm now reading, "Up From Slavery" and it's a truly uplifting autobiography that should be taught to all.

Washington, Dubois said, was allowing whites to "shift the burden of the Negro problem to the Negro's shoulders . . . when in fact the burden belongs to the nation."

I'm shaking my head in my hands. With sarcasm, I say, Imagine that, taking responsibility for your own life.

B.T. Washington's address to the Atlanta Exhibition (early 1900's) was, shall I say, anti-Jesse Jackson.

[lainde]

Bump for the clear thinking Shelby Steele!

[goldstategop]

Booker T. Washington is the forgotten thinker of Black America. The civil rights leadership loathes him because he isn't anti-white, is a black who likes America, and who advocates personal responsibility for his race as the key to their advancement in national life. They prefer W. E. B Dubosian militancy since he's a Communist, is a black who despised America, and who believed black salvation rested with blacks playing the role of the ever-suffering victim. One would think its time to reassess the strategies of Black America. Judging from the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, that day's still aways off.

[rvoitier]

Well said. And why would you re-think a strategy that's working? :-(

[goldstategop]

If it gets you TV and print time you wouldn't. There are plenty of responsible black leaders in America and the reason they aren't noticed is they do thankless work in their communities and since they don't grandstand for the media, their presence as role models goes unappreciated by the public. Call them the B.T Washingtons of our day, if you like. The prominence of the modern DuBosians in the black community can give a very misleading picture as to who gets the real credit for turning Black America around.

[chasio649]

Steele always amazes me....i never tire of his essays and opinions on the matters of race...i only wish i could think so clearly.

[chasio649]

Do you see it turning around? honest question..

[goldstategop]

I don't know about the underclass. The recent Census on the other hand revealed significant black gains in all areas of life in the last decade. So black America is gaining rather than losing ground. It needs to build on that instead of being sucked in by the demagoguery from the likes of Jackson and Sharpton how racism is still holding the Brother From Da Hood back.

[rvoitier]

To agree, Thomas Sowell's Vision of the Anointed points out with statistics that the African-Americans were better off in the '50's before the Dubosian liberals started helping them with Great Society programs of the '60's.

[chasio649]

No argument here...the jury is out on the underclass...it is according to what kind of mood i am in as to what my opinion is...it changes weekly ;)

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

So the first phase of emergence is rarely a wholehearted embrace of freedom but rather a resurrection of the enemy just defeated. For blacks the old enemy of racism mutes the humiliation of new freedom by absorbing blame for inferiority. "I can't because of racism." Perhaps the most pernicious feature of real oppression is that it is always, in itself, an argument that others should be responsible. So when it ends, a new and kinder dependency will look like justice. This is why the dream of freedom for many oppressed peoples is a socialistic "promised land," not really a dream of freedom at all. When you are oppressed, you tend to believe in the power that oppresses you. You only want it to make your life prosperous rather than wretched.

[cyborg]

Let the underclass die out and we'll only be left with the rich and upper-middle class. Who cares about people who don't care about themselves? These were the same people who'd spit in smart black kids' eyes and call them oreos (in grade school). They grew up to be civil rights activists. The kids they teased? CEO's of real companies (not rap music), engineers, doctors, and the Supreme Court. I have an opinion about 'black history' and reading books like "Souls of Black Folk" but I'll keep it to myself. Anyone who wants to know can FReepmail me. I will say that if anyone has seen the movie "Finding Forrester" that is what needs to be done. Putting the intelligent where intelligence thrives.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

This new 21st-century racial problem might be called the problem of emergence--the shock that formerly oppressed people experience when they first emerge into new freedom, and the struggle with responsibility that always follows. In freedom their underdevelopment looks precisely like the inferiority their oppressor had always accused them of, because now it no longer has the excuse of oppression . . .

So the first phase of emergence is rarely a wholehearted embrace of freedom . . . the old enemy of racism mutes the humiliation of new freedom by absorbing blame for inferiority. "I can't because of racism." Perhaps the most pernicious feature of real oppression is that it is always, in itself, an argument that others should be responsible. So when it ends, a new and kinder dependency will look like justice. This is why . . . for many oppressed peoples . . . the dream of "freedom" [is a dream] not really . . . of freedom at all [but of] . . . a socialistic "promised land."

Oppression systematically and intentionally works to make you believe in the power that oppresses you. To the extent that you buy the message of the opressor you do not want freedom, but the beneficence of the opressing power itself.

Confidence in yourself and in your peers is the only possible foundation of a belief in freedom . To desire socialism is to betray the very lack of confidence which the oppressor labors to inspire. Such insecurity is all too understandable in an oppressed population, but it is an obstacle to be transcended, not a wall providing security.

Required reading for a true reconstuction--whether true integration in America, or a free society in Iraq.

Bookmarked

[mhking]

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[conservatism_IS_compassion]

There are plenty of responsible black leaders in America and the reason they aren't noticed is they do thankless work in their communities and since they don't grandstand for the media, their presence as role models goes unappreciated by the public. Call them the B.T Washingtons of our day, if you like. The prominence of the modern DuBosians in the black community can give a very misleading picture as to who gets the real credit for turning Black America around.

It certainly doesn't help matters that DuBosianism is a perfect fit for the negative, superficial nature of journalism. Whereas the progress of the BTW efforts, no matter how real and how cumulatively significant, is gradual and undramatic. And therefore has little entertainment value, thus no commercial value to the journalist. It "isn't news."

[PallMal]

These were the same people who'd spit in smart black kids' eyes and call them oreos (in grade school). They grew up to be civil rights activists

I beg to differ -- the "spitters" you are talking about are either dead, in jail, drug addicted, bums constantly asking persons such as yourself for "a dollar", or just plain thieves and murderers. Very few of them became civil rights activists.

[cyborg]

That's true! As much as I disagree with Jesse even Rev.Al, are they really in the same league as the 'spitters'? Oh well... who knows? I know that applying situations and though processes in books like "Souls of Black Folk" to today's society is not going to work (esp. by a writer that was a communist). I'd like to see more attention paid to people like JC Watts, Ken Hamblin, Larry Elder and Dinesh D'Souza. Dinesh D'Souza is really speaking my language in his book. These are current authors addressing current problems.

[GunRunner]

This is a great article. Today's racial problems and the problems in the black community have roots in the victory Dubois' way of thinking over Washington's.

However, I do admire the old school NAACP's legal war against Jim Crow waged by Charles Hamilton Houston, Dubois, Marshall, etc.

[Consort]

Many Blacks are mis-sublimating the wrongs of the past.