As Shelby Steele reveals in Shame, the roots of this impasse can be traced back to that decade of protest, when in the act of uncovering and dismantling our national hypocrisies -- racism, sexism, militarism -- liberals internalized the ...
Author: Shelby Steele
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 9780465040551
Category: Social Science
Page: 208
View: 201
The greatest barrier to racial equality today is not overt racism, Shelby Steele argues in [Title TK], but white liberals. Under the guise of benevolence, liberals today maintain their position of power over blacks by continuing to cast them as victims in need of saving. This ideology underlies liberal social policies from affirmative action to welfare, which actually exacerbate racial inequality rather than mitigating it. Drawing on empirical data as well as his own personal experience, Steele demonstrates that these policies have not only failed, but have made it impossible to address the problems that plague the modern black community, and have ensured that black Americans will never be truly equal to their white countrymen, in their own minds or in practice. Forthright and persuasive, [Title TK] offers an unflinching look at the failures of liberalism and a compelling case that a return to conservative principles is the only way forward for African Americans—and for the nation.