White Guilt = Black Power
Shelby Steele is the man.
<a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/guestcolumnists2002/steele01-09-02.htm"; target="_blank">White Guilt = Black Power</a>
By Shelby Steele
The Wall Street Journal | January 8, 2002
[quote]THERE SHOULD BE many more imbroglios like the one currently playing out at Harvard University, enough for America to finally understand that white guilt is exactly the same thing as black power. But it is testament to the daunting power of white guilt that confrontations like this one happen so rarely.
Harvard's new president, Lawrence Summers, is reported to have rebuked arguably the most famous professor in the university's well known, if undistinguished, Afro-American Studies Department - Cornel West. Even on their face, the reported charges behind this rebuke seem screamingly true - that Mr. West is an academic lightweight, that his service to Al Sharpton's presidential campaign and his recording of a rap CD embarrass his professorship, and that his uncritical grading practices have contributed to Harvard's serious grade inflation problem.
With this sensible rebuke, there has begun an elaborate, if predictable, choreography of black indignation and white guilt...
...White guilt is best understood as a vacuum of moral authority. Whites live with this vacuum despite the fact that they may not feel a trace of personal guilt over past oppression of blacks. Whites simply come to a place with blacks where they feel no authority to speak or judge and where they sense a great risk of being seen as racist. It is a simple thing, this lack of authority, but it has changed everything.
One terrible feature is that it means whites lack the authority to say what they see when looking at blacks and black problems. Political correctness is what whites have the authority to say about blacks, no matter what they see. It is a language of severely limited authority, of euphemisms that steer whites around associations with racism. The black power brokers have told Mr. Summers that he does not have authority to say what he sees when he looks at Mr. West. He must put clothes on the naked emperor, or shame himself and his institution. After all, Princeton's president dressed the often incomprehensible Mr. West in a suit of eminence.
The muteness that white guilt imposes on whites undergirds black power. It lets blacks live inside the silence of whites, and have our weaknesses be unutterable by whites even as they are plainly visible. Messrs. Jackson and Sharpton are enforcers of white silence. And when whites are silent, black mediocrity is no deterrent to black advancement. So it is not surprising that the Jacksons, Sharptons, Wests, Gateses et. al. demanded that Mr. Summers make a strong endorsement of affirmative action - which formalizes white silence on black mediocrity into policy. In this realm of guilt and power, a white man's endorsement of affirmative action is nothing less than a vow of silence.
What is admirable in all this is that Mr. Summers seems to have actually wanted excellence from Mr. West. His rebuke for failing to deliver excellence was an act of social responsibility. It was also an opportunity for Mr. West and the Afro-Am department to move from celebrity academia to serious achievement. How many of us ever get near our full potential without at least the threat of rebuke?
But Mr. Summers does not have the authority over his Afro-Am department that he has over the rest of Harvard. And his story is important because it shows how severely white guilt limits the authority of institutions to enforce their own best standards uniformly. Everywhere that minorities press institutions today as groups, there is an erosion of excellence. The reason for this is that white guilt allows institutions to respond only with deference - deferring to the greater moral authority of minorities by lowering standards, and remaining mute to minority mediocrity, to save the institution from the racist label.
So whites have made it socially virtuous to defer and stand aside as institutions erode. The public schools are all but devastated, universities are stunted by ideology, corporations are more unctuous than churches, the media are more unctuous yet, and American politicians - of left and right - speak in barren clichés about all of this when they speak at all.
The value system that controls our institutions is an adaptation to white guilt. This system will make Mr. Summers the bad guy a thousand times before it ever holds Mr. West accountable. It isn't Mr. Jackson and Mr. Sharpton who are breaking Harvard's president; it is his own faculty and administrators who are standing aside. They think he made an "ego" mistake, a faux pas. It doesn't matter that he was right. University presidents who correctly read the tea leaves (the limits of white authority) know that deference is your only play with minorities.
And Mr. Summers, sad to say, has proven himself a quick study. He gave Mr. Jackson the endorsement of affirmative action that he demanded, and he "mended fences" in a meeting with Mr. West - two powerful endorsements of black mediocrity, two compromises of institutional integrity. And now that his capitulation has spilled blood into the water, Harvard's Latino faculty has rushed to demand their own "full-fledged Latino studies center."
This is how the vacuum in white authority becomes cancerous...<hr></blockquote>
<a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/guestcolumnists2002/steele01-09-02.htm"; target="_blank">White Guilt = Black Power</a>
By Shelby Steele
The Wall Street Journal | January 8, 2002
[quote]THERE SHOULD BE many more imbroglios like the one currently playing out at Harvard University, enough for America to finally understand that white guilt is exactly the same thing as black power. But it is testament to the daunting power of white guilt that confrontations like this one happen so rarely.
Harvard's new president, Lawrence Summers, is reported to have rebuked arguably the most famous professor in the university's well known, if undistinguished, Afro-American Studies Department - Cornel West. Even on their face, the reported charges behind this rebuke seem screamingly true - that Mr. West is an academic lightweight, that his service to Al Sharpton's presidential campaign and his recording of a rap CD embarrass his professorship, and that his uncritical grading practices have contributed to Harvard's serious grade inflation problem.
With this sensible rebuke, there has begun an elaborate, if predictable, choreography of black indignation and white guilt...
...White guilt is best understood as a vacuum of moral authority. Whites live with this vacuum despite the fact that they may not feel a trace of personal guilt over past oppression of blacks. Whites simply come to a place with blacks where they feel no authority to speak or judge and where they sense a great risk of being seen as racist. It is a simple thing, this lack of authority, but it has changed everything.
One terrible feature is that it means whites lack the authority to say what they see when looking at blacks and black problems. Political correctness is what whites have the authority to say about blacks, no matter what they see. It is a language of severely limited authority, of euphemisms that steer whites around associations with racism. The black power brokers have told Mr. Summers that he does not have authority to say what he sees when he looks at Mr. West. He must put clothes on the naked emperor, or shame himself and his institution. After all, Princeton's president dressed the often incomprehensible Mr. West in a suit of eminence.
The muteness that white guilt imposes on whites undergirds black power. It lets blacks live inside the silence of whites, and have our weaknesses be unutterable by whites even as they are plainly visible. Messrs. Jackson and Sharpton are enforcers of white silence. And when whites are silent, black mediocrity is no deterrent to black advancement. So it is not surprising that the Jacksons, Sharptons, Wests, Gateses et. al. demanded that Mr. Summers make a strong endorsement of affirmative action - which formalizes white silence on black mediocrity into policy. In this realm of guilt and power, a white man's endorsement of affirmative action is nothing less than a vow of silence.
What is admirable in all this is that Mr. Summers seems to have actually wanted excellence from Mr. West. His rebuke for failing to deliver excellence was an act of social responsibility. It was also an opportunity for Mr. West and the Afro-Am department to move from celebrity academia to serious achievement. How many of us ever get near our full potential without at least the threat of rebuke?
But Mr. Summers does not have the authority over his Afro-Am department that he has over the rest of Harvard. And his story is important because it shows how severely white guilt limits the authority of institutions to enforce their own best standards uniformly. Everywhere that minorities press institutions today as groups, there is an erosion of excellence. The reason for this is that white guilt allows institutions to respond only with deference - deferring to the greater moral authority of minorities by lowering standards, and remaining mute to minority mediocrity, to save the institution from the racist label.
So whites have made it socially virtuous to defer and stand aside as institutions erode. The public schools are all but devastated, universities are stunted by ideology, corporations are more unctuous than churches, the media are more unctuous yet, and American politicians - of left and right - speak in barren clichés about all of this when they speak at all.
The value system that controls our institutions is an adaptation to white guilt. This system will make Mr. Summers the bad guy a thousand times before it ever holds Mr. West accountable. It isn't Mr. Jackson and Mr. Sharpton who are breaking Harvard's president; it is his own faculty and administrators who are standing aside. They think he made an "ego" mistake, a faux pas. It doesn't matter that he was right. University presidents who correctly read the tea leaves (the limits of white authority) know that deference is your only play with minorities.
And Mr. Summers, sad to say, has proven himself a quick study. He gave Mr. Jackson the endorsement of affirmative action that he demanded, and he "mended fences" in a meeting with Mr. West - two powerful endorsements of black mediocrity, two compromises of institutional integrity. And now that his capitulation has spilled blood into the water, Harvard's Latino faculty has rushed to demand their own "full-fledged Latino studies center."
This is how the vacuum in white authority becomes cancerous...<hr></blockquote>
Comments
<strong>Umm, thanks for sharing? Any point to posting this?</strong><hr></blockquote>
That's a strange question. When did we stop talking about stuff that's in the news?
<strong>Anything you want to share about it?</strong><hr></blockquote>
I'd rather people responded to what the article says first before I start "chiming in".
[quote]<strong>It just seemed like an opened and closed discussion the way you posted it. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>
Well, Mr. Steele does have a lot of credibility but when it comes to the race issue I've never had any experience just opening and closing the subject like you describe. I'd be surprised if that happened here.
[ 01-09-2002: Message edited by: roger_ramjet ]</p>
That implies a broad people, in my mind.
I just can't see anyone being, having or feeling guilty for anything less or more than they have PERSONALLY done.
<strong>I just can't see anyone being, having or feeling guilty for anything less or more than they have PERSONALLY done.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Are you saying people SHOULDN'T feel guilty unless they have some personal blame/responsibility, or that they DON'T feel guilty unless...?
I think white liberal guilt is very common, actually. It's very common in the workplace (white supervisor is afraid to criticize a minority employee who is performing to such a low standard that a white employee would be criticized).
But I don't think it's just a white/black thing. I think it's an aspect of political correctness. In other words, that same "white" supervisor might also be reluctant to criticize an under-performing employee if they were gay, or handicapped, or even extremely obese, for fear of being perceived as singling them out.
<strong>
Are you saying people SHOULDN'T feel guilty unless they have some personal blame/responsibility, or that they DON'T feel guilty unless...?
I think white liberal guilt is very common, actually. It's very common in the workplace (white supervisor is afraid to criticize a minority employee who is performing to such a low standard that a white employee would be criticized).
But I don't think it's just a white/black thing. I think it's an aspect of political correctness. In other words, that same "white" supervisor might also be reluctant to criticize an under-performing employee if they were gay, or handicapped, or even extremely obese, for fear of being perceived as singling them out.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I can only feel guilty when my own personal actions or inactions were primarily at the root of something. I can't feel guilty for what someone else did out of my control. I can empathize and sympathize much, but feel guilt, no. That just doesn't make sense. I can pray and worry and try to help out after something that someone ELSE did or said, but that's about all.
Do you ever come up with an original thought? All I've ever seen you do is post right-wing articles in full for our viewing (dis)pleasure. Get some of your own ideas soon or I'll start calling you the Microsoft of rhetoric...
If people define themselves by an attribute that they had no choice in(Skin Color, Attractiveness, Heigh etc) then it speaks volumes about how compelling they feel about their own attributes that they can mold and shape primarily their personalities. There is no such thing as White, Black or any other races Power...the power comes from the individual themselves.
<strong>roger,
Do you ever come up with an original thought? All I've ever seen you do is post right-wing articles in full for our viewing (dis)pleasure. Get some of your own ideas soon or I'll start calling you the Microsoft of rhetoric... </strong><hr></blockquote>
Really? 236 posts of nothing but right-wing articles? Here's an idea of my own. You didn't have anything of interest to say about the article so you attacked the me. Yeah, that's useful.
[ 01-09-2002: Message edited by: roger_ramjet ]</p>
<strong>Articles like these are for Intellectual Wannabies that love to prattle on about things that cannot be summed up within an article. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Who's the intellectual wannabe? Me or Shelby Steele? And what is it that Mr. Steele tried to write about that didn't get summed up here?
To turn around the issue - would the President of Harvard get on a White professor for making a country music album or being part of Nader's political campaign?
I, too, would prefer hearing more of roger's opinions than the articles he reads.
BTW: that Steele family is pretty amazing.
If the president of Harvard is holding anyone to a lower standard because of their race, how is THAT not racism? Anyone who really supports the advancement of minorities should desire ? demand that.
<strong>I can't see how this is a "right-wing" issue, torifile. If this Cornel West guy is an underperforming professor, he should be out.
If the president of Harvard is holding anyone to a lower standard because of their race, how is THAT not racism? Anyone who really supports the advancement of minorities should desire ? demand that.</strong><hr></blockquote>
If he were under-performing as a professor, he should be out. But no one can say that he is. The article provides no reason for why Cornel West is a 'light-weight'. In fact, I'd say he's a great asset to Harvard. He is synonymous with scholarship in his field. Of course, his field happens to be civil rights and African-American studies, so it is a right-wing, left-wing issue. The right always takes these issues as irrelevant, silly or reprehensible if they are from the point of view of the minority. Roger, our scholar on cutting an pasting, seems to think that by merely providing some Op-Ed piece on this issue, he will spur discussion and, eventually, assent on the rightness of the Right's point of view.
Roger, how about you start an actual discussion rather than regurgitating some columnist's point of view so that I can actually respond to something? Here's a start...
In a simple search of my libraries holdings by Cornel West yielded 51 books or chapters by that "light-weight." When you get into academia, you tell me how light-weight that number of publications is. This doesn't even count the number of peer-reviewed journal articles he's done. Or the number of lectures he's given, the number of programs he's appeared on or the number of Op-Ed pieces he's done. How about you do your own research before criticizing or posting someone else's criticism?
Get a clue.
<strong>
Who's the intellectual wannabe? Me or Shelby Steele? And what is it that Mr. Steele tried to write about that didn't get summed up here?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Neither of you but there I take offense to the notion that White Guilt exists. Some people have advantages over others but in todays society a persons dedication and will can take them very far. I just object to the notion that something so profound can be explained in such a brief article. I see nothing wrong with West's affiliation with Sharpton and most Sinatra fans don't mind that he rubbed elbows with the Mob. Mr Steele seems to think that some carry an inate guilt and I just don't think that is true. Black Power is a figment of someones imagination just as White Guilt. They make for great Mantra's but they do not hold up to futher scrutiny IMO. Talke to 1 Million people you will most likely get 1 million different stories, beliefs and opinions. It all matters on how deep and wide your scope is. What the hell though..it's makes for fun arguements!
<strong>
If he were under-performing as a professor, he should be out. But no one can say that he is. The article provides no reason for why Cornel West is a 'light-weight'.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes it does. Did you read it? It mentions several areas that have been reported in news articles. This opinion piece is not "the case against West" so it doesn't go into them.
[quote]Originally posted by torifile:
<strong>In fact, I'd say he's a great asset to Harvard. He is synonymous with scholarship in his field.</strong><hr></blockquote>
And how do you know that? Are you an expert in Afro-American Studies at major universities? Rather I think because he's black and has a big afro and raps and tells whitely off you think that's "qualifications".
[quote]Originally posted by torifile:
<strong>Of course, his field happens to be civil rights and African-American studies, so it is a right-wing, left-wing issue. The right always takes these issues as irrelevant, silly or reprehensible if they are from the point of view of the minority.</strong><hr></blockquote>
They do?
[quote]Originally posted by torifile:
<strong>In a simple search of my libraries holdings by Cornel West yielded 51 books or chapters by that "light-weight." When you get into academia, you tell me how light-weight that number of publications is. </strong><hr></blockquote>
If they are bad books then it does. Any one of these Ivy League guys can pound out a book or a chapter. If it's the same thing every time and/or offers nothing new or original to the field then it's lightweight.
[quote]Originally posted by torifile:
<strong>This doesn't even count the number of peer-reviewed journal articles he's done.</strong><hr></blockquote>
And how many would that be?
[quote]Originally posted by torifile:
<strong>Or the number of lectures he's given, the number of programs he's appeared on or the number of Op-Ed pieces he's done.</strong><hr></blockquote>
That's part of the point. Those don't count for shit in the big leagues. This guy is at Harvard.
Plus you ignored the whole grade inflation issue which is a major problem at Harvard and other schools.
Funny..when I was in the Military..the most ate up Soldiers there the "Military Intelligence" guys that aced their ASVAB Test. West shouldn't complain too much Harvard is no panacea for Higher Learning.
<strong>Which is why they need to fix it. I guess telling a black guy to fix it is racist huh?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Nope. If he feels like West is subpar then he should act. West can then do what he needs to to do, either move on or seek reinstatement. People get fired everyday. Such is life.
[ 01-10-2002: Message edited by: Scott H. ]</p>