The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race In America

It is absolutely true that that there are disparities and racism. This book speaks to both the cause and effects of why SOME Blacks in America haven't' made progress. It also is very helpful in understanding generational poverty for all races. I thought it very poignant in understanding why some people in the same family are successful and some are not - for all races. I will always remember and am thankful that I was told by a stranger "there will be people that will help you along the way" (to success). The unfortunate thing was that nobody told me that people in my own community/family would hate me for my success and would try to hold me back. Overcoming the collective mindset of victimization is the greatest challenge in every recovery program. Thank you Shelby Steele for writing this book. Even 2009 when he wrote this - he saw what the collective was promoting and called it out. Please create YouTube videos! We need you.

This book is a collection of essays written mostly in the late nineties, but which remain especially applicable to our current racial climate. Shelby Steele is the son of a black working class father and white mother from Chicago. Despite a poor upbringing, he secured his PhD and went on to become a college professor and hold to solidly middle-class American values. In these essays, he reflects on what it means to be black in America, reflecting on the power trade-offs between blacks and whites that define the current climate. For Steele, innocence is the key to power. To lose innocence is to lose power vis-a-vis the other. "The inferiority of the black always makes the white man superior; the evil might of whites makes blacks good." Thus, racism becomes a psychological necessity on both sides, despite good intentions to the contrary. The power relations between the races demand this repeated "dance." The Civil Rights Act was a giant step forward for blacks, but has not resulted in closing the wealth and achievement gap between the races. Steele attributes this to quotas and entitlements, which necessitate a continued victimization mentality as the basis of the power relationship between the races. While not minimizing the call to action to repair the sins of the past, Steele looks to development--rather than reparations--as the key to true long-term equality. "Preferential treatment does not teach skills, educate, or instill motivation. It only passes out entitlement by color." One or two of the essays lag the others in impact, but overall, this is a great read. I knocked it out in a single day.

For the second weekend in a row, I read a Shelby Steele book, and for the second time, I can recommend "The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America" to anyone, who wishes to have a better understanding of ... well ... race relations in America. Written at the sunset of the 20th Century, it deals with difficult histories, which we seem to be on the cusp of repeating or reliving. The book is a collection of essays by a renowned author and English academic. The essays recount incidents from Steele's own life beginning in the segregated 50's into the turbulent and militant 60's. However, Steele's coming of age story is only the beginning of his personal development. The stories continue by offering insight from a black man who grew up in segregation and who achieved success and enjoyed accomplishment through personal efforts in response to opportunity. He combines his individual insight with a critique of an entrenched culture of victimhood. He argues that the continued reinforcement of that culture and the resulting negative self-image prevent many capable persons from taking advantage of opportunities and offers a ready excuse for a lack of individual effort and personal achievement. Steele offers universal lessons, which may not be popular among his detractors, but those lessons have withstood the tests of time. He recommends to all: education, hard work, delayed gratification, and personal responsibility. Those lessons provide some comfort and understanding in these turbulent and seemingly incomprehensible times.

This is a book that should be read by anyone who wants to solve the race issue in America. To often we are given one side as if all blacks agree with black lives matter. We are not one, we are a group of Americans from the same ethnic group. We are individuals, this is what the author is saying. If the media used books like this to show different sides, progress could be made.

This is probably one of the best books I have ever read. It is very thoughtful and NEEDS to be included reading for any young person (no matter the race). It is about growing up, developing character and just being a better human being.... it's about self identity (not group identity) and how I LOVED this book

Life-changing to say the very least.

Prior to reading THE CONTENT OF OUR CHARACTER, one will find it helpful to know something about Sheby Steele's background. He has a Masters in Sociology and a Doctorate in English Literature. As a result, we find a well-written book with profound sociological insights. Generally speaking, sociologists are not well known for being good writers. Steele is clearly the exception. From a sociological perspective, Steele employs an ecological system model as a tool to capture his personal experience enabling the reader comprehend his emergence into manhood in a racially biased society. Yes, I admit my description sounds like a bunch of academic hogwash. However, Steele masterfully strips away the academic jargon to create a meaningful book that everyone can grasp without being diverted by theoretical language. His use of a theory as a backdrop provides the reader with a connection - a meaningful experience. For several decades, sociologists have been attempting to link personality with the social structure in a manner that has some practical and meaningful application. Up to this point, all attempts have been miserable failures. Here lies Sheby Steele's great success. He created this important theoretical linkage hitherto unseen in American social science. What value does THE CONTENT OF OUR CHARACTER offer us? Steele brilliantly portrays race relations as a connection between the micro and macro human experience. In many ways, Steele succeeded to do what Parsons dreamed about in the 1940's. Steele identifies that racial problems cannot be solved merely by instituting (macro) policy change. He states that everyone has a personal (micro) responsibility to embrace the role of change agent. Most interestingly, his primary focus is directed toward African American individuals. Change yourself and change society simultaneously. This is one of the most readable books on race relations. I often assign college students (even minority students) to read this book. The book seems to change they way they think. They become more thoughtful and work harder as students. I find the effects of this book quite amazing.

Recommend for anyone who is seeking information and counsel to read.

Great thinker--cogent and articulate.

Worth a read to put some context in the Black Lives Matter movement

It is absolutely true that that there are disparities and racism. This book speaks to both the cause and effects of why SOME Blacks in America haven't' made progress. It also is very helpful in understanding generational poverty for all races. I thought it very poignant in understanding why some people in the same family are successful and some are not - for all races. I will always remember and am thankful that I was told by a stranger "there will be people that will help you along the way" (to success). The unfortunate thing was that nobody told me that people in my own community/family would hate me for my success and would try to hold me back. Overcoming the collective mindset of victimization is the greatest challenge in every recovery program. Thank you Shelby Steele for writing this book. Even 2009 when he wrote this - he saw what the collective was promoting and called it out. Please create YouTube videos! We need you.

This book is a collection of essays written mostly in the late nineties, but which remain especially applicable to our current racial climate. Shelby Steele is the son of a black working class father and white mother from Chicago. Despite a poor upbringing, he secured his PhD and went on to become a college professor and hold to solidly middle-class American values. In these essays, he reflects on what it means to be black in America, reflecting on the power trade-offs between blacks and whites that define the current climate. For Steele, innocence is the key to power. To lose innocence is to lose power vis-a-vis the other. "The inferiority of the black always makes the white man superior; the evil might of whites makes blacks good." Thus, racism becomes a psychological necessity on both sides, despite good intentions to the contrary. The power relations between the races demand this repeated "dance." The Civil Rights Act was a giant step forward for blacks, but has not resulted in closing the wealth and achievement gap between the races. Steele attributes this to quotas and entitlements, which necessitate a continued victimization mentality as the basis of the power relationship between the races. While not minimizing the call to action to repair the sins of the past, Steele looks to development--rather than reparations--as the key to true long-term equality. "Preferential treatment does not teach skills, educate, or instill motivation. It only passes out entitlement by color." One or two of the essays lag the others in impact, but overall, this is a great read. I knocked it out in a single day.

For the second weekend in a row, I read a Shelby Steele book, and for the second time, I can recommend "The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America" to anyone, who wishes to have a better understanding of ... well ... race relations in America. Written at the sunset of the 20th Century, it deals with difficult histories, which we seem to be on the cusp of repeating or reliving. The book is a collection of essays by a renowned author and English academic. The essays recount incidents from Steele's own life beginning in the segregated 50's into the turbulent and militant 60's. However, Steele's coming of age story is only the beginning of his personal development. The stories continue by offering insight from a black man who grew up in segregation and who achieved success and enjoyed accomplishment through personal efforts in response to opportunity. He combines his individual insight with a critique of an entrenched culture of victimhood. He argues that the continued reinforcement of that culture and the resulting negative self-image prevent many capable persons from taking advantage of opportunities and offers a ready excuse for a lack of individual effort and personal achievement. Steele offers universal lessons, which may not be popular among his detractors, but those lessons have withstood the tests of time. He recommends to all: education, hard work, delayed gratification, and personal responsibility. Those lessons provide some comfort and understanding in these turbulent and seemingly incomprehensible times.

This is a book that should be read by anyone who wants to solve the race issue in America. To often we are given one side as if all blacks agree with black lives matter. We are not one, we are a group of Americans from the same ethnic group. We are individuals, this is what the author is saying. If the media used books like this to show different sides, progress could be made.

This is probably one of the best books I have ever read. It is very thoughtful and NEEDS to be included reading for any young person (no matter the race). It is about growing up, developing character and just being a better human being.... it's about self identity (not group identity) and how I LOVED this book

Life-changing to say the very least.

Prior to reading THE CONTENT OF OUR CHARACTER, one will find it helpful to know something about Sheby Steele's background. He has a Masters in Sociology and a Doctorate in English Literature. As a result, we find a well-written book with profound sociological insights. Generally speaking, sociologists are not well known for being good writers. Steele is clearly the exception. From a sociological perspective, Steele employs an ecological system model as a tool to capture his personal experience enabling the reader comprehend his emergence into manhood in a racially biased society. Yes, I admit my description sounds like a bunch of academic hogwash. However, Steele masterfully strips away the academic jargon to create a meaningful book that everyone can grasp without being diverted by theoretical language. His use of a theory as a backdrop provides the reader with a connection - a meaningful experience. For several decades, sociologists have been attempting to link personality with the social structure in a manner that has some practical and meaningful application. Up to this point, all attempts have been miserable failures. Here lies Sheby Steele's great success. He created this important theoretical linkage hitherto unseen in American social science. What value does THE CONTENT OF OUR CHARACTER offer us? Steele brilliantly portrays race relations as a connection between the micro and macro human experience. In many ways, Steele succeeded to do what Parsons dreamed about in the 1940's. Steele identifies that racial problems cannot be solved merely by instituting (macro) policy change. He states that everyone has a personal (micro) responsibility to embrace the role of change agent. Most interestingly, his primary focus is directed toward African American individuals. Change yourself and change society simultaneously. This is one of the most readable books on race relations. I often assign college students (even minority students) to read this book. The book seems to change they way they think. They become more thoughtful and work harder as students. I find the effects of this book quite amazing.

Recommend for anyone who is seeking information and counsel to read.

Great thinker--cogent and articulate.

Worth a read to put some context in the Black Lives Matter movement

Four stars. Amazing work.

Thoughtful

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was very insightful especially being a black guy recently settled in the US. The US racial politics is so complicated due to its history and this book goes some way to explaining some of the issues involved. My one minor complaint is that it was a touch repetitive, which is somewhat understandable because it is a collection of essays as stated in the introduction. Nevertheless, it did sometimes get irritating. Recommended reading however

Still reading but thus far the premise is fascinating and requires further investigation. It will be an addition reading for our book club which begins in September..

Excellently and clearly written. This is a must read for America in the 21st century with regards to the division between races. Hopeful and revealing content.

Shelby Steele is brilliant. All his books are great!!

I think this book should be mandatory reading for high school students as well as college. It brings out issues that are never discussed in any news program or radio shows. If we are really serious about understanding race relations, this book is a must read. Now I understand why national liberal civil rights leaders do not support candidates that support freedom for individuals, if they did, they would not have a job.

Perfect. Exactly what I wanted. Thank you.

As advertised

I was looking for something challenging to read and surprised to see both George Will and The NY Times offered glowing reviews. So I picked up two copies. One for me and the other for my girlfriend so we could discuss. The author Shelby Steele examines race relations in America in a very authentic and thought-provoking way,challenging our preconceived notions about how we got here and where we need to go. IMHO Following the author vision is the fulfillment of Dr Martin Luther King's dream. An important book that has sadly been unexplored by many people.

Super unique vision of the world that challenges the status quo on every front. Really changed my perspective.

Finally, we are making intelligent decisions about race relations and civil rights and moving away from the problems created by white guilt and "black power" agendas during the early civil rights movement. The author is very intelligent and makes valid observations and written commentary on where we have been and on a pathway to a society that makes more sense than ever before. Jim Moore

ok

Classic read!

This book is so profound. It makes you look at yourself, and those around in a light of pure clarity. I appreciate Shelby Steele taking the time to bring his thoughts and opinions, on such an important issue, to the table. I wish this book became a classic reader like Night, 1984, and Beowulf. This is a subject all students should study.

Interesting read.

I believe this book should be required reading in College. If you want to understand race issues in the U.S. this is the book for you.

twenty five years old and still insightful...

Excellent book. In it you get the feel of what's going on in the minds of both blacks and whites in America and how we arrive to where we are today with regard to race relationship. Although the book has been around for a while now, it's still very relevant to the current situation of race relationship today. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting a clear understanding of this subject.

Just started reading. Can tell you more as I have a chance to read more.

Shelby Steele is an American conservative author, columnist, documentary film maker, and Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He wrote in the Introduction to this 1990 book, “in 1986, I found myself half-listening to a radio interview with a local black leader on ‘the state of black America.’ … the two men I listened to that afternoon … were boring, enough so that they received no more than a few calls on a … switchboard [that] is normally swamped. The source of their boringness, I believe, was that each man had left his full self at home and brought only the ‘received’ part of himself to the studio. I can think of no issue that makes for a wider gap between the public and private selves than race… After this radio program… I picked up a pencil and began to write this book. I was tired of my own public/private racial split, the absence of my own being from what I said to people about race… In the writing, I have had both to remember and forget that I am black… in this book I have tried to search out the human universals that explain the facial specifics.” He notes, “You hear it asked, why are there no Martin Luther Kings around today? I think one reason is that there are no black leaders willing to resist the seductions of racial power, or to make the sacrifices moral power requires. King understood that racial power subverts moral power… What made King the most powerful and extraordinary black leader of this century was not his race but his morality.” (Pg. 19) He asserts, “The self-fulfilling prophecy theory is no doubt correct that black students, like the ones I regularly see, internalize a message of inferiority that they receive from school and the larger society around them. But the relevant question … is why they CHOOSE to internalize this view of themselves… I think they CHOOSE to believe in their inferiority, not to fulfill society’s prophecy about them, but for the comforts and rationalizations their racial ‘inferiority’ affords them. They hold their race to evade individual responsibility… these students use their race to conceal the fact that they are balking. Their ‘inferiority’ shields them from having to see that they are afraid of all-out competition with white students… It is a false inferiority, CHSEN over an honest and productive confrontation with white students and with their real fears---a strategy that allows them to stay comfortably on the sidelines in a university environment that all but showers them with opportunity.” (Pg. 27-28) He states, “This version to opportunity generates a way of seeing that minimizes opportunity to the point where it can be ignored. In black communities the most obvious entrepreneurial opportunities are routinely ignored. It is often outsiders or the latest wave of immigrants who own the shops, restaurants, cleaners, gas stations, and even the homes and apartments… many black children are not truly imbued with the idea that learning is virtually the same as opportunity… I think it is the meeting with the mainstream that school symbolizes that clicks them off… Their parents and their culture send them a double message: go to school but don’t really apply yourself. The risk is too high.” (Pg. 50-51) He contends, “When a black is comfortable and successful in the mainstream, he or she shows that the external threat is not as serious as many blacks wish to think and, correspondingly, the inner doubt of a more powerful regressive force. The most dangerous threat to the black identity is not the racism of white society … but the black who insists on his or her own individuality.” (Pg. 71-72) He suggests, “What is needed now is a new spirit or pragmatism in racial matters where blacks are seen simply as American citizens who deserve complete fairness and in some cases developmental assistance, but in no case special entitlements based on color. We need deracinated social policies that attack poverty rather than BLACK poverty and that instill those values that make for self-reliance. The white message to blacks must be: America hurt you badly and that is wrong, but entitlements only prolong the hurt while development overcomes it.” (Pg. 91) He argues, “people like myself… and middle-class blacks in general are caught in a very specific double bind that keeps two equally powerful elements of our identity at odds with each other. the middle-class values by which we were raised… are, in themselves, raceless and even assimilationist. They urge us toward participation in the American mainstream… But the particular patter of racial identification that … still prevails today urges … all blacks in the opposite direction. This pattern asks us to see ourselves as an embattled minority, and it urges an adversarial stance toward the mainstream and an emphasis on ethnic consciousness over individualism… The opposing thrust of these two parts of our identity results in … no forward movement on either plane that does not constitute backward movement on the other.” (Pg. 95-96) He says, “The essential problem with this form of affirmative action is the way it leaps over the hard business of developing a formerly oppressed people to the point where they can achieve proportionate representation on their own (given equal opportunity) and goes straight for the proportionate representation… [This] does very little to truly uplift blacks.” (Pg. 115) He adds, “In any workplace, racial preferences will always create two-tiered populations of preferreds and unpreferreds.” (Pg. 120) He acknowledges, “It may be unfair to compare my generation with the current one… We came along at a time when racial integration was held in high esteem… We had something to prove… There is much irony in the fact that black power could come along in the late sixties and change all this. Black power was a movement of uplift and pride, and yet it also delivered the weight of pride… Black students today… are not filled with the same urgency to prove themselves because black pride has said, ‘You’re already proven, already equal, as good as anybody.’” (Pg. 139) He asks, “Why do we cling to an adversarial, victim-focused identity that preoccupies us with white racism? I think because of fear, self-doubt, and simple inexperience… I believe we carry an inferiority anxiety that makes the seizing of opportunity more risky for us… To avoid this risk we may hold a victim-focused identity that tells us there is less opportunity than there really is… our victim-focused identity serves us ty preserving our main source of power and by shielding us from our fear of inferiority and our relative inexperience with the challenges of freedom.” (Pg. 170) He concludes, “The immutable fact of late twentieth-century life is that it IS there for blacks to seize. Martin Luther King did not live to experience this… But… on the night before he died… From the mountaintop he had looked over and seen the promised land… We are on the other side of his mountaintop… The promised land guarantees nothing. It is only an opportunity not a deliverance.” (Pg. 175) This book will be of great interest to conservatives interested in racial/ethnic issues.

I read this book about 20-25 years ago and it made a lasting impression. This edition is a reprint from 1998, but I believe the first edition, which I read came out years before. The book deals with the difficult issue of racism in America and is grounded by the author's own experiences, insights from his own life and trusted sources and the immortal words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, excerpted in the title. It is NOT a coincidence that these words are nowhere to be seen in the BLM statements of the last few years. That is because they are antithetical to what BLM's Marxist strategy of disrupting society and sowing hate is all about. But these words are what ending racism are all about. A peaceful and productive way forward, NOT a hateful and harmful path. This is a short book and I urge you to check it out. It is made all the more relevant for today because the author and his filmmaker son release their documentary "What killed Michael Brown?" which has been kept off the Amazon Prime video platform. I just saw the trailer and urge you to do so too. I am planning a viewing and discussion party too. It is that important.

Shelby Steele is an American conservative author, columnist, documentary film maker, and Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He wrote in the Introduction to this 1990 book, “in 1986, I found myself half-listening to a radio interview with a local black leader on ‘the state of black America.’ … the two men I listened to that afternoon … were boring, enough so that they received no more than a few calls on a … switchboard [that] is normally swamped. The source of their boringness, I believe, was that each man had left his full self at home and brought only the ‘received’ part of himself to the studio. I can think of no issue that makes for a wider gap between the public and private selves than race… After this radio program… I picked up a pencil and began to write this book. I was tired of my own public/private racial split, the absence of my own being from what I said to people about race… In the writing, I have had both to remember and forget that I am black… in this book I have tried to search out the human universals that explain the facial specifics.” He notes, “You hear it asked, why are there no Martin Luther Kings around today? I think one reason is that there are no black leaders willing to resist the seductions of racial power, or to make the sacrifices moral power requires. King understood that racial power subverts moral power… What made King the most powerful and extraordinary black leader of this century was not his race but his morality.” (Pg. 19) He asserts, “The self-fulfilling prophecy theory is no doubt correct that black students, like the ones I regularly see, internalize a message of inferiority that they receive from school and the larger society around them. But the relevant question … is why they CHOOSE to internalize this view of themselves… I think they CHOOSE to believe in their inferiority, not to fulfill society’s prophecy about them, but for the comforts and rationalizations their racial ‘inferiority’ affords them. They hold their race to evade individual responsibility… these students use their race to conceal the fact that they are balking. Their ‘inferiority’ shields them from having to see that they are afraid of all-out competition with white students… It is a false inferiority, CHOSEN over an honest and productive confrontation with white students and with their real fears---a strategy that allows them to stay comfortably on the sidelines in a university environment that all but showers them with opportunity.” (Pg. 27-28) He states, “This version to opportunity generates a way of seeing that minimizes opportunity to the point where it can be ignored. In black communities the most obvious entrepreneurial opportunities are routinely ignored. It is often outsiders or the latest wave of immigrants who own the shops, restaurants, cleaners, gas stations, and even the homes and apartments… many black children are not truly imbued with the idea that learning is virtually the same as opportunity… I think it is the meeting with the mainstream that school symbolizes that clicks them off… Their parents and their culture send them a double message: go to school but don’t really apply yourself. The risk is too high.” (Pg. 50-51) He contends, “When a black is comfortable and successful in the mainstream, he or she shows that the external threat is not as serious as many blacks wish to think and, correspondingly, the inner doubt of a more powerful regressive force. The most dangerous threat to the black identity is not the racism of white society … but the black who insists on his or her own individuality.” (Pg. 71-72) He suggests, “What is needed now is a new spirit or pragmatism in racial matters where blacks are seen simply as American citizens who deserve complete fairness and in some cases developmental assistance, but in no case special entitlements based on color. We need deracinated social policies that attack poverty rather than BLACK poverty and that instill those values that make for self-reliance. The white message to blacks must be: America hurt you badly and that is wrong, but entitlements only prolong the hurt while development overcomes it.” (Pg. 91) He argues, “people like myself… and middle-class blacks in general are caught in a very specific double bind that keeps two equally powerful elements of our identity at odds with each other. the middle-class values by which we were raised… are, in themselves, raceless and even assimilationist. They urge us toward participation in the American mainstream… But the particular patter of racial identification that … still prevails today urges … all blacks in the opposite direction. This pattern asks us to see ourselves as an embattled minority, and it urges an adversarial stance toward the mainstream and an emphasis on ethnic consciousness over individualism… The opposing thrust of these two parts of our identity results in … no forward movement on either plane that does not constitute backward movement on the other.” (Pg. 95-96) He says, “The essential problem with this form of affirmative action is the way it leaps over the hard business of developing a formerly oppressed people to the point where they can achieve proportionate representation on their own (given equal opportunity) and goes straight for the proportionate representation… [This] does very little to truly uplift blacks.” (Pg. 115) He adds, “In any workplace, racial preferences will always create two-tiered populations of preferreds and unpreferreds.” (Pg. 120) He acknowledges, “It may be unfair to compare my generation with the current one… We came along at a time when racial integration was held in high esteem… We had something to prove… There is much irony in the fact that black power could come along in the late sixties and change all this. Black power was a movement of uplift and pride, and yet it also delivered the weight of pride… Black students today… are not filled with the same urgency to prove themselves because black pride has said, ‘You’re already proven, already equal, as good as anybody.’” (Pg. 139) He asks, “Why do we cling to an adversarial, victim-focused identity that preoccupies us with white racism? I think because of fear, self-doubt, and simple inexperience… I believe we carry an inferiority anxiety that makes the seizing of opportunity more risky for us… To avoid this risk we may hold a victim-focused identity that tells us there is less opportunity than there really is… our victim-focused identity serves us by preserving our main source of power and by shielding us from our fear of inferiority and our relative inexperience with the challenges of freedom.” (Pg. 170) He concludes, “The immutable fact of late twentieth-century life is that it IS there for blacks to seize. Martin Luther King did not live to experience this… But… on the night before he died… From the mountaintop he had looked over and seen the promised land… We are on the other side of his mountaintop… The promised land guarantees nothing. It is only an opportunity not a deliverance.” (Pg. 175) This book will be of great interest to conservatives interested in racial/ethnic issues.

Shelby Steele is a great writer; at times he waxes a bit too eloquently with great prose. He is a deep thinker that wrestles this subject from different angles and in a few hundred pages brings clarity to a foggy subject. Bottom line Affirmative Action may have opened the doors to Black folks to participate in American Society and entree into higher education but without the individual's full commitment and preparations for success those Blacks will not make the best use of these new found options. And when a people's hopes are lifted then expectations not met they fall far and deeply. The idealistic disappointment is deep and the harsh reality of Black under achievement intensifies it. Steels rightly acknowledges the inherent self hate Blacks have and suspicions of their lack of education preparedness can lead to a resentment of the very Society that now gives them a chance at entering college etc. He rightly acknowledges that White Racism is not the omnipotent bogeyman hiding under the bed but the fear of that demon is real and that is what holds people back. This book is great. It deals w the different aspects of social problems that plague Black folks. (By extrapolation I as a Chicano see the utility of the arguments he presents. We Chicanos face the same problems as Blacks folks do, and a host of others too.) falling into lock step w/ the "Blame-Whitey-For-All-Our-Problems is a palliative that every ambitious person of color faces but in the solitude of our minds we must face the truth; the enemy is in our mirror and we must deal with him or be conquered by him thru default. Of course it is easier to create excuses for why we can not succeed rather than the sheer grunt work of improving ourselves. Shelby Steele deals w/ his own demons I don't want to spoil this book by revealing his further revelations in his later book; it is telling but this book stands on its own. Steele understands that the Society he might wish to condemn for slavery and racism is also the Society that freed the slaves and fought the Civil War to improve the lot of all its citizens. He is aware of the incongruity of these truths. But Steel is too honest to blame America for the ills of the Black Man. I think Shelby Steele might agree w/ my own thoughts that race and ethnicity are permeable and we all choose to which group we belong and by "how much" we belong, identify with or are confined by that group. Remember the walls we put up to protect us from others will also serve to hold us in. Indeed those walls obstruct our view of reality and of course perception (the view form within those walls) determines reality. This book should be required reading for every college student. How can one be educated w/out being exposed to the obvious elephant in the room that is race in America?

African-American Steele notes how “proper” talk about race has become so formulaic and rehearsed as to become incapable of resolving real problems. Steele’s view comes from the standpoint of a minority who experienced real discrimination and witnessed the imitation angst he saw whites get away with by pretending the “way they’re supposed to.” Like “diversity” training in our corporations and government branches, we all know what we’re “supposed to say,” how we‘re “supposed to act,” with the result being that farcical role playing simply kills time and another charge number to waste when something of merit could have been accomplished instead. Steele holds the position that “racial victimization is not the real problem.” He writes, “It’s a formula that binds the victim to their victimization by linking their power to status as a victim… Since the social victim has been oppressed by society they come to feel their individual life will be improved more by changes in society than by their own initiative. To admit this fully would cause us to lose that innocence derived from our victimization. We are in the odd and self-defeating position in which taking responsibility for bettering ourselves feels like a surrender to white-power.” Steele expands and elaborates in myriad ways through his style as a storyteller and by that method makes for a fast paced read. He also wrote this in 1998, long before the now common videotaped homicides of those like Eric Garner strangled by police on Staten Island, NY after been stopped for selling cigarettes without a tax stamp, Walter Scott shot in the back in Charleston, South Carolina for running from a traffic stop, and Ahmaud Arbery shot while jogging by two white men (Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael) just driving around town with their guns in Brunswick, Georgia. One wonders how many murders have gone unaccounted before everyone had a video camera in their pocket, and how Steele views that aspect of American life.

Shelby Steel has hurt more black people than any other black author I have come across. As a black woman, I find his conservative views hateful and in the line to the book called, “The Bell Curve. “. Amazon sells racist books .

Dissenters often prod us to think differently, in that they call attention to their cause, though their own course of action may not necessarily be wise to follow! In one such work, The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America (New York: St. Martin's Press, c. 1990), Shelby Steele sets forth his "new vision," a viewpoint at odds with the mainline civil rights establishment. Steele, an "African-American" English professor at San Jose State University when he wrote this book, challenges us to envision new paths for America's racial minorities. One path he rejects is the newest exercise in political correctness, adopting a new label in the quest for self-identity. The now-in-vogue "African-American" label is, he thinks, "yet another name to the litany of the names that blacks have given themselves over the past century" (p. 47). While understandable, "This self-conscious reaching for pride through nomenclature suggests nothing so much as a despair over the possibility of gaining the less conspicuous pride that follows real advancement. In its invocation of the glories of a remote African past and its wistful suggestion of homeland, this name denies the doubt black Americans have about their contemporary situation in America" (p. 47). New names change nothing and will not suffice. (Incidentally, it's academics who most strongly insist on the right labels--many if not most American Indians prefer the name "Indian" to the "Native American" resolutely demanded by politically correct intellectuals). What's needed is a new way of acting, Steele says, a new (or is the old Booker T. Washington strategy?) way of taking the initiative to live creatively and well, of accepting responsibility for one's actions, one's successes and failures. In the 1990's, the antiquated agenda of the 1960's (appropriate though it was in that decade) no longer suffices. In particular, he argues, it's time for blacks to stop blaming whites for their problems and get on with the business of personal and cultural achievement. The book's title, "the content of our character," comes from a speech of Martin Luther King, Jr. "What made King the most powerful and extraordinary black leader of this century," Steele says, "was not his race but his morality" (p. 19). What black leaders need today, he believes, is a recovery of King's moral stance, an emphasis on integrity and responsibility rather than ethnic victimization. King's message had power because it transcended race, binding men and women of all kinds together in a common endeavor. King's message had power because it was, in fact, not a "black power" message. Unfortunately, too many black leaders routinely capitalize on white America's guilt, asking for special treatment, thereby reducing themselves and their followers to inferiors needing a helping hand. Tragically, "the price they pay for this form of 'politics' is to keep blacks focused on an illusion of deliverance by others, and no illusion weakens us more. Our leaders must take a risk. They must tell us the truth, tell us of the freedom and opportunity they have discovered in their own lives" (p. 174). Steele himself represents--and seeks to speak for--the growing middle class black community. What astounds him is the persistence of racial sensitivity even in his own circles. "As a middle-class black I have often felt myself contriving to be 'black.' And I have noticed this same contrivance in others--a certain stretching away from the natural flow of one's life to align oneself with a victim-focused black identity" (p. 106). In a way, he argues, blacks choose to see themselves as inferiors, an inferiority rooted in alleged social discrimination rather than genetic factors, because it allows them to escape responsibility for competing and achieving as individuals. Blacks lack power in America not simply because prejudice excludes them but because power comes to those who accept responsibility. "Personal responsibility is the brick and mortar of power" (p. 33). The longer a group marches to the drumbeat of a victim, even though it may elicit sympathy and applause and even reparations from the crowd, the longer it remains subservient and impotent. This is not to excuse injustice, which abounds in America. It is to insist that despite obstacles minorities can succeed here. "Whites must guarantee a free and fair society. But blacks must be responsible for actualizing their own lives" (p. 34). Steele nowhere argues American society is fully free and fair! He's encountered discrimination. Prejudice still stains our national life. But it must be honestly portrayed, not exaggerated as an excuse for immobility, not milked to preserve politicians' power bases. We need not deny the injustices of the past to admit that "when today's black college students--who often enjoy preferential admission and many other special concessions--claim victimization, I think that it too often amounts to a recomposition of denied doubts and anxieties they are unwilling to bear" (p. 61). Illustrating such preferential treatment, Steele cites Penn State University, which has a program which "pays black students for improving their grades--a C to C+ average brings $550, and anything more brings $1,100" (p. 90). Minority students at Stanford University seized control of the president's office several years ago, determined to make known their grievances, among which were complaints about their inadequate financial assistance--which for some amounted to $15,000 a year! Though he teaches in a large state university, Steele appreciates the value of small black colleges. Only 16 percent of black students enroll in them, but they graduate 37 percent of all black graduates. "Without whites around on campus, the myth of inferiority is in abeyance and, along with it, a great reservoir of culturally imposed self-doubt" (p. 136). Consequently, black students in black colleges take more responsibility for their studies, work harder, and accomplish more. More broadly, if blacks can move beyond their "racial identity struggle" and begin to live as individuals in American society, Steele thinks this nation offers "a remarkable range of opportunity if we were willing to pursue it" (p. 168). This book is highly personal, both in its style and its interpretations. It clearly reflects the experience of only one black man in America. Yet it's worth reading, for it makes some important observations and offers some positive suggestions, though they do not lend themselves to political action.

This tome by Shelby Steele was written slightly over a decade ago. However, the problems of race and class that defined much of the black experience in America at the time of its writing still hold for today. And, while I agree with Steele's general assessment of the state of black America, and especially with the solutions he outlines, I do agree somewhat with his critics, black or otherwise, who believes Steele tends to underplay the current levels of racism in our society. However, here's the rub: Racism can be an excuse to fail, or a reason to improve one's lot to the extent that blacks are empowered to make racism less relevant to their individual and collective destiny. For what Steele is proposing is a return to the proud ethic first elaborated upon by such civil rights pioneers as Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey. I give this excellent book four stars instead of five for the following reasons: 1). As it was compiled mainly from magazine articles previously written by Steele, it is a bit repetetive, and; 2). Steele draws quite a bit on history of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, but I believe that by tracing many of our societal trends to the turn-of-the-century competing visions of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, this would have been a more well-rounded book.

The title of Steele's book, borrowed from the memorable phrase in King's "I Have a Dream" speech, suggests that the author looks for no excuses in explaining Black America in the 1990s. His closing declaration, "The promised land guarantees nothing. It is only an opportunity, not a deliverance," puts both blacks and whites on notice that each should be judged by the content of its character. Yet Steele cannot ignore the sociological issues distorting the picture. Polarization between the races during racially-motivated rape, murder, and police brutality trials,recent interpretations of empirical studies on the self-concept of blacks, and opinion polls showing blacks as distrustful of a government they believe conspires against them might be sufficient proof that Steele is impatient if he thinks the time of deliverance is at hand.

Shelby Steele's strong opinoins and in that context contraversial lifestyle choices (i.e., being a tenured professor having a white psychologist as a wife) leads one regardless of race or political/philosophical leanings to instinctively back away from what he has to say- unless you are a hard core conservative with a secret axe to grind. Yet this book is a constnt reminder that it is a lot more than the strange impulse that makes people look at car wrecks or moths fly into flames that makes you not just hear him, but listen. This book can be painful for black people and white liberals alike, but it is a symphony of illumination and a love letter for every American. His unveiling of the (not so) secret architecture of psychology that lies underneath the actions and arguments of so much of us when caught in the race issue and experience, is a much needed call to stand up and regain the honor and integrity that has to a large degree been lost as we all continue to cross over into the promised land, but lose the spirit that got us there. I first read this book several years ago, and it has since become all the more important, as the changing information society is still making us all run to old expressions of made up social fears to mask our personal insecurities. He has never been, nor I believe will he ever be, stupid enough to believe that racism as an issue has disappeared from the American landscape. Nor would he say that it has stopped being a dynamic deeply affecting if not destroying the opportunities, spirit and lives of many many people. in fact, if anything, he is saying that it is there almost as strong as ever, just in such a complex and hidden form that negative ideas and problems are prostituting once powerfully positive solutions. This book is deeply effective and affecting, and would make you think hard about what Martin really meant when he gave the speech from which its title is derived. Among countless other things, we owe Martin reading books like this with an open mind and courageous heart. He teaches us a great deal about what constitues our souls, which transcends color.

The book is illuminating, especially on the the psychological problem of perceived inferiority (by the minority race when obliged to work and live within a social system dominated by the majority race), something I hadn't considered before. Steele comes to grips with this, and I can definitely feel how the reasoning lifts the souls of those facing such issues. But there's so much more, discussion of several terms and concepts that convey key ideas that mostly help to move the philosophical and psychological liberation along: "moral power," " racial power," "race holding," "struggle for innocence," "bargainer's strategy," margin of choice," "racial vulnerability," "compensatory grandiosity," "politics of difference," "memory of oppression," etc. For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie reviews, please visit my site [...] Brian Wright Copyright 2008

Despite an over reliance on personal anecdote and pop psychology, which mars his book, Shelby Steele offers one really terrific insight, that "...the racial struggle in America has always been primarily a struggle for innocence" and therefore : Guilt is the essence of white anxiety just as inferiority is the essence of black anxiety. This perception yields an invaluable analytical tool for examining race relations : always look to see who has cloaked themselves in the mantle of innocence. The great strides in civil rights came when the peaceful demonstrations of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. were met with violence and even murder. Clearly whites had much to feel guilty about and blacks properly felt aggrieved, therefore programs were passed. But then came the riots, some triggered by the assassination of King, and white guilt was replaced by white fear. Then came the confrontation over use of affirmative action programs and whites, the overwhelming majority of whom had played no part in the oppression of blacks, were able to reclaim title to innocence. Since then, relations between the races have become much more problematic, with temporary flare ups of white guilt, justified or not, after episodes like the Rodney King beating and the Mark Fuhrman revelations, quickly replaced by white outrage after the King riots and the OJ verdict. The general trend though is towards a relative lack of guilt, even a lack of sympathy, on the part of whites for the black predicament. This trend really came to a head in the fight over Welfare Reform, passage of which (with some Democrat support no less) would have been unthinkable just twenty years earlier. The problem for blacks, as Steele points out, is that blacks have not abandoned the victims role. "Leaders" like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton continue to make claims for special treatment solely on the basis of skin color and historic bad treatment. But their claims fall on increasingly deaf ears and unfortunately serve to foster a corrosive atmosphere of black dependence on white largesse. Helpless victimhood might have some value, though it seems unlikely, if it was still at least winning financial and political concessions from the white majority, but to continue in this beggarly posture even after the spigot has been turned off can not be doing the black community any good. One interesting newer issue to apply Steele's insight to is the movement for Reparations--compensation to blacks for the economic costs of slavery. I've stated previously that one reason the idea is worth exploring is because it might help to permanently dispose of this innocence/guilt idea. A massive cash settlement would in all likelihood both assuage white guilt and buy off black victimhood. This transaction, no matter what kind of high toned language the actual process was dressed up in, would be exactly as crass, self-serving and distasteful as it sounds here, essentially allowing white America to repurchase the moral high ground for the modern equivalent of forty acres and a mule. At any rate, you can see how Shelby Steele's way of looking at our racial divide helps to illuminate such an issue and strips away the noble facade to reveal the rather tawdry psychological moorings which really underpin it. His book is worthwhile for this contribution alone. GRADE : C+

As a northern white person, I found this book very illuminating and sad - I see that one of the terrible effects of discrimination is the tortured, convoluted emotions that result from it - for both races. I have to say that I never felt uncomfortable before talking to blacks but I may now after reading this book, for fear I may step on one of the mines in this minefield without realizing it (e.g., whether the white saleswoman would put the change in his hand or on the counter - I don't really think of those things. I hope the day comes when no one thinks of these things.)

Shelby Steele's "The Content of Our Character" is not just a book for African-Americans. It's for anyone who wants to live a better life. When I read this book I felt like he was speaking to me, individually, as a man and not as a member of a racial category. Especially valuable are his insights on self-sabotage, and the true sources of self-esteem. All of us have our own demons to face and Steele's wise counsel is invaluable in that struggle. You should approach this book in the spirit of Epictetus, or Benjamin Franklin. It really is in that same class.

In a nutshell, this is one of many books written on this subject matter. It is a very good book, Mr Steele ocaisionally glosses over a bit of the subject matter. There is a need for much more of self examination, and this will allow us to define ourselves as Americans far better than those that have decided to race bait and perform the victim routine that seems to be so popular amongst many people of color. A couple of very wealthy black men have created a growth industry from it. We need the self examination that this book touches on, not the self hatred that some vocal minority within this minority are preaching.

I'm a man of the left, so for years, my only impression of Steele was is in his vilification on the left as a conservative apologist for the status quo. After hearing the man speak, I've been reading his books one by one and have to say that Steele charts his own unique path as one of the few writers to tap into the nuances of the agonized American race discourse. This is a substantial book full of rich and profound social insight that should make dogmatists from all sides and persuasions squirm.

This is a brilliant book about taking responsibility for one's own actions and outcomes rather than blaming others. This book reflects the dream of Dr. King. Unfortunately, many people of all colors still obsess on race.