BA Political Science, Coe College
MA Sociology, Southern Illinois University
PhD English, University of Utah
Currently Senior Fellow Hoover Institution, Stanford University
America offers tremendous opportunity for personal development
The Freedom gained with the success of the Civil Rights movement says this:
”You are free now, you cant use oppression as an excuse for your underdevelopment. If you’re not doing well its not because of oppression…its on you”
[What follows are a mixture of statements and ideas originating with Dr Steele with my occasional added commentary]
”Where are you being stopped?”
You want to be president.. OK
You want to be a CEO..OK
You want to be a lawyer or doctor? … Ok
President Johnson:
“Equal Opportunity is essential but not enough”
But the programs for black development have not reduced the achievement gap OR social turmoil for blacks.
“Perhaps its because these programs $20 trillion over ~60 years, sent the message that your fate remains in our hands.. in us [the Government] providing you with the programs to improve yourself. “
The failure of these programs re-proves what is already a universal truth.
Self development and improvement starts with self
And “self” is only fully developed in an intact home where there is love, health, nurturing.
In a community that strives to model these principles of wholeness:
- Accountability
- Responsibility
- Reliability
- Perseverance
- Family
- Self Discipline
Taking hold of opportunity requires a dedication to Certain Principles
These principles were what my generation of black men and women lived by!
Merit
Excellence
Hard work
Delayed gratification
Individual achievement
Personal responsibility
What is the formula for success in a free society?
I’m being redundant because the answer is redundant
As Shelby Steele and many others articulate the answer is inherently obvious:
- Personal responsibility
- Personal initiative
- Family values
- Conservatism is the perfect antidote to underdevelopment.
- CONSERVATISM REPRESENTS THE CONSERVATION and PROMOTION OF VALUES AND PRINCIPLES ASSOCIATED WITH PROSPERITY OF BODY MIND AND SPIRIT
STEELE:
Conservatism’s commitment to individual responsibility, education, hard work, personal initiative, traditional family values and free markets is a universal formula for success in a free society.
Freedom says you are free now
Nothing holds you back
That means if you dont succeed in pursuit of your dreams …. you cant blame an oppressor
Remember you are free …. there is no oppressor
Remember: Racism in America is the quickest and easiest way for a white leader to self destruct. If you’re seen as a racist
YOU ARE RUINED
So understand that racism is mostly defeated as a powerful force holding blacks from progress
Black progress is thus in the hands of Blacks
And BLACKS [THAT SEGMENT OF THE BLACK POPULATION {20%}THAT SUFFERS SIGNIFICANT DISPARITIES] have not done well with this responsibility
In 2019, the share of Blacks in poverty was 1.8 times greater than their share among the general population. Blacks represented 13.2% of the total population in the United States, but 23.8% of the poverty population.
Blacks in America
-
43 million total
-
9 million live in poverty
- 53% [76 million] earn less than $50,000
Poverty defined:
The Census Bureau assigns each person or family one out of 48 possible poverty thresholds.
There are thus 48 income levels [threshold] below which the census assigns poverty
One example for a family of 5: two children, one mother, one father, and one great-aunt.
The family’s 2019 poverty threshold (below) is $31,275.
https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty/guidance/poverty-measures.html
And today, more than ever, we’re blaming our failure on Racism: Systemic, Structural and Institutional
So, Here’s the obvious reality:
There is an unending motherload of political power in blaming the SYSTEM for persistent underachievement in the black community
White guilt: the gift that keeps on giving
Its not a genuine feeling of guilt
It is the terror of being seen as a racist
Johnson said I cant have you call me or this country a racist
So the programs were just throwing money at the problems to say to America and the World: “Look! we’re doing this for blacks in America”
These programs were what our black leaders ie Whitney Young, MLK etc in the 60’s fought for:
Head Start https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_Start_(program)?wprov=sfti1
Jobs Corps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_Corps?wprov=sfti1
The reasons for the disparities is not racism
It’s way down the list
We’ve become fixed on a delusion that we live in a society that is intent on keeping blacks down
We need to face ourselves more frankly
70% of kids are born out of wedlock
How in the world do you think the government will solve that??
It’s not a system problem due to white oppression
It’s a character problem due to an unwillingness of black males to not make babies if they cant take care of their babies
At one point we had that pride
Self reliance
More responsibility
These things determine our fate
The original oppression caused this deficit
Now that oppression is over
We have to take up that mantle
What passes for blackness is a mindless mimicry of
- Anger
- Pathos
Affirmative action says whats important about you is the color of your skin.. the very thing that was important when you were oppressed
When do we get to compete on our own merit
When the government says we’re ready?
When do we get to be human beings and not some pigmentized political object
to be cajoled, paternalized
Taken care of with programs after program
The answer is we get to be human when we’re treated as human and when we take our cross and walk head up with it
Not looking to blame others for our plight
If America is so bad why do thousands journey and risk their lives to illegally cross our borders?
- Because America is the land of opportunity for all
- Black White and Brown
- In other words for everyone
- It’s a color blind land of opportunity
Those blacks who remained so focused on race have and will continue to struggle in this land of opportunity.
- Because their eye is not so much on the prize
- It’s on their color and how they suffer because of racism.
The Delusion of Race:
http://aspade13.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/403F009D-831E-49DD-9EC1-7D20D51FAD6A-1.mov
Racism/Tribalism exists but at a level and of such power that it is NON SIGNIFICANT.
It existed in Rawanda when Hutus slaughtered the more prosperous Tutsi… fellow Rawandans
It existed in Nigeria when the Ibos were resented for their hard earned prosperity and were slaughtered by their fellow Nigerians
It exist in America but we have laws and a watchdog press that will destroy you your family and your business if you just come close to being a racist, having ever made or about to make a racist statement
Like the vile bigoted verbal racist assaults I heard aimed at white people when I grew up in black Los Angeles
And momma always said two wrongs dont make a right
So dont tell me that some kinds of hatred and bigotry are OK
Steele: “the longing for a black identity grounded in victimization is a longing for an excuse to not accept the challenge of freedom It’s a way to escape that challenge”
What damaged the traditional black family?
[The Legacy of the Welfare state or the Leagcy of the Slavery?]
Centuries of slavery and generations of Jim Crow did not destroy the black family
But One generation of the welfare state did..
Lower incomes and higher racial barriers: the family stuck together
Newer conditions in which incomes were higher and racial barriers lower
the Onset of fatherless homes progressed.. the breakdown of the family structure endsued
The structure that had survived slavery eroded under the setting of the welfare state.
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