Specters of Racism and the Responsibility of Freedom: A Conversation with Shelby Steele

October 3, 2020

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It is a cool morning here in Southern California, but the hint of mugginess suggests that the sun will be warming the day within a few hours; the weekend is about to start, but I am privileged to be able to speak with Dr. Shelby Steele. Steele is a bestselling author, speaker, and fellow at the prestigious Hoover Institute at Stanford University. He has won many awards, is respected by all who know him, and has a unique view of African American culture today.

My phone rings, I answer and am greeted by a warm and friendly voice. I ask Dr. Steele how he is doing, and he replies, “I’m doing pretty good.”

Shelby Steele has a new documentary coming out on October 16th, its title, “What Killed Michael Brown.” A topic sure to raise some eyebrows as the nation is engulfed in fiery riots and protests concerning police violence. Before I get to his upcoming film, I ask him about the recent news concerning Joe Biden, who has committed to nominating the first African American woman to the Supreme court to replace Justice Ginsburg’s position.

Steele is happy to give his thoughts on the announcement saying, “What he’s doing is, he is using race as a means to power. The problem with that is, that is the same thing slave owners did. That’s the same thing that supported Jim Crow segregation.”

I ask him to elaborate a bit more on this topic and he goes on, “Racism means, to power a racist, a justification for me, taking power over you.” He explains what Biden is saying, ‘please vote for me I am not a racist.’ “It’s very cynical and very counterproductive,” he says, “Because it keeps alive racism. We assign racism meaning when we want to use it to gain power and that’s what we use race for, to seize power, and it’s an old and tragic American story.”

Dr. Steele has previously spoken about the role ‘bad faith identity’ as he calls it plays into the African American identity. It is an interesting topic that we discuss for a few moments. I ask if Biden’s announcement plays into this identity issue.

He states that, “Blacks feel that their history of victimization is their source of power today. They can claim that America is systemically racist, that they are still victims of racism and therefore they are entitled.” He goes on to talk about how Biden wants to claim this power and thus the votes of black Americans, how the power of victimization in the end has hurt Black Americans. “And the tragedy is that blacks are farther behind today than they were in the sixties. It has completely failed.”

Dr. Shelby Steele makes bold claims; however, he is a man who has earned the right to speak the way he does, having grown up under the fist of segregation and born to Civil Rights activist parents. I ask him about the differences in society for blacks now vs. the Civil Rights era.

“I grew up in segregation. I know all about it. I grew up in Chicago on the Southside and I was, my family was very much involved with the Civil Rights movement.” He goes on to say how he vividly remembers what real segregation is like. He says, “I could tell you stories, but we’d be here all day.”

Steele says that you could never have told him back then what America would be like today. “I am so proud of this society.” He speaks about how he still has segregation flashbacks, how he walks into a hotel lobby today and remembers when he was a kid and would not be allowed to do that. He says, “I couldn’t do any number of things.”

Shelby Steele’s insight into the world of segregation is invaluable, I ask him to continue:

“That is the first time really in human history that anybody, that a country has made the kind of moral evolutionary progress that America has made around race.” He states, “Americans do not want to be racist. I remember when they did, when they took it for granted, that was a way of life.” He speaks about the burden of freedom and how that means that people are thus responsible for themselves and that can be a very scary thought. This fear of the unknown and the responsibility it brings makes some say, “Well, maybe racism is still here.”

He goes on to speak about the burden of freedom, and how while it is a gift, it comes with responsibilities:

“The hardest thing in the world is to come into freedom when you have never experienced it. It’s not a part, [that struggle with freedom] is not what we struggled with, we struggled with oppression, racism, bigotry. Now we have freedom.” He speaks about how that was confusing because African Americas did not have a lot of experience with freedom. He calls it a learning period. “And so rather than fight through this period and really master freedom. We say, oh no, our problem is racism, racism is still here.” He goes on to point out that is what the real problem is. “We are afraid of freedom. And so rather than face that real problem, we say, it’s racism.”

He closes this thought by talking about how African Americans struggle to close the gap with whites because they refuse to see the real problem, and would rather be out protesting racism when in fact he says that racism does not exist enough to be fought anymore.

I turn the conversation to the current protests ravaging our nation. Dr. Steele has a documentary film arriving on streaming this month which talks about the source of the protests. “The death of Michael Brown, it is one of the triggers, I guess you could say, for a lot of the protests that have happened and continue to happen.” The trailer for the documentary has a noir feel to it and draws the viewer in. One of the lines that stands out to me is, “When truth becomes a lie and when a lie becomes truth.”

Steel elaborates that it seems as if the Michael Brown situation, again, applies to George Floyd as a seemingly recurring cultural event in America. He describes how in the film it is called ‘poetic truth,’ which means it claims that blacks are suffering from systemic racism in every area of life.

So, when you have a white cop who shoots and kills a black teenager, then that is the norm, it’s not the exception. He finished with, “That’s the way America is for black people. And therefore, we are entitled. It is always that entitlement that turns the truth into a lie. So, we say that Michael Brown was a victim. Yet he is now an archetypical icon of racism, for many young black Americans.”

Steele believes that the real issue at play, the real challenge you face, “As a young black person coming of age in America today, is not racism, it is freedom. Who are you,” he says speaking to young blacks? He loves to talk with black students and tell them that their job is not to show everyone how to protest racism because the civil rights movement already did that. Dr. Steele says, “Your job is to show us how-to live-in freedom.”

As I speak to Dr. Steele I am reminded of the philosopher Karl Marx, who once said “Revolutions are revisited once by tragedy and then by farce.” If the revolution was freedom from slavery then the Civil Rights movement was its tragedy, leaving the current protests as the farce.

Steele agrees and responds, “That’s a good one because you look at these protests down there, they really are a farce as they’re about nothing. They’re just aimlessly disruptive.” He describes concerning the Civil Rights movement that it was a ‘moral witness,’ “In order to march one had to have a white shirt and a tie on. Women had to be dressed in their Sunday best, and you went limp when the police attacked you, you never ever fought back. Those were real protests,” he says. “These people are trying to steal the ennoblement of those great protests by protesting, they are mimics. I feel almost sorry for them to be that lost, to think that kind of fruitless mindless anarchism is gonna get you anywhere.”

Shelby Steele believes that the hunger for victimization has placed the African American identity in stasis, unable to move forward and slipping backwards. He mentions how African Americans were not prepared to thrive in that bygone world and so, “We claimed the victimization as our sort of only power in American life. And that’s sad.” He talks about how it breaks his heart to see young black students falling into victimization, he tells them, “You can’t continue to believe this. It’s just a lie. It’s not true.”

Despite feeling that the African American identity is slipping backward, Dr. Steele is ever the optimist. He saw the victory over racism during the Civil Rights movement, he has seen the changes and the opportunities that exist for African Americans today. “There’s so much freedom, so much possibility, so much opportunity in American life today. He says, “There is much goodwill, people want minorities to do well. They want blacks to finally overcome all that history of deprivation. They’re not against blacks, that is gone.” He says also, “That in fact, if anything, he sees a desire to whenever possible lend a helping hand.”

Dr. Steele’s thoughts on race relations and its origin are refreshing to hear, he sees an issue and wants to fix it and wishes very much to help others find success. It was a delight and privilege to speak with this man. I also highly recommend reading Dr. Steele’s many books as they are filled with valuable and insightful information. I believe that his film coming to Amazon on October 16^th will help to illuminate and educate America’s issues today. For more information on Dr. Shelby Steele or to learn more about the film visit his website here

if you want to listen to the interview in its entirety you can watch here!