Shelby Steele on Michelle Obama's 60 Minutes comments: She was "facilitating her race's manipulation of the American mainstream"
SUMMARY: Summary: In the book A Bound Man, author Shelby Steele distorts comments Michelle Obama made about Sen. Barack Obama on 60 Minutes in which she said that "as a black man, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station." Steele asserts that Barack Obama "was at virtually no risk of being shot by a white racist on the way to the gas station" and claims that his wife's comments were "facilitating her race's manipulation of the American mainstream." In fact, Michelle Obama never said her husband could be shot by "a white racist"; she never specified who she thought posed a threat.
In the book A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win (Free Press, December 2007), author Shelby Steele distorts comments Michelle Obama made about her husband, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), on CBS' 60 Minutes in which she said that "as a black man, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station." Steele asserts that Barack Obama "was at virtually no risk of being shot by a white racist on the way to the gas station," baselessly suggesting that Michelle Obama had been referring to "a white racist" in her comments. In fact, she never said her husband could be shot by "a white racist"; she never specified who she thought posed a threat, only that "as a black man," he "can get shot going to the gas station." In distorting her comment and asserting that "reality in no way supports Michelle's point," Steele claimed that she was "offer[ing] poetic truth as literal truth" to "tell[] the larger truth of black victimization in America" and was "facilitating her race's manipulation of the American mainstream."
Michelle Obama made her comments on the February 11, 2007, edition of 60 Minutes in response to correspondent Steve Kroft's question about whether she was "worried about some crazy person with a gun." Kroft also made no reference to "a white racist."
From the February 11, 2007, edition of CBS' 60 Minutes:
KROFT: This is a tough question to ask, but a number of years ago, Colin Powell was thinking about running for president, and his wife, Alma, really did not want him to run.
MICHELLE OBAMA: Mm-hmm.
KROFT: She was worried about some crazy person with a gun.
MICHELLE OBAMA: Mm-hmm.
KROFT: Is that something that you think about?
MICHELLE OBAMA: I don't lose sleep over it, because the realities are that, you know, as a black man, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station, you know. So, you know, you can't -- you know, you can't make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen. We just weren't raised that way.
From Page 70 of A Bound Man:
Barack's wife, Michelle, wore this mask well in their 60 Minutes interview: "Barack is black. He can be shot on the way to the gas station." Here, fitting her mask snuggly over her face, she offers poetic truth as literal truth. Before the popularity of Obama's presidential candidacy (he is now justifiably under Secret Service protection), he was at virtually no risk of being shot by a white racist on the way to the gas station. However, he might well have been at risk of violence from a young black gangbanger. But the "blackness" mask does not allow for such distinctions, or wants them blurred. It does not matter that reality in no way supports Michelle's point. She is telling the larger truth of black victimization in America. She is facilitating her race's manipulation of the American mainstream. Her mask is perfectly in place.
Gee, they sure are out in force this week!
Personally, I think it will be quite possible that if Barack is elected that the white racists will try to asassinate him.
Snoop,
This ain't Pakistan.
I wouldn't say "white racists" but, someone. Of course, that's with every president. But still, Obama's been compared to JFK, which lends credence to the fact that it could happen.
I consider very sage advice: don't judge until you have walked a mile in the other fellow's shoes.
We Caucasians can't. We can't possibly do that, nor realize totally what it is like to live as an African American person in this country. Telling the truth is not "facilitating her race's manipulation of the American mainstream."
"don't judge until you have walked a mile in the other fellow's shoes."
That way, when you do judge them, you'll be a mile away and you'll have the other fellow's shoes.
(Sorry, I love that punch line.)
I'm not really sure what Michelle Obama meant..and I don't think it's racist to jump to the conclusion that she meant someone shooting Barack because he's a black man running for high office. If not to that conclusion, what conclusion? You could say "well, there's high black-on-black crime", but is Obama ever filling up in a bad neighborhood? Maybe she just meant that Barack could be shot just as easily as anyone running for/being in high office, for the million reasons crazy people assasinate politicians; but if that's the case, why bring it up as if it weren't obvious?
And, frankly, if Michelle was implying the shooter would be a white racist, that's not an outlandish or race-baiting statement at all, it's a reasonable prediction!
I agree Dexteritas, I don't think it's bad at all to assume that Michelle Obama was talking about some white nutjob.
But I do want to say that to my knowledge the Obama's home is in Hyde Park and while that part of Chicago itself is relatively safe, adjoining areas are quite dangerous. So it is possible for Obama to be filling up at a gas station in a nice area in his neighborhood but be a victim of a spillover crime unrelated to his campaign to be President.
Did anyone see Mr. Steele on Bill Moyer's Journal Friday night? I can't get a make on him. What's he trying to accomplish?
My husband is AA and people driving by (while we are bicycling) have shouted racials slurs. Is he trying to say that could never escalate? I guess he's forgotten about James Byrd. The instances are rare that I hear stuff like this but now that Mr. Obama has had to get SS protection, how can he possibly make his cae?
Your husband is AnotherAmerican??
That adds a huge twist...;)
Ouch. That twist hurt! ;-0)
"Did anyone see Mr. Steele on Bill Moyer's Journal Friday night? I can't get a make on him. What's he trying to accomplish?" - Juliajayne
I saw him on Bill Moyers Friday night. Have I made him? Kinda...though putting a precise finger on him is a bit tougher. As a political animal, it seems to me he tends toward being an "old school" conservative, rather than a Neocon or a religious hardliner, and that's not so bad. As "conservatives" go, there should probably be many more like him and far fewer that listen to, and believe, "pundit talk" radio. (Yes, I am assuming he isn't a listener, except maybe to keep abreast of what's being said, but if I'm wrong he'll have to step in to correct me.)
But if a problem with him comes in, it may be that he strikes me as painting aspects of Black society and Black leadership with a bit too broad and superficial a brush...as if he's looking at the world from a very great distance and shaping what he sees to fit his views...though, granted, we all do that to some degree. That may be okay, he's just one guy occupying the Hoover Tower, but every Black sometimes seems to be seen as some kind of "Borg" spokesperson for all Blacks (which, notably, seems not to occur for Asians, or Latins, or Polynesians, or ...), so some extra weight may be put on his point of view. ...Even if it is at odds with the various points of view of other "spokesblacks".
And his point of view strikes me as a comfortable one for whites. (paraphrasing) "Black leadership is either this or it is this. Blacks were oppressed, but that time is now past. At this point in time, the difficulties Blacks have in society is pretty much because Blacks are not correctly applying themselves." If that is true to some slight degree in some situations (after all, nothing is monolithic), it tends to let people outside the Black community off the hook in too many ways. To use the short form of a complex phenomenon, "racism" towards Blacks is far from dead, and "racists" pretty much get a free pass for their actions cause, after all, "all that's over", and any difficulties Blacks are experiencing is cause, well, "they just keep doing it to themselves".
So what would Shelby Steele got out of this? Maybe speaking engagements, maybe getting to hang out in the Hoover Institute, maybe an inner glow. Maybe even he cannot answer that one.
Now keep in mind, I *really* have little I can personally base any statements about him on. One Bill Moyers' interview, some quick googles, my own one time tangency to a very small portion of "The Black Community". But maybe you can add my inferences to your own attempts to understand him. If enough blind people do that, the elephant might be perceived for what it is.
Oh, and you too might want to read this: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/15/DDG5HIR5VC1.DTL
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/463haksg.asp
And in the meantime, others agree:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/07/AR2008010702939.html
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/danielhannan/jan08/conservativecaseforobama.htm
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/12/21/right_and_obama/
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2007/02/conservatives_like_him_too.html
And just for fun, here's Robert Novak being a douchebag racist as he pretends to compliment Obama:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/06/novak-obama-race/
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/06/novak-obama-race/
Kudos on peeling off her mask.
You have penned what I have been thinking but unable to express in words.
"Facilitating her races manipulation of the American Mainstream."
I'm inclined to ask for examples of this manipulation, but I'm then hit with the thought of just being black and living any part, or all of the American Dream would constitute manipulation of the A.M. by this person.
There's plenty more folk manipulating us and becoming rich and powerful to no good end, not even their own.
I was all prepared to blast Steele as another "black" Republican/conservative but I took a little time, read an excerpt from his book to try to gain some insight into Steele. I STILL feel that Steele knew perfectly well what Michelle Obama was speaking about (black on black crime rate) but choose to add to his Republican/conservative credentials by trying to tie her statement to "white racists". IMO, Republicans main operative is divisive politics. Too many "white folks" showing up, listening and approving of what they see in Obama is not good for the party.
Steele says that he like Obama had a white mother and black father however I get the feeling and I could be wrong but Steele's experience was vastly different than Obama's and I think his parents were vastly different than Obama's. Why would I say something like this? First would be the fact that Steele was born in 1946 as opposed to Obama born in 1961. Second would be from a passage in his book:
So, people like Barack Obama and me are always under a degree of suspicion. The "one drop" rule formulated in the days of slavery -- one drop of black blood makes you black -- consigns us to the black race (happily so for me and, I would imagine, for Obama as well), but the fact of an immediate white parent differentiates us and interrupts solidarity with blacks. Our vulnerability is that both blacks and whites can use our impossible racial authenticity against us. Both races can throw up our mixed background to challenge our authority to speak. And both races can squeeze us in a blueslike double bind where the absurdity is as comic as it is tragic: we dismiss you for not being authentically black, yet we will never accept you as authentically black. Ha ha. When people can call you inauthentic and undermine your moral authority, they have a degree of power in relation to you. And where they have power, you have vulnerability.
Considering the effect slavery has had on black folks there is no such thing as a "authentic black". Due to slavery black folks have been mixed for years and years and I can't think of anyone who is black and not aware of that fact. Maybe during my younger days there were people who looked at "light" skinned black folks differently but I think that had more to do with "passing" than concerns about being "authentically black". The idea that today black folks are going around deciding who is "truly" black and who is "mixed or biracial" strikes me as funny. Who would look at Obama and say "He has a white Momma" as opposed to 'That's a black man"?
Strangely I feel sad for Steele. It seems he came along during a time in America where there was great difficulty for black/white mixed children. Unfortunately for Steele, the only thing he and Obama shares IS the white mother and black father.
“Before the popularity of Obama's presidential candidacy (he is now justifiably under Secret Service protection), he was at virtually no risk of being shot by a white racist on the way to the gas station.”---SS
By misstating M. Obama’s meaning, Steele undermines his own larger argument. She obviously didn’t mean to say that he is more prone to White on Black violence at a gas station absent his current candidate status. I see this as evidence of poor editing as he only makes himself look bad if his larger point or theory is a valid one without this faulty interpretation of her remark. Alternatively, he has a bad theory, and is just making up stuff to make it seem more believable.