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Earl Aagaard’s opinions about everything that interests him. Og also enjoys gardening, travel, reading, woodbutchery, and lots of other stuff.

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IS SHELBY STEELE A CLEAR-EYED AND COURAGEOUS MAN…...OR AN UNCLE TOM?

Honestly, I don’t think this is a difficult call—I was convinced by reading THE CONTENT OF OUR CHARACTER back in 1991. He’s kept on writing since then…..always striving to tell the truth, despite the slings and arrows from those who exploit those he seeks to help.

His newest book is WHITE GUILT, in which he

says that blacks should take responsibility for their own disproportionate crime rates and poor academic performance and not blame a system imposed on them by whites; that whites support affirmative action and other “silly racial policies” out of fear, to avoid accusations of racism.

He says that blacks who use the “race card,” as Johnnie Cochran did in defending O.J. Simpson, are practicing “blackmail” through the manipulation of white guilt….Like Bill Cosby, who tours the country exhorting black parents to better prepare their children for school—and insisting that black children speak standard English—Steele wants African Americans to relinquish a culture of “entitlement and grievance” and take responsibility for their own advancement.

For a number of reasons, this is no longer a popular message, although in the past it had been the traditional one in the black community. Steele’s perspective is that the black community has been damaged to the extent that it has abandoned the wisdom of personal responsibility. He has written a valuable and important book.

I don’t know how to express my admiration for this man. The SF Chronicle has recently published an interview with him: READ THE WHOLE THING to get a small idea of his quality.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 05/15 at 09:06 PM

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