White guilt
by Shelby Steele · first published 2006
4mentions
3recommended by
3HN commenters
2021–2022first – last mentioned
100% recommend
In 1955 the killers of Emmett Till, a black Mississippi youth, were acquitted because they were white. Forty years later, despite the strong DNA evidence against him, accused murderer O. J. Simpson went free after his attorney portrayed him as a victim of racism. The age of white supremacy has given way to an age of white guilt—and neither has been good for African Americans.Through articulate analysis and engrossing recollections, acclaimed race relations scholar Shelby Steele sounds a powerful call for a new culture of personal responsibility.
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White Guilt, by Shelby Steele. Gave me the conceptual tools to actually understand the political dynamics of racism in the US, rather than mere activist propaganda (as offered by other, similarly titled books). Plus…
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗Shelby Steele does a good job of diagnosing the malady in his book White Guilt: when institutional America had to own up to its sins in the era of civil rights, it surrendered moral authority. Every generation rebels, but usually the kids come back to the same principles that their…
on “The decline of unfettered research (1995)” ↗…visions by Thomas Sowell, Booker T Washington's autobiography really brings it all home as to what could have been. The accomplishments, the respect, the fulfillment. A close second is Shelby Steele's White Guilt, in particular, his description of the difference of his parents' civil rights attitude (change the laws, get along) compared to his own in his youth (burn it down) with his eventual understanding of…
on “Ask HN: Best books read in 2022” ↗Check out White Guilt, by Shelby Steele.