Me thinks, Mr Steel, ye protesteth too much.
You have a black Father; so what? Get over it; move on. Barak Obama has.

I do not know if Obama can be elected. I will vote for him if he is the Democratic candidate. I vastly prefer him to Hillary, even though as Mr. Steele points out- he keeps his ideological cards close to his chest- and that is somewhat troubling. But all politicians triangulate and calculate- and only time will tell whether or not Shelby Steele is an accurate prophet of electoral politics in the United States or not. I hope he is not.

In his role as analyst however, I believe Mr. Steele is dead on the money. His deconstruction of the 'black question' is brilliant. Brave black intellectuals like him and Bill Cosby, who are willing to shine the light on all the problems facing black Americans, including those caused by blacks themselves, rather than perpetuating the singularity of victimization, are the only hope for true advancement of civil rights.

Thanks Bill Moyers for having the courage to get Mr. Steele into the debate- I saw him recently on CSPAN as well, and he makes so much sense. Avoidance of responsibility for, or actual denial of, black-on-black crime and the reactionary contribution of 'rap' music/thug culture to the declining living standards among blacks, and the continued reliance on victimization and leaders who make their living keeping whites 'on the hook' to justify and explain all the problems in the black community have been disastrous for the black community. This sham has already been allowed to go on for far too long.

More Shelby Steele!

I am also really disappointed by this entire interview. I heard it over a week ago, and it still lingers in my mind...bitterly. I'm not as much concerned about Steele's political reasoning (or agenda) as I am about his concept of race relations in America.

The only purpose that interview served was to once again alienate blacks and whites. As a black female activist I do not feel that I need to make white people feel guilty. Being aware of social injustice is different from feeling guilty, and I trust that many white Americans are socially aware.

What purpose does guilt, or the imposition guilt serve anyway. It's not like Black Africans were not involved in the slave trade. Guilt implies that black people had no agency in the course of history, and that they were just shoved around. Placing guilt is not empowering. Clearly not all black Americans would agree to this, but, I, unlike Steele do not claim to be able to speak for all black Americans.

Shelby Steele reminds me of the tragic character Delacroix (Daman Wayans) in Spike Lee's "Bamboozled." Della tests the TV network's tolerance for racial degradation by submitting a modern minstral show as a pilot. To his surprise it is accepted and becomes a hit. (Not surprising to me considering the public's appetite for "Mario and the Magician" type sadism in the current crop of reality shows.) The Black Republican, the Black conservative columnist (paid by the Whitehouse or not), the Black media entrepreneur (includes melancholy Bill Cosby), as rare and admirable as they can sometimes be, are always tools of the elite, set in place to hold colored folk to a higher standard than upper class white people (who have most of the chips, and a greater share of the pecadillos).
I heard a comedian conjecture that if you hear a tale of a really ritualistic serial killer on the news that the perpetrator is unlikely to be Black. I asked myself why not. It may be because the really twisted Black minds are occupied in devoted service to the myths of the elite. And what is that conditiion but a really involved and sophisticated minstral show? (Only James Baldwin found a way to escape and turn the demeaning proposition on its head. If he were alive he'd be only one of several human beings qualified to use the N-word properly: as an emblem of courage and defiance.)

I was offended by the scheduling of Steele and his topic at this time! I hope we will have people who are against each of the other candidates! It reminds me of when the Catholic Church broadly publicized it's opposition to Geraldine Ferraro (not coincidentally the first major woman vice presidential candidate!).
Please explain how this is "fair and balanced" coverage!?"

It appears somewhat unfair for Mr. Steele to hold Mr. Obama to a different degree of political criticism than of other candidates. Perhaps it is because of his conservatism, which is his right as a citizen. Part of the Obamatism is purely politics, and partly refreshing as a new politican on the block. It has been many years since we heard of Mr. Obama's enthusiam and ability to pull many people back into the political arena. And it is people like Mr. Steele that have been trying to put a finger or it or figure it out, viewing this tide against the old traditional way of looking at things. Bargainer or challenger, whatever Mr. Steele brands it, it is indeed what the people (all flavors of people) are saying they are ready to listen to. Open your ears Mr. Steele, ready or not, change is a coming.... sayi

Shelby Steele has only revealed to us his problems with being a Black Man in America.
Black leadership does not tell Blacks what to think, nor do they tell Blacks what issues to support. (Check Black support for Hillary Clinton and Obama). Simply, Blacks pespectives are not monolithic.

Apparently,Steele has been called an "Uncle Tom". He offers no specifics as to why he makes any of these allegations,nor does he offer one scenario that prompted some to call him an "Uncle Tom".
There are many Blacks who do not support Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Many of them don't claim victimization of the "Uncle Tom" epithet, nor do they express feelingsof intimidation because they don't support the so-called "Black agenda". In fact, many of them are to the left of Jackson and Sharpton. There is and never has been an easy ride from Blacks for any Black in American history who chooses to assume a leadership mantle - and that includes King, Malcom, Garvey, Adam Powell, etc.

From what I hear Shelby Steele to say is that he is really not in touch with Black people nor Black leadership. Black people are quite diverse in their views and have a history of choosing between opposing leadership. Some of Martin Luther Kings biggest battles were with other Black leaders who disagreed with his approach. And,those occurrences were far from being just anecdotal. (Remember Malcom X, Adam Clayton Powell, the organization SNCC. etc).

Those of you who are not African Americans would do well to investigate other sources before concluding that Steele has a valid argument. It is obvious to me that there is something more troubling with Steele and his reeaction to being Black in America that rankles him enough to reduce Black America and Black leadership to simpleminded, unsubstantiated assessments.

Mr. Moyers' conversation with Shelby Steele was truly enlightening, as are so many of his dialogues with today's REAL honest thinkers and concerned Americans. They are not "interviews" in any sense of the word. I become a "fly on the wall" listening in to an energized and focused discourse between two concerned patriots in the true sense of "searching for reasons and solutions" for 21st Century dilemnas faced by our now very "shaky" free society. When Mr. Steele referred to Sen. Obama as a sort of "invisible man", sometimes the bargainer assuaging the collective guilt of white Americans, sometimes the challenger connecting himself to the tribulations of African-Americans throughout the history of this country, I think Obama does so solely in his "Politician" persona and does artfully pull that switch to his political advantage. As a person, a man of mixed race, up close and in the flesh in his daily journey along the challenging road of life, he may or may not do exactly the same. Those closest to him can only know that in vivid terms. I've only read excerpts of Obama's book on his formative years and he seems fully aware of the voting public's need to know him much more personally if they are to climb aboard his wagon and head with him to a better promised land. I give great kudos to Mr. Steele's courageous declaration that his "identity" as a "black man in America" is not the master of either his choices in life or his destiny. He becomes a shining although maybe only partial solution to the dilemna of being an "Ellisonian" Invisible Man in America. His very physical image and his words sharpen into a competent clarity as he does so. I plan to read Mr. Steele's writings, and not only on Obama. I grew up a white kid in a racially very mixed, low-to-middle income working class section of Brooklyn, New York and my struggles were shaped mostly by my own shortcomings and fears and strengths and aspirations. The color of my skin allowed me to move much more freely out into the rest of New York and then the world at large with only my "heavy Brooklyn accent"(ha!) as a sometimes "profiling" opportunity for those who encountered me. Many friends of mine, from the Puerto Rican community, the recently immigrated eastern Europeans, Arabs, and African Americans mired in self images inflicted on them and their ancestors by a society driven by racist agendas, all had to deal with the true "invisibility " of their unique inner self in this society's very "fixed" game. I will continue to tune in and be a fly on the wall, hungrily taking in future conversations taking place at Mr. Moyers' table....Bruce Robertson

I am just beginning to blog & am not sure if blogging produces change; however, MLK "had a dream" & I am having a nightmare,(the GOP & NDP have denied me the right to vote in selecting a presidential candidate) so I have turned to the lofty Internet to see if I am just stabbing at windmills, & saw this blog.
I watched Mr. Moyers' Journal & Mr. Steele makes strong points & the time has come to be able to discuss the black issues with reason & calm clarity. Bill Cosby, Colin Powell & Shelby Steele are people I listen to & don't think about what race they are. The credit is to them, as I am a white boy that grew up in the 40s & 50's in the heart of the South. Sharpton & Jackson strike me as being so biased & hostile, that I tune them out. So, are they trying to talk to me or to blacks?
How many generations are necessary to give the blacks a chance? Where would Al & Jesse be without their hyped raceism?
What about immigrants that come to this country with little skills in our society & yet go on to own businesses, graduate college, etc.?
I could talk to Bill, Colin & Shelby and listen to their ideas, but I'm ain't on no hook & ain't going to be put there because mistakes were made by past generations. I will stand with the past generations that fought for my right to representative govrnment!
Respectively,
W. Moore
Florida

Do you agree with Steele's contention that today’s black identity is “grounded in grievance?”

Not at all. Some people let the past chain them down forever. Others remove those chains and live out their lives in pursuit of their dreams and ambitions. Some african-americans will never get over the history of slavery in the United States and keep using it as as a crucible around their necks justifying their anger and disenchantment with the United States. If an African American's identify is grounded "in grievance" they only have themselves to blame. Go see The Pursuit of Happyness and tell me that Christopher Gardner suffered from a grievance against the "White man." He's now a millionaire and I highly doubt he is plagued with any grievance.

# Is ideological diversity within the black community limited by an imperative to not "let whites off the hook?"

It might be. All that really can be said is any african-american sells him or herself short if they allow the history of slavery to act as a barrier to achieving their ideals.

I'd like to conclude by saying I don't at all agree with Mr. Shelby's assessment of the African American psyche. I voted for Jesse Jackson in 1984 and again in 1988. And I easily could vote for Obama. But what matters for me isn't whether an african american is a challenger or a bargainer. I want to know what their positions are on the greater issues of the day.

Shelby Steele is an unabashed conservative. And I'm sick and tired of that ilk leading our nation. The United States is in short supply of liberal leadership. And we need it more than ever.

Do you agree with Steele's contention that today’s black identity is “grounded in grievance?”

Not at all. Some people let the past chain them down forever. Others remove those chains and live out their lives in pursuit of their dreams and ambitions. Some african-americans will never get over the history of slavery in the United States and keep using it as as a crucible around their necks justifying their anger and disenchantment with the United States. If an African American's identify is grounded "in grievance" they only have themselves to blame. Go see The Pursuit of Happyness and tell me that Christopher Gardner suffered from a grievance against the "White man." He's now a millionaire and I highly doubt he is plagued with any grievance.

# Is ideological diversity within the black community limited by an imperative to not "let whites off the hook?"

It might be. All that really can be said is any african-american sells him or herself short if they allow the history of slavery to act as a barrier to achieving their ideals.

I'd like to conclude by saying I don't at all agree with Mr. Shelby's assessment of the African American psyche. I voted for Jesse Jackson in 1984 and again in 1988. And I easily could vote for Obama. But what matters for me isn't whether an african american is a challenger or a bargainer. I want to know what their positions are on the greater issues of the day.

Shelby Steele is an unabashed conservative. And I'm sick and tired of that ilk leading our nation. The United States is in short supply of liberal leadership. And we need it more than ever.

Mr. Moyers,

As a long-time admirer of your work, I'm astonished that you let let Shelby Steele get away with such a cheap, mean-spirited hatchet job on Barack Obama. It was painfully obvious after only a few minutes that Dr. Steele was offering up the kind of character assasination that would cause problems for any analyst this side of Rush Limbaugh. It is certainly Steele's prerogative to say whatever he wants to about Senator Obama, but I didn't expect you to continue to facilitate his hyperbolic Conservative-operative animus, instead of challenging him, especially in view of the fact that every African-American who so neatly fit into his "bargainer" or "challenger" pigeonholes were all Liberals. I waited in vain for you to ask him about Clarence Thomas, Condoleeza Rice or Colin Powell -- whether or not he has created a special dispensation for them, since there is very little that he had to say about Obama's successes among the majority demographic, that wouldn't apply equally, -- if not more so, given how they're situated -- to them. I myself am an African-American born and reared in the Jim Crow South, and I'm not sure whether Senator Obama will get my vote or not. But I'm certainly not buying what Dr. Steele is selling, and I'm disappointed that it seems he sold it so effortlessly to you.

Mr. Moyers,

As a long-time admirer of your work, I'm astonished that you let let Shelby Steele get away with such a cheap, mean-spirited hatchet job on Barack Obama. It was painfully obvious after only a few minutes that Dr. Steele was offering up the kind of character assasination that would cause problems for any analyst this side of Rush Limbaugh. It is certainly Steele's prerogative to say whatever he wants to about Senator Obama, but I didn't expect you to continue to facilitate his hyperbolic Conservative-operative animus, instead of challenging him, especially in view of the fact that every African-American who so neatly fit into his "bargainer" or "challenger" pigeonholes were all Liberals. I waited in vain for you to ask him about Clarence Thomas, Condoleeza Rice or Colin Powell -- whether or not he has created a special dispensation for them, since there is very little that he had to say about Obama's successes among the majority demographic, that wouldn't apply equally, -- if not more so, given how they're situated -- to them. I myself am an African-American born and reared in the Jim Crow South, and I'm not sure whether Senator Obama will get my vote or not. But I'm certainly not buying what Dr. Steele is selling, and I'm disappointed that it seems he sold it so effortlessly to you.

To what extent are racial divisions and classifications reinforce by white group identity, white denial of their own racial politics?

It’s intriguing to watch Bill Moyers bring Shelby Steele to reveal Shelby Steele vis-à-vis Barack Obama and so-called “race.” Mr. Steele makes clear it is he, himself, who is “a bound man.” Thus, does Mr. Steele judge himself a “bargainer,” or a “challenger?” Actually, Mr. Steele shows himself best suited for a different label, an orthogonal label: projectioner, someone who intellectualizes ascriptions of personal, undesirable thoughts, feelings, and experiences to others.

You continue to miss the story with Barack Obama. It is not about race-which is what has the African American leadership confused and the Clintons doing damage control.

The change being talked about is regime change, a new generation, someone without the baggage of the sixties, without questions about Vietnam, with a last name not Bush or Clinton.

It has been disappointing to me that your show, which I usually count on for a thoughtful sane take on important issues, has devoted two episodes to talk about a Barack Obama that largely doesn't exist.

Having read his first book, checked out his record in Congress, and listened to several speeches and a couple of the debates, he seems to me to be very much a real person who I think deserves to be talked about in a genuine way and not reduced to generalizations by your guests.

I was fascinated by Shelby Steele. You listened to him in the way I listen to people when I am working as a clinician in psychiatric emergency. I got the impression that Mr. Steele is very damaged in much the same way as Clarence Thomas and I had a lot to sympathy for him (as you did).
My daughter and I watched the program together. She was just irritated with Mr. Steele. Times have changed. She lives in a multiracial society. Her friends are all races, including mixes (like Obama's). To her, Mr. Steele was an exotic antiquity

Very interesting to read the range of reactions over the last week, from hostility and maligning of Moyers to appreciation.

I am puzzled by the hostility of Obama supporters.

Why the hostility?

How will Obama bring about any form of consensus when hostility is the immediate reaction to anyone who questions or disagrees? Does that mean that Unity comes from coercion? From the threat of being ostracized or maligned? Is it a new form of political heresy to have questions or doubts about a candidate?

I am a 32 year old black woman and I truly believe Mr. Steele has little knowledge of the black community. He is very angry toward blacks and seemed to suggest that blacks would be hostile toward Obama because he has been accepted by the white mainstream. Can someone please tell this man that most young black people work and go to school with whites everyday?

Also, Obama is actually polling extremely well among young blacks especially. Mr. Steele is stuck in another decade and is obviously out of touch with mainstream black culture. He clearly doesn't do his research and constantly stereotypes black people based on his negative opinions of blacks. He tells blacks not to have a victim mentality but goes on Hannity and tells white conservatives they are victims.

Bill Moyers should have someone like Dr. Marc Lamont Hill to reflect our generation's view on race, he is much more progressive and in touch with black america.

I was fascinated to hear Dr. Steele explain his paradigm on your latest show. It has remained in my mind all week. I am liberal and not a supporter of his but as I thought about what he was saying (thanks for letting him talk without debating him), his ideas reflect my own experiences in meeting new people who are African American professionally.

Many hold me at arm's length. I am very aware that as a white woman, I have to prove something before they will even begin to trust me. I'm beginning to get weary of this and a little annoyed at age 68 after being a civil rights supporter for all my life and have immediate family who are racially mixed for whom I would give my life.

Your interview was an aha! moment for me. Thanks to Dr. Steele of all people, I'm just going to not try so hard to make connections in my older age because this is not really about me and I just don't have so much energy any more. I can't make right the wrongs, even though I've tried to do my part both personally and professionally and will continue to do so. I am a Obama supporter.

I'm white, in my fifties, feel strongly that the civil rights movement produced some of the most positive social advances in my lifetime thus far, and emphatically agree with Steele.

Yes, I feel the black community must move beyond grievance as the core of its political alignment.

This is a crucial moment for America, with pressing issues facing all of us--global warming, the cost of health care, an educational system declining against competitor nations, the erosion of civil liberties, a fundamental moment of economic transition that is leaving the middle class behind.

All of us need to address these challenges together as Americans. We are all in the same boat.

It seems to me, as others have already suggested here, that the title and publication timing of Mr. Steele's book completely compromises any possibility of neutrality or serious inquiry. It is a mask far worse than the one he claims to have shed and accuses Obama of wearing.

It’s important to learn of and possibly from other people’s experiences. What Shelby Steele shared was just that, his understanding and experiences. We are fortunate that Mr. Moyers lets his guests be heard if for no other reason than the opportunity to see the world as it is, complex and diverse.

I am sure what Shelby Steele suggests can be found to be accurate and inaccurate. Things are always left out when we try to put a wrapper around Reality. Clinging to and relying on such narrow classifications can only lead to contradiction, frustration and conflict.

Few notice the labels they embrace are just as troublesome as those given them. They just don’t see how extreme thinking and saying “I am” white, black, man, woman, straight, gay, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, some job title, or any other identity is. Each of us is far more complex than any identity ever created. How tightly these identities are embraced leads to rigid ways of feeling, thinking, and reacting and often results in misinterpretations, misunderstandings, inappropriate actions, and unnecessary conflict. Most organizations or groups are built around these narrow identities, and it’s easy to see that they influence their member’s behavior. Many live their lives within the confines of their chosen labels. The view from within those prisons makes seeing truth impossible and can result in treating people as lesser beings. If we don’t provide ourselves the freedom to see then our achievements will reflect our ignorance and arrogance.

It seems to me, as others have already suggested here, that the title and publication timing of Mr. Steele's book completely compromises any possibility of neutrality or serious inquiry. It is a mask far worse than the one he claims to have shed and accuses Obama of wearing.

I’d like to commend you on your program last week. I have been deeply disappointed in the campaign coverage that the media has provided, and it was truly refreshing to listen to Kathleen Hall Jamieson’s analysis and commentary on this subject. I really appreciated her unbiased discussion of both democratic and republican candidates and focus on the important issues of the campaign. I hope that she will continue to appear periodically on your program throughout this election year.
I was also very pleased to hear you interview with Shelby Steele. I share his skepticism with regard to Barak Obama and have been amazed at the eagerness of so many Americans to flock to support the campaign of a candidate with such a vague image and agenda. I am a well-educated (advanced degree) African-American female corporate executive, who came from impoverished beginnings. I credit my success in part to the opportunities opened up to black Americans by President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society”. While my political views tend more toward those of the Democratic Party, I pride myself on being an Independent. I have and will continue to vote for Republicans as well as Democrats who I believe represent the best candidates for the job. I resent the ongoing consideration of African-Americans as a mindless block of sheep, blindly following the Democratic Party; and who now faced with the choice of a black Democrat versus white ones, are only capable of concluding that the black candidate is the best because he is black. I am incensed every time I hear the media speak of “The Black Vote”! But like Mr. Steele, I am equally incensed by those African-Americans who seek to define me in their terms. It is due to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King and President Lyndon Johnson that African-Americans became “free at last” to define ourselves as individuals and to join the ranks of all Americans in ability to pursue and achieve their dreams. It is because of that legacy that African-Americans can abandon their former agenda of grievances.

Thank you for hosting Ms. Jamieson and Mr. Steele.

Dear Mr. Moyers,

Now that we've heard 35 minutes of Obama-bashing from Mr. Shelby Steele, when will you interview an Obama supporter to even the score? I believe you're a fair-minded person, but Steele's anaylsis of blacks as either challengers or bargainers was an oversimplication that lends itself to stereotyping and does no justice to human complexity. While Steel was erudite and eloquent, I sensed a hidden agenda and something ominous under that coat and tie. Although I am not an Obama supporter, I think you owe him equal time. Thank you.

What Steele missed is that "challengers" and "bargainers" belong to an earlier generation. What's fresh about Obama--among other things--is that he's ASSIMILATED. Like JFK was a sign that Catholics were for political purposes at last assimilated.

I am a white woman and experienced racism myself when I was with my cousins child whos father is black. It was a personal slight, and it made me really mad. After spending a great deal of time fuming over it, I realized that anything I could do, write letters, call people to complain, etc. wouldn't change anything. People are people, some are racist. Another thing I realized, I lost a lot of energy and suffered a lot of frustration thinking about what had happened. What good did it do to pay attention to someone I considered to be any ignorant person? It did me no good. I realized then that paying attention or looking for racism is more detrimental than racism itself. Because it causes a person to divert their attention from their own goals and aspirations and chase what amounts to irritating flies. That is probably the most insidious way that racism hurts - all it does is create impotent rage.Black people don't need the approval of white people to achieve their goals. They have the power to do it. To say that white people hold them down is a form of racism in itself.

Dear Mr. Moyers,

Practicing equality in a world divided by difference, is the solution to the unification of everything, the unity of One.

=
MJA

On my last post here I eneded by asking "Mr. Moyers, what are we talking about here!? Now, I know.

Campaigning for Senator Clinton, the day after the hit piece on Bill Moyer's Journal, in which Mr. Steele made his attack against Senator Obama, with Mr. Moyers serving as nothing more than a cheer leader at an idealogical train wreck,
said Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television:
“And to me, as an African-American, I am frankly insulted that the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues since Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood –­ and I won’t say what he was doing, but he said it in the book –­ when they have been involved.”
Moments later, he added: “That kind of campaign behavior does not resonate with me, for a guy who says, ‘I want to be a reasonable, likable, Sidney Poitier ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.’ And I’m thinking, I’m thinking to myself, this ain’t a movie, Sidney. This is real life.”
And then, from no less than Fmr. President Clinton on the Obama campaign: "It's just a fairytale."

I'm quite clear now on what is happening here and elsewhere in the traditional liberal establishment. People like Bill Moyers (who worked for Lyndon Johnson) are crapping their pants at the prospect of a new liberalism; a movement that is not looking for its answers in the hand of government. The Clinton campaigns, in an exquisite ability to triangulate in close quarters (I speak of both of the Bill campaigns of the past as well as the present Hillary capaign) raised the issue of Obama drug use earlier on. It was a warning to Senator Obama. Now the warning comes from a Clinton toady black American billionaire. Oh, let's be scared.

Or, let's be on guard. The Clintons can't even entertain the notion of not being in power, so they seek to intimidate the one man who stands in their way, by any means available to them. They'll paint Senator Obama as a drug user and anything else with which they need to defame him as long as they come out the winners. They know they can't win a real debate because all of their "solutions" are from a past that is long gone, way over on the other side of 9/11, which Bill Clinton, in his degenerate pursuits and inattention to the security issues of the nation, helped to bring on.

I have one final question in all of this: Mr. Moyers, have you sold out to these Clintons, the last best hope for all of you patrons of the welfare state, or are you just renting out?

I am a non-African-American child of the 1960's. My school in Southeast Georgia first integrated when I entered the second grade, so I grew up with African American friends, Latino friends, Asian friends. Listening to Shelby Steele made me uncomfortable at first. The interview invoked long forgotten and deep seeded feelings left over from the intensity and upheaval of the 1960's. How ironic, and sad, that the Clinton and Obama campaigns have just now managed to conjured up a classic "race bait" moment in what should be a joyous occasion. I wanted to escape the bad feelings and so I watched the 1988 interview with E. L. Doctorow. Right in the middle of the interview Doctorow says, "…the politician, usually to get elected, has to appeal to prejudices, symbols, biases, fears, all of the ways we have of not thinking…"

Thanks for your post Viticia Thames, it was the challenge I needed to put Steele in the proper perspective.

I still believe that some of Steele's points, though simplistic and generalized, may be valid in discussing the campaign of Obama. What Obama is doing is far different from Jesse Jackson's campaigning and it seems to be working, perhaps because of some of the points made by Steele, the country is made of people of many generations, not just yours, and Obama needs a strategy to reach all demographics. Your post though has put a more human and optimistic perspective on these issues, it was great, gives me hope.

All:

Well... I have been reading this extremely lengthy commentary on Moyers interview with Shelby Steele for the past hour. I caught most of the interview when it aired on PBS, and have watched it again twice on my computer. Here are some of my observations:

1) There are some truly lengthy and well thoughtout responces on here. I'm not stating that they are correct or incorrect, but just truly heartfelt and thoughtful.

2) I read an early post stating how the one of the goals on PBS is to be impartial. I note also that 90% of the comments about Steele are negative. This confirms for me what I have always believed, that PBS is not impartial, but liberal. How else can you explain the utter disregard for one of America's few conservative blacks. (I would love it if someone could confirm this by telling me that I'm just a simpleton and that I dont understand the complexities of the issue).

3) The vast majority of negative comments on here can readily be answered / explained by an objective reading of the transcript or rewatching the video.

4) The only comment of value that I have read are the ones that ask, 'why didnt moyers ask steele if he is a bargainer or challenger??' I think this is a valid question, but again, I think it can be answered by watching the video. I believe that if Moyers had asked this question, Steele would have said something along the lines of... I'm neither. I dont have to be one or the other. I am an individual, who started in academics, became exausted with the constant pressure from both blacks and whites to be a 'challenger' and decided to go my own direction. I am happy just being me... I am the master of my fate... theres nothing more to it than that.

Lastly... as a proud Conservative and Captain in the Army, working on my second command, I will continue to emphasize to my soldiers that there are at least two things that are irrelevant about people: their race and talent. Those two things you are just born with... you didnt earn them or deserve them. All that matters is what you do from here... do you work to become the best American you can be? Do you work to be the best person you can be? What have you done with the talent you've been blessed with? Desire and determination are far more important... life is not about your race or talent, its not about where you are... only where you're going.

Respectfully,

S.

sgerber21@hotmail.com

This guy has scars from the 60s that pervade his perception of reality, and I find that very saddening. The Black identity is much more diffuse in integrated America than it was in segregated America, the America he grew up in. In his own words he has been traumatized by the past of racism in this country - the kind that Obama and myself never knew. For him then to be looked at as an authority on our Black experience in integrated America is beyond disbelief.

I found myself at several points in this interview wanting to ask questions, questions that Bill Moyers simply didn't have the experience or vicarious experience to ask. I am the daughter of a religious-right, fundamentalist Republican who is African American. But as I say to you, and I say to my father, and I will say to America, "Blackness in integrated America is not the Blackness you knew as a child in the 60s, nor is it a Blackness you can comprehend from that frame. To understand our Black experience you will need to listen without presumption of authority and without boxes or categories to put us in. But it is clear that the scars of what you went through in the 60s and 70s are so deep that communication across this generational divide - the divide between those who grew up with whites as peers rather than oppressors - may sadly never understand. It's the kind of generational gap that makes for painful labels from a frame that no longer has relevance to our experience keeping understanding between us unattainable."

To hear, "you are a bargainer because you give white people the benefit of the doubt" is preposterous. We grew up with white people, why wouldn't we give them the benefit of the doubt? That benefit of the doubt doesn't make us invisible, it makes us human.

I can hear his perspective and see grains of truth, but the perversion of the present through the lens of the 60s should be admonished at best.

Thank you Mr. Moyers for the debate the interview spawned. I will vote for Mrs. Clinton not because Mr. Obama is a "barginer or challenger" but because I don't feel he could command the Congress. He needs eight years in the senate then he most likely will be grounded for a run at the presidency. To the commenter who said Mr. Obama is the first black to try for president, please check history. Rep. Shirley Chisholm, Brooklyn, NY and Rev. Jesse Jackson also sought the office. We don't need a black, white, Hispanic or Asian, we need the best leader possible to lead us over the next eight years.

Sorry, I couldn't sympathize with Mr. Steele. The whole notion of black "power" coming from a pre-judgement of racism on whites is ridiculous. As a woman, should I judge every man as a rapist until he proves himself differently? I could, but can't imagine how isolated my life would be if I did so. If you want to create distance, divides, and inequalities-I see how this type of mindset keeps that going. Thankfully, I believe this is an older generational mindset that is evolving into something better, which is change.

But props to Bill Moyer for having this type of discussion. Although it left me feeling conflicted to Mr. Steele's message-I found myself thinking about this interview for days afterward. Maybe that's a sign that we aren't talking about this enough, or the right way.

Thanks!

I’m a regular viewer of Bill Moyers's Journal and I usually find the discussions to be quite critical and insightful. But, like many other viewers, I was disappointed by the discussion of race and politics with Shelby Steele. I felt that Steele drew on old-fashioned essentialist notions of racial identity to suggest that Barack Obama isn't a viable candidate. It seems to me that Steele's argument is based on a false dichotomy: Barack can appeal to White voters but in doing so Black voters will reject him as “not Black enough,” or, he can appeal to Black voters but in doing so White voters will reject him for being “too Black.” My sense is that the majority of younger people in the U.S. no longer think in the either/or terms of previous generations and that we are quite capable of taking people on their own terms. This is not to say that I am naive about the deep-seated, historically racist tendencies in our society; it is to say that I think most young people in this era of "multiculturalism" (that loaded word) think in relational terms, realizing that particular facets of our identities are revealed in different situations and contexts. The flaw with essentialist notions of identity, like the ones used by Steele, is the assumption that we are “authentic” only when we remain the same across space, time, and situation. But in practice, different aspects of our identities are manifest in our relations with family, while others are visible in interactions at work, while still other features of who we are come out in our interactions with friends from other social and cultural groups. So, I disagree with Steele in that I think it is Obama’s great strength, and not his liability, that he is able to meaningfully relate to people from diverse backgrounds. And this broad appeal across boundaries of race--based on common principles of progressive political change--is the bet that many of us are making with our support for Barack Obama.

Also, I found yesterday’s discussion—on Democracy Now—of the dynamics of race and gender particularly interesting:
"Race and Gender in Presidential Politics: A Debate Between Gloria Steinem and Melissa Harris-Lacewell"
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/14/race_and_gender_in_presidential_politics

Hey shelby, i dont like your perspective on things i think i have a better perspective on african americans and their rank in power so come to my page and check it out at myspace.com/gunotboy

How about a debate between Melissa Harris-Lacewell and Shelby Steele?

I like what Mr. Steele has to say. I can not understand why so many people think one man with little inside experience can convince two houses of congress to follow him and change what they have established. His is not Joe Clark and this is not the movie "Stand By Me". Change for the sake of doing something different is not wise. Maybe this slogan means that America should change from Anglo Saxton males as leaders and abstain from choosing the best person for the job? Is this some folks opportunity to enact affirmative action? Is this the result of years of not keeping score in little league and soccer. In turn, everyone is a winner, everyone gets a chance to play, and we are all the same. If this is the motivation of Obamas' following, may God help us all.

Shelby Steele assumes that the world exists exactly as he sees it, viewed through the myopic lens of his racial experience. Shelby Steele is of a different generation than Obama; his identity is colored solely by the Black American experience. There are many other Black experiences. I am a Black West Indian born and raised on the island of St. Thomas to Kittician parents. This makes me, like Obama, a first generation African American. My parents moved their family from St. Kitts to St. Thomas in the hopes of making a better life for their children. Growing up in St. Thomas I was able to see Black people in every possible position of authority. I saw people of color use their authority to empower. I also able to see people of color abuse their power and oppress the powerless.

Having come from this experience gives one a completely different view of America and her possibilities. This is why people of color tend to prosper when they come to this country. They come here having bought into the promise of the American dream. It is often harder for Black Americans, based on their oppression at America’s hands, to buy into this dream.

Steele also made an issue of Obama not crediting his mother for his development. Steele credits this to Obama’s supposed desire to distant himself from his white mother. In many of my discussions with friends about my own development the conversation most often centers around the impact of society on the individual. Simply because I have experienced two different societies first hand. Therefore I can pretty readily contrast and compare these two societies. I do not have any experience being raised by any other mother than my own Black West Indian mother. Eventually some of the conversations may come down to the impact of my mother on my development but it's not the norm. But anyone who knows me knows through my actions and bearingof the extreme reverence that I hold for my mother.

So in assessing Obama’s personality and motivations it may do well for Mr. Steele to take into account other variables outside of his own experience.

Ian

It's getting a little silly. There are so many people who are completely misunderstanding Steele's argument. I have already come out about my own anti-conservative bias on earlier posts. But I am writing to defend Steele on just a couple of points that people keep mistaking here.

First, a note about our esteemed host. Don't give up on our local treasure, my fellow commentators. Think of the alternatives. What a relief to see that it's not just Limbaugh, Imus, and horrors like Norman Podhoretz on the one hand and Bill O'reilly on the other.

To be fair, Moyers did hint at a kind of skepticism: he indicated his surprise at Steele's vigorous disenchantment with Obama, but it would have been indecorous to attack him. I do agree that he could have asked more probing questions about whether Steele himself was a bargainer or a challenger. The answer it seems to me was performed very clearly in the interview. Barack is not a challenger. Steele is a challenger in so far as he mounts a challenge on the fronts of race and class, for instance. Isn't that the whole point of criticizing Obama? TO CHALLENGE his namby-pamby appeasement and bargainer persona, so much to the taste of those who prefer not to have to face uncomfortable truths? This point, that Moyers did not ask this question of whether Steele was a bargainer or challenger, is hardly a devastating criticism of the interview. But it is the most devastating criticism I have read, so I acknowledge it.

1. As for Steele, he may be a little too conservative for my taste but he certainly is not a self-hater. NOTHING, NOTHING he said suggests that he is self-hating. He says he is proud to be a black man, and while he does feel that he has often been shortchanged, it's not because he hates himself but because HISTORICALLY black people have been victimized. This has to be distinguished from the kind of low self esteem some of the goody-two-shoes arguments here see in Steele.
2. Steele is far from contradictory. NOTHING he says is contradictory. It just doesn't seem to fit the rosy Cassandra view of politics adopted by those people who here attack Steele and defend Obama. Elementary logic would clear up any allegations of this sort leveled against him.

3. Connie: If--IF-- you are naive (and I don't think you are, really--people who apply this label ironically to themselves usually are not naive), it's not because you
"like[ Obama]because he is an intelligent, thoughtful, dynamic man that would make a great leader." It's not because "Race and racism had not crossed my mind." Indeed everyone recognizes that he is intelligent, thoughtful and dynamic. That is STEELE'S POINT OF DEPARTURE, if you review the interview. And it's not that race and racism have no place in politics. Rather, many people want to delude themselves or persuade themselves that "color blind" policy is the way to go. That's really the fallacy. To underscore the racism of American society is simply to see what's there. And to want Obama to confront the hypocrisy and lies of an administration whose gods are Money, Oil, War, Greed, Fear and Profiteering is not to desire a politics of division. It is to want the opposite of a politics of appeasement, pandering, "bargaining." Before we can have reconciliation, we have to have truth laid bare. Some people, Connie, don't want that truth about race, hypocrisy, greed, money, oil, the military-industrial complex, to be brought to light, because then they might have to be held accountable. THAT is what the business about letting certain people off the hook is about.

Please, get the Steele argument in its subtlety (and again, I am generally HIGHLY suspicious of people like Steele) before you treat us to your limp sarcasm.

Thanks.

Samir

I watched the entire interview with Mr Steele. I found him to be very objective, interesting as well as insightful. I found his views regarding the "Challenger, Bargainer" theory to be enlightening. I have had several close African American friends that have espoused both such viewpoints. I may even be better able to summerize my own fragmented views on the subject of our U.S. culture. Additionally, in my humble opinion, given the freedoms we are still afforded in this country, the individual, with the help of our Creator, has the gift and even the responsibility to exercise these unalienable rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. The "collectives" throughout the history of man have only gone so far. They can also hurt the One, by removing the free agency that is given each one, thereby removing the one thing each individual should safeguard the most, Free... (dom), (thought), (agency), (speech), (will). It is the individual, that can be lead to greatness. Right or wrong, the Collective can only follow the individual.

Mr. Moyers, as a Black man, and fellow Texan, this is the first time I have been disappointed in your selection of guest or topic. As a journalist I feel that yours has been a voice of reason and scrutiny in a wilderness of deceit and "spin".

There is so much that is contemptible, wrong, and objectionable about Mr. Steele's thesis, and "so called" scholarly conclusions regarding blacks and our collective need to require that our leaders show signs of moral depravity and achieve a level of acceptance from the "white" community, before we as a group find them acceptable.

Additionally, this supposed "blame game" which Mr. Steele claims that blacks as a group, play on whites through some miraculous method of holding the conscious of the white community hostage to their feelings of guilt over the past treatment of blacks amounts to nothing less than "voodoo" sociology. To assume that this assertion were true would rob blacks of the credit for persistently, and conscientiously navigating the precarious and dangerous waters of racial prejudice which existed prior to the civil rights movement and which still persist. It would also relegate the important role that whites have played in rectifying the wrongs which have historically been perpetrated against blacks to nothing more than a game of "deal - no deal".

I submit to you that Mr. Steele's comments are more representative of an unfortunate anomaly which continues to plague the black community, that of a light skinned, straight haired black who assumes an elitist and paternalistically superior position relative to the collective thoughts and actions of black people.

A fact that to often is overlooked regarding African Americans is that our actions cannot be correctly analyzed outside of the primary consideration, that we are Americans. Our actions both positive and negative reflect the fact that as Americans we share the common aspirations, hopes and dreams which are commensurate with our American heritage, and many of our responses to the reality of our lives here can easily be explained in the context of a people frustrated by oppression and the denial of access which is afforded to other groups.

At a minimum, I am hopeful that any future interviews with Mr. Steele or considerations of his rantings, will be tempered with input by someone who will present alternate factual material which is representative of the Black perspective, and not simply a means to sell a book and exorcize one's personal demons.

P.S. I would love to have a shot at him.

The reality of what we are seeing is more about generations than about race. When you listen to people over the age of fifty they talk about race and experience. When you listen to people forty and youngerthey talk about change and who they like the best. People don't like Obama because he's black; they like him because he seems to be the closest to change. When you take a conservative and have him talk about how he is not defined by being black, you really going back a long way. If he doesn't define himself by it, why does he write books about it and talk about it. Most of the people I talk to don't care if the next president is black or a woman or green, they want someone who inspires.

Okay, I’m white and I am an Obama supporter. And I am so naïve. I just did not realize until I watched Bill Moyers interview with Shelby Steele that the real reasons I like Barack so much are because:

-he’s an invisible man, a projection screen – he will never tell me what he actually thinks and feels;
-I want to see a black leading a largely white country so, as a white American, I can feel redeemed and can move away from my shameful racist past;
-he (representing black America) will let me (representing white America) off the hook;

-he is giving me the benefit of the doubt, by presuming I’m not racist, and

-as a white American I love him because he’s a black who's not angry.

I feel so enlightened. Here I thought I liked him because he is an intelligent, thoughtful, dynamic man that would make a great leader. Race and racism had not crossed my mind. Thank you Mr. Steele for making me aware of the real issues of this campaign!

Most people did not pick their parents. So why would a person be judged by who their parents are? Each person should be judged by who they individually are.

I enjoyed the interview with Steele very much. It was one of the more thought provoking programs I’ve seen in a long time. I came to this blog to try to find a good analysis but it’s mostly a dismissal of Steele and all of his views. I’m very much to the left politically and I’m sure I would disagree with Steele on many issues if I looked further but much of what he had to say in the interview, though simplistic, seemed to ring true. More importantly his analysis didn’t seem to be a negative criticism of Obama or Oprah or anyone else; it was simply an analysis of our culture and the complicated issue of black/white race relations.

Every single black person I know has said at some point over the last year that they don’t believe this country will elect a black president, all of these people have more liberal politics, it seems that Steele is saying the same thing but has given an interesting analysis as to why he believes that’s true. I do disagree strongly that these people may have a desire to see themselves as victims and that Obama may be a threat for this reason; I believe it’s an understandable and realistic attitude considering the divisive and hateful politics that continue to win elections in this country. I’m a gay man and I know damn well we will never see an openly GLBT person in the White House in this century, and that belief has nothing to do with my ‘victimhood’.

What I did learn from the interview is that perhaps my desire to see Obama win may be a desire to see us overcome our racism, to show the world that we are an inclusive society. Of all the candidates with a chance at the nomination, Edwards has more to say about issues that matter to me personally but I would love to see 2008 be the year that we elect the first person who is not a white, Christian, heterosexual male. This would not be a superficial, meaningless event, I believe it could empower many people and in time it could help to change the face of Congress, making it a reflection of the true diversity in this great country. If Obama’s strategy is working, more power to him, all is fair in politics. The first woman and the first African American to have a real chance at the presidency is a truly exciting prospect, and I still have hope that Steele and others are wrong.

I'm mixed race and this interview infuriated me beyond words. It was hard to witness such a backwards discussion on race taking place on one of my truly favorite shows.

I watch the journal religiously; sometimes what I hear makes me happy, or sad or mad but whatever it is I can expect critical thought and debate to be at the heart of the discussion.

This was not the case with Mr. Steels interview. I felt as though I was witnessing a therapy session for a self-hating mixed man with an Alan Keys complex, and I could not understand why Mr. Moyers (in my opinion one of the true heroes of world journalism) was not playing the part of his therapist but rather his pusher.

Oppression is hard to take in whatever form it manifests, but it is most heartbreaking when you see someone oppress themselves. The 'one drop rule' stands as a testament to the idiocy of racial pigeonholing. If the 'one drop rule' worked during the slave trade and worked during Jim Crow then why is it still being used today by those (Mr. Steel) whom it was directly designed to enslave, and why on Bill Moyers Journal of all places!?

It was beyond pitiful to see Mr. Steel impose the 'one drop rule' on him self, when just moments before he described his own victimization at the hands of this same system during his childhood in the south. It was, however, just plain insulting to have him then turn around and try to apply it to a fellow mixed race person like Obama; Someone who may help this country get over just a bit of it's racial hangups by simply being part of the discussion. I felt like yelling at the TV "oppress yourself but hands off me and the rest of the multiracial world that doesn't need to use colored name tags to define ourselves"! Why must the fact that people (mixed or not) who have a choice to use different dialects, accents, languages and cultural cues, be indicative of some system of duplicitous "masks" at work.

I have ancestry on five continents but my BA from UCLA and the fact that I can speak with King's English does not mean that I'm somehow putting on a "mask" over the real me when I speak Ebonics with my brother, Pidgin English with my dad, French with my uncle, or Spanish with my nephew.

If Obama wants to use his ability to operate from any number of cultural milieus to better relate to his audiences, then it is his prerogative as a politician, he'd be foolish if he didn't, and i think it's just plain inspiring. At the very least, he should be able to do so without being called some sort of tricky shapeshifter who has "given up his blackness" on Bill Moyers Jounal! I'm sorry but f*** that! This is just too backwards for anything less.

Our world would benefit greatly if more world leaders gave up their "whatever-ness" and could genuinely speak to people from other countries in ways they would better understand.

Steel's noble visage is an exemplar of the wonderful things that racial intermixing can produce. If you squint at Steel during the interview, he could pass for anything from Italian to Persian, Philipino to darn near anything. As an educated and charismatic personality he could be such a force for change. Instead, he appears to be a MAL-function of his formative troubled era in race relations, preaching the centuries old tired dichotomy of 'black or white, pick one'

"I am black and happy to be so" says Steel. If the equal amounts of Caucasian blood in his veins are so easily discounted by him now, I would love to hear what the 1/2 of his ancestors who were 'white' would say about it. If he wishes to categorize his 'race' by what is truly a 19th century system of economic dualism, then I wonder if his assertion of absolute racial unambiguity would come so easily to him if he found himself on a 19th century auction block that only traded in 'blacks'. If it were me on that auction block, given the chance, I would, as now, be arguing that "I don't have a race, thank you very much!" It probably wouldn't save me, but at least I wouldn't be selling MY SELF down the river.

Mr. Steele makes no sense. I found this mischaracterization of African Americans that have fought for civil rights disturbing. Just because he has never had the courage to challenge white supremacy doesn't give him license to label those who have as grievance holders. This notion that blacks need to affirm some sense of black power is proposterous. I speak as a black man, and I'am offended at his assertion that blacks hold whites in contempt and refuse to give them the benefit of the doubt. How does he arrive at this conclusion? He's dillusioned in my opinion and gives and inaccurate dipiction of black perception on race. Are blacks sometime suspicious? Maybe at some unexplainable experience, but to hold all whites at all times in contempt is asinine. Maybe this explains why his sensibility on race is shared by only 8% of African Americans. This would also explain why he would never admit that race still permeates our society and would never speak out on racial injustice. He's a hired gun who's uncomfortable with who he is.

In regard to Barack Obama. Why does he characterize this man in this fashion? Obama can't have a true concern for bringing people together? Why does he have to choose between one of the two races. Why can't he play to both black and white when both races are experiencing the same issues in this economy. Last time I check jobs where leaving America, not black America or white America. This is pure race baiting. I believe Obama speaks to all races, and has come to understand that our problems and aspirations are not so different. Obama seeks to truly bring all Americans together along commom interest. This idea that Obama is politicing and pandering is ridiculus. I feel that maybe he's jealous that Obama having the same racial make-up, has been able to transcend race, and relish the experience of being bi-racial. Whereas Steele has had to choose which identity would he affirm. The bottom line is bringing people together and if Obama has the skill and charisma to articulate this message to all Americans, who is Shelby Steele to question his methodolgy?

The fact that black voters are ninety to ninety-five percent Democrat voting block lets off the hook politicians on fulfilling promises. Republicans correctly ignore time and effort in a hopeless direction. This lack of competition means blacks get stiffed every election cycle. Why not do a piece on how this lack of competition harms the voice of millions of black voters? I bet Mr. Shelby Steele has profound logic on the subject.

Dear Mr. Moyers, Your handling of the Shelby Steele interview was so beautiful so sensitive I could hardly believe the drama that was unfolding. By honestly listening to Mr. Steele, by your probing questions, you brought to the small screen more truth than any of Steele’s contentious framing of Barack Obama would suggest. When Shelby began to speak of his youth and his upbringing in the black community as a mixed-race young man hatred, bitterness and hurt began to rise in his voice. Unconsciously he revealed why he and others such as Clarence Thomas bare such enmity toward those who were able to escape their pain. Despite his contentions otherwise his own words tells us exactly why he is impelled to take his revenge on what he terms “bargainers” through the only weapon he knows, his scholastic mask.

We are used to being told exactly what to see and think, I would imagine that few of your viewers realized the revealing dance that was going on and that you felt it neither necessary nor appropriate to point it out. Bravo for another great interview.

There is an easy solution to Steele's fear of being called "not black." Just call himself "white" and the blacks will be overjoyed to call him "black."

It is folly for people with half or more European ancestry to call themselves "black." Compare Obama and Stelle with the late, demonized Anatole Broyard. Our media praise Obama for rejecting his white family and deliberately seeking out blacks and creating a black identity for himself. Broyard is accused of "abandoning" a "black" family that was in fact a predominately European Creole family that despised blacks. He is demonized for creating a white identity for himself. His self-respect and refusal to accept the "one drop" myth is denounced by jealous blacks as "self-hatred." He only did what Obama did, but Obama is praised for abandoning "white" for "black."

Obama is the opposite of the "Imitation of Life" heroine. She has a white phenotype and rejects a black mother for a white racial community in which she can blend in, be comfortable, and be herself. Obama rejects his white family and seeks a community with the same phenotype. The Imitation of Life" heroine is demonized and Obama is praised. Why? Is it because the mixed-white heroine is a sacrifice to the guilt of liberal whites and jealous blacks who secretly believe that white blood is needed to improve the "inferior" black stock and must be prevented from escaping the black prison?

Also, can Steele explain why the dreaded "black blood" in Hispanics and Arab-Americans is ignored if a "one drop rule" is truly universal?

We should be encouraging mixed-whites and mulattoes to be white, not black, and stop demonizing the brave souls like Broyard who claim what is rightfully theirs.

Here is a quote from an article about Jews in the New York Times. You blacks would do well to heed it:

“You cannot be who you are simply as a reaction to someone’s hate... “When they hate you, it’s really easy to know who you are. You’re the person they hate. When they actually don’t hate you, you have to decide who you are.”

Obama has no more resposiblity to address the concerns of "black" people than any other candidate. He is not a decendant of slaves. He would be a hypocrite if he tried to represent that he understands the "black experience." I am a Female Jamaican Independent who has been here in NYC for 38 of my 48 years and I still don't get why we are "black" and other people are "white."
Science has long since thrown out racial classifications, when will America catch up? I am an American citizen for 30 years and I will vote for Obama first and McCain second despite all the racism and sexism I have encountered. I want all American children to know that hard work, determination and hope are all worthwhile pursuits.

In the interest of fairness Bill Moyers should now interview other scholars or Obama himself to get a different
perspective. I can't believe that Bill Moyers actually said Obama has "rejected his blackness" in a way that Steele hasn't.

Steele is trying to pigeonhole Obama in a way that fits his theory for his book but is not based in reality. He says Obama is an invisible man, a projection screen, and is keeping his convictions concealed. He's a bargainer trying to remain as invisible as possible.

In my eyes, it really doesn't take much research to learn more about Obama's ideas about race. He's on record supporting affirmative action in college admissions and public employment. He worked as a civil rights lawyer and as
a community organizer in south Chicago. All this would be classified by Steele as a "challenger" advocating "racial preference that conflicts with equality under the law" and as obeying "Black Nationalism" (Steele's term). This is anything but "rejecting blackness" as Steele claimed.

Steele also complained that Obama is not crediting "values" for his success (his mother's guidance, emphasis on diligence, etc). But Obama is on record many times talking about personal values and how much they matter. For
example, "Go into any inner-city neighborhood," Barack Obama said in his
keynote address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, "and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach kids to learn. They know that parents have to parent, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white."

As scholars such as Henry Louis Gates Jr. quotes: "Mr. Obama shows how to get the balance right. We've got to create as many opportunities as we can for the worst-off - and make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life. But values matter, too. We can't talk about the choices people have without talking about the choices people make".

Gates and his cohorts don't create the either/or dichotomy that Steele does (it's either "values" or "supposed black nationalism" ). I believe that Steele, Thomas Sewell, Clarence Thomas and their ilk , etc. go too far and throw the baby out with the bath water regarding mutual social responsibility or any policy that advocates anything other than extreme "individualism".

Congratulations Obama!!
"...BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY." Malcolm X

It is Sunday evening and I am still thinking about Bill Moyer’s “conversation” with Shelby Steele. It was dismal. We are in the midst of a political campaign and Moyers invites a well-known, divisive conservative to do a hatchet job on one of the contenders. No one was invited to defend the candidate. No other candidates were discussed.
The attack was particularly insidious as the candidate’s very “person,” rather than his program, was questioned. Moyers, seemingly seduced, challenged nothing.
Regardless of what one may think about Obama (or Steele, for that matter), there’s no defense for such partisan programming—without any rebuttal—during a political campaign, It’s a far cry from the stated PBS mission:
“By guaranteeing our programs treat complex social issues with journalistic integrity and compassion, our audiences know they can rely on us to provide accurate, impartial information.”

Mr. Moyers, I have always been a huge fan of your work but I must admit that I was so irritated by last Friday night's show involving the 'miraculous comeback' of Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire over Barack Obama I had to turn off the show.

Instead of pontificating on what caused Hillary's comeback in NH, why didn't you discuss the obvious ELECTION FRAUD that has taken place there? If any show had the courage to approach this subject, I would hope that it would be yours.

Please visit www.blackboxvoting.org to find out more regarding the obvious voting irregularities that occurred in districts that used the Diebold electronic voting machines. Not only favoring Clinton over Obama but discounting the votes for Rep. Ron Paul as well.

The American people deserve much better!

Mr. Steele's reasoning explains exactly what I feel in my interactions with or observations of black and white. I have always puzzled over why a black won't permit me to be friendly with and accept him, but Mr. Steele has shown me why. He has also made clear why Obama lacks specifics in his campaigning, which makes me leery of him, yet understanding of the box he is in.

Also, on the Journal, Moyers is acting as an interviewer, whose job is to draw out the guest. He is not an investigative journalist by the time the program hits the air; therefore, it would be incorrect to agitate and be confrontational. The guest is there to present his views.

As an aside, why are so many beating up on Senator Clinton? I submit it is because they have been taught over the years to hate her. It is certainly all right in a political campaign for her to draw comparisons between Obama and herself. Everything I have heard in this regard has been within the bounds of decency and what is considered accuracy in this context.

Thanks for helping me understand so much more than I did before your program.

Shelby Steele

I believe Shelby really believes in what he’s saying. But, black people do not hold racism over whites heads. We bring it to their attention, because they continue to ignore it. The issue of getting past it won’t happen until someone apologies for their racist policies. You recently had Bishop Desmond Tutu as a guest. The only way South Africa was able to reconcile and not fall into civil war was for the reconciliation hearings. The reconciliation hearings required the oppressors/perpetrators to acknowledge their crimes against the oppressed. This has not been the case in America. Whenever the term affirmative action or, "God forbid", reparations is even uttered, white America gets uptight [resentful] and find a minority of the minorities, like Shelby Steele, to speak out and tell the black community to "get over it." (Minority of minorities means Blacks represent 12% to 18% of the American Society and only one percent of them are conservatives. Do the math). Mr. Steele refers to the black literary and musical arts as a great source of pride for him. Does he not realize that these highly respected forms of expression are as a result of the pain due to the racism that he wants us to just get over? Please -! I respect Bill Moyers. I believe he is one of the few white men in America that has faced his demons of white supremacy and challenged himself and the country with the work he does on PBS. Because of this we have the same enemies. So the enemy of my enemy is my friend. This makes Bill Moyers a friend. In a society that suffers from short-term memory we don’t realize how recent blacks achieved legal equality in this country. I wrote this letter to my father’s generation whom I call the civil rights generation.

Open letter to the Civil Rights Generation

I like Barrack Obama was born in 1961. I was a child during the 60’s and spoke to my Grandparents who where Jim Crowed and my parents that were segregated and my brothers and sisters that are criminalized and imprisoned. It is time for a new day in Black leadership in this country. Although I love, admire and respect the black candidates of the past like Shirley Chisom, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and even Dick Gregory. I want to ask this question? Where were you when the first African American Man was in a real position to win the most powerful office in the land?

Many forget that when Martin Luther King was alive many of you stayed home while your children marched in the streets. When Malcolm X was alive you worried about his religion and did not support him. What will you say to your grandchildren when they ask you about your support for the First Real Black President? Will you have to duck the question or even lie? Or will you tell them that you knocked on doors and campaigned with all the influence you could muster and helped change the Willie Lynch dynamic that has crushed out people for over 300 plus years.

I have no illusions that Barrack is the answer to all that ails us. But we have had 43 White men walk all over us or ignore us and even enslave us. I think it is time that we stand up, show up or shut up.

I hope this letter is received in love and respect the spirit it was written in.
Frederick V. Nielsen, II
Photographer
featherrock@gmail.com

As always, interesting show. I listened to your interview with Shelby Steele twice. Mr. Steele hit the nail on the head in terms of how it feels to be jammed into an identity that doesn't fit. The interview gives us all a lot to think about. Thanks

Mr Steele's comments seemed to be confined to his own myopia of black/white. Obama's popularity is strictly a "deal" between blacks and whites?
Does he know that the U.S. also has people of other origins in it? Did he research what is Obama's dynamic with any other, "non-historically- slave-owning" group? Is there a "deal" there too? What is it?
I would agree, though, that the specifics of what Obama will do is vague - but that is true of ALL the candidates to date - Dem AND Repub.
Sound-bytes mostly - but that's all the debate format allows. The structure itself precludes any discussion of value.

I have just one thing to say on this: Shelby Steele seems to forget what so many others do--that Barack Obama is as much white as he is black. Mr. Steele's comments seem underlined w/racism. Barack is trying to be color-blind in a racially divided world. And the negative subtitle of Steele's book, ". . . and why he can't win" is depressing.
Again, I will say it, Barack Obama is one-half white and one-half black. I'm sure he's had to do much soul-searching around this fact and that it has been a struggle for