mickeyd
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I recently read a little book entitled A Bound Man by Shelby Steele. It is an interesting read about Barack Obama mostly, but also is about black culture in the USA. Here is a couple of notes that I took:
At one point in the book the author talks about blacks in the USA being separated into two different categories~ Bargainers and Challenges.
"When bargainers in any walk of life seek success in the American mainstream, they make a very specific deal with whites: I will not use America’s horrible history of white raceism against you, if you will promise not to use my race against me. Bargainers grant whites the innocence and moral authority they need in return for their goodwill and generosity." (Example: Bill Cosby (Cliff Huxstable), Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama)
"When challengers reach for success and power in the American mainstream, they never give whites the benefit of the doubt. Quite the opposite, they use their moral authority as blacks to stigmatize whites as born racists. Challengers presume whites to be guilty of racism in the same way that bargainers presume them to be innocent- as a strategic manipulation. Challengers put all whites in the position of having to chase after their racial innocence. The challenger’s code: whites are incorrigibly racist until they do something to prove otherwise." (Example: Al Sharpton, Huey Newton, Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This got me to thinking and asking myself if there are any more hidden categories within other ethnic communities. Any Italian secret codes? Any secret Irish pledges? How about the Cajuns? They gotta have some kind of code working for them.
Has anyone else read this book? Your impressions of it?
At one point in the book the author talks about blacks in the USA being separated into two different categories~ Bargainers and Challenges.
"When bargainers in any walk of life seek success in the American mainstream, they make a very specific deal with whites: I will not use America’s horrible history of white raceism against you, if you will promise not to use my race against me. Bargainers grant whites the innocence and moral authority they need in return for their goodwill and generosity." (Example: Bill Cosby (Cliff Huxstable), Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama)
"When challengers reach for success and power in the American mainstream, they never give whites the benefit of the doubt. Quite the opposite, they use their moral authority as blacks to stigmatize whites as born racists. Challengers presume whites to be guilty of racism in the same way that bargainers presume them to be innocent- as a strategic manipulation. Challengers put all whites in the position of having to chase after their racial innocence. The challenger’s code: whites are incorrigibly racist until they do something to prove otherwise." (Example: Al Sharpton, Huey Newton, Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This got me to thinking and asking myself if there are any more hidden categories within other ethnic communities. Any Italian secret codes? Any secret Irish pledges? How about the Cajuns? They gotta have some kind of code working for them.
Has anyone else read this book? Your impressions of it?
Last edited: