To this day it is all but impossible for me to actually stop and think of my parents as white and black or to think of myself, therefore, as half and half.
Shelby SteeleRead
Blacks have experienced a history of victimization in America, beginning obviously in slavery and then another 100 years of segregation. I grew up in segregation. I know very well what it was about and all of the difficulties it placed on black life, and how we were truly held down before the civil-rights movement.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the historical victimization of Black Americans, emphasizing the impact of slavery and segregation.
In this quote, Shelby Steele sheds light on the long-standing challenges faced by Black individuals in America, tracing their struggles back to the era of slavery and through a century of segregation that followed. He emphasizes the pervasive difficulties that these historical injustices imposed on Black life, underlining how these experiences shaped the civil rights movement and the quest for equality and justice.
Themes
VictimizationSlaverySegregationBlack HistoryCivil Rights
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about racial inequality, you might quote this to emphasize the historical struggles of Black Americans.
More from Shelby Steele
All quotes →Through protest - especially in the 1950s and '60s - we, as a people, touched greatness. Protest, not immigration, was our way into the American Dream. Freedom in this country had always been relative to race, and it was black protest that made freedom an absolute.
Shelby SteeleRead
Well, protest is central to the evolution of black American culture. It was protest that really finally won our freedom for us. Beyond that, it's always interesting to note that it expanded the idea of democracy.
Shelby SteeleRead
The 'safe spaces' for minority students on university campuses are actually redemptive spaces for white students and administrators looking for innocence and empowerment.
Shelby SteeleRead
The evil of slavery and colonialism was that these oppressions kept their victims out of history, disconnected them from the evolutionary struggle.
Shelby SteeleRead
Emmitt Till had walked into a cultural narrative in which his role was already tragically written. It was a narrative designed to preserve white supremacy. So it gave power - the right to kill - to any white claiming to defend the honor of white women.
Shelby SteeleRead
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