One-word titles are a current fashion, and Shelby Steele’s latest book has such a title. The word is well chosen and striking: “Shame.” The subtitle is apt too, for America’s “past sins” have indeed “polarized our country,” as the author shows.
He is an intellectual who belongs to that bravest of bands: black conservatives. My sense is that few people can imagine what such conservatives have to put up with. I once asked Thomas Sowell, “Who has treated you worse in your life? White liberals or fellow blacks?” He shook his head, chuckled, and said, “It’s too close to call.”
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