Shelby Steele Quotes
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.
Steele, Shelby. Interview by Peter Robinson. Uncommon Knowledge, Hoover Institution.
His strategy was to fill the jails of Birmingham, and asked the young people to help. The next days saw virtually all the Birmingham high school students our of school and in the streets protesting which was then against the un-Constitutional laws of Birmingham and Alabama. The students were arrested by the droves and the white authorities, believing that they were being firm against “radical lawbreakers”, fell into the trap, and became a travesty to most of the country and the rest of the world and the hundreds of jailed students beaten and assaulted raised the consciousness of whites as well as Blacks.
This was the speech that started the "Black Power" Movement. The rally was held in a city park to Protest the murder just 10 days before of the civil rights activist, James Meredith. It also marked the break between the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the nonviolent movement lead by Martin Luther King. Because of that, the speech received so much publicity that "Black Power" became a significant political term instantly.
Referring to sit-ins at southern lunch counters:
Rustin urged them to accept a compromise what would give them the majority of everything that they were demanding but not all. See {637623} for Moses’ counter-argument.
Shelby Steele is a conservative author, columnist, documentary film maker, and a Robert J. and Marion E. Oster Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He specializes in the study of race relations, multiculturalism, and affirmative action.
