On Being Black and Middle Class

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Ethan Gillett
Period 3A
10.27.2015
On Being Black and Middle Class
Two equally powerfully elements of our identity at odds with each other. Sounds like the
next Batman movie right? This is what has been happening to many black Americans during the
21st century, especially in the 1960s.
Shelby Steele, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, has written a personal account
about this issue. Published in Commentary, titled On Being Black and Middle Class, this paper
answers many questions about why these powerful elements are at odds with each other. Mr.
Steele explains his own experience growing up in what he calls a double bind. What became
clear to Steele is that people like himself, his friends, and middle-class blacks generally are
caught in a very specific double bind that keeps two equally powerful elements of our identity at
odds with each other. These two elements are race and class. In his essay, he describes the
ongoing war that these two factors have had in his lifetime, especially growing up in the 1960s.
During the 60s race became more important due to the civil rights movement that was going on.
Intense oppression of blacks occurred leaving them as victims at this time. If you chose your
class status over race than you were considered an Uncle Tom, a sellout, or even an anti-black.
Concluding, Steele explains how black identity encourages the individual to feel that one needs
his/her racial group and that to escape this the individual needs to let go of the black attitude.
To move beyond victim-focused identity we must learn to make a difficult but crucial distinction:
between actual victimization, which we must resist with every resource, and identification with
the victims status (87). Shelby Steele describes the intense victimization that occurred during
the 60s and how it created a powerful distinction between race and class. He explains well that
the middle class black choose to identify with victimization that didnt happen to them. However,
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I do not agree with his idea that a stable family life is only available for individuals who favor
class over race.
Race was dominant in the 60s. This was caused by the victimization that was inflicted to
black Americans while they campaigned for their civil rights. Steele saw that racial identity was
taken advantage of. He became embarrassed by being middle class and desperately needed to
be black. Through the late 50s and 60s Mr. Steele describes race as transforming the same
sort of way that national identity undergoes in times of war. Blacks wanted to become a
singular people with common experiences of oppression so they created a monolith. To do this,
differences within race had to be minimized. This meant the sacrifice of class distinctions so that
their race could be unified. It was redefined along sharp adversarial lines and directed toward
the goal of mobilizing the great mass of black Americans in a warlike action.
The war created a new social ladder. This came from the victimization that occurred to
the individual black American. New status among blacks was earned by the condition of
someones victimization, not by assertive positive action. These people probed stories of harsh
treatment to achieve a higher status in their peer group. Some would tell the story of Emmett
Till, a northern black teenager who was killed and grotesquely mutilated for whistling at a white
women. By telling his story and others like it, we ame to feel the immutability of our
victimization, its utter indigenous, as a thing on this earth like dirt or sand or water. (83). Not
every black American had this same experience, so to become more black they spread stories
like this to gain a higher personal status. I have seen this occur in my own peer group of mainly
white middle-class guys. Kids that get into fights or get in trouble with the cops have more
crazy stories that they can tell people. These guys always seem to hold themselves to a higher
status than everyone else. The difference between my peers and Shelbys is that many of his
peers had unstable family lives whereas my peers are just stuck up white boys.
A stable family life can be found in any social class or racial identity. Shelby Steele
makes the statement a stable family life cannot be found for individuals who favor race over
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class (79). I strongly disagree with this idea. A stable family life can be found no matter if you
are white, black, asian, indian, or pacific islander. What it comes down to is core family values. I
have a family friend named J.T. He and his family is black and are considered lower class. J.T.s
father set strict family values when J.T. was born so that they could always love and cherish
each other. This meant the less opportunities to hang out with J.T. as he was always spending
time with his father. Against Shelby Steeles statement, J.T. has been able to live in a stable
family life all throughout high school and into college. Family values that can be held firm and
believed in, like J.T.s, can shape a very stable life.
Im sure Mr. Steele wants everyone to better understand this double bind that has
occurred for so long. Publishing his paper to the world in Commentary was a great way to
spread his idea. Using his background as an English professor provides both ethos and an
intelligent voice to the paper. Shelby Steele also utilizes pathos by telling his own childhood
experiences. Hearing my friends comment was like hearing a priest from a church Id grown
disenchanted with (78). Using ethos and pathos, he develops the tone of the paper as
informative and yet adds personal stories that make myself and other readers empathetic.
Steele describes the victimization that shaped race and class during his lifetime. He
accuses blacks of identifying with acts of harshness that didnt even happen to them. He also
makes the comment that a stable family life is impossibly in a setting where they choose race
over class. I disagree with this comment. Strong family values that are set in stone can create a
family life that is stable. These forces do not just happen in superhero movies, they conflict with
many Black Americans lives everyday.
Works Cited
Steele, Shelby. On Being Black and Middle Class. Commentary (January 1998)

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