{"id":29738,"date":"2022-12-01T23:56:53","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T07:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29738"},"modified":"2022-12-01T23:56:53","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T07:56:53","slug":"shame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/shame\/","title":{"rendered":"Shame."},"content":{"rendered":"

Truth be told, I could not figure out how to apply my quick-read formula to Shelby Steele\u2019s Shame, How America\u2019s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country.\u00a0 <\/em>I read the entire book, carefully, cover to cover.\u00a0 I feel like I need to read it again.<\/p>\n

Summary of Steele\u2019s Book<\/strong><\/p>\n

Steele presents an in-depth, well thought out description of his perspective on the political and moral upheaval of the 1960\u2019s and the ways in which Americans\u2019 reactions to that upheaval caused the divisions we experience today. He focuses his discussion on the evils of racism, and also touches on the harms done through sexism, and militarism, and destruction of the environment, saying that, \u201cin the 1960\u2019s, America underwent what can only be described as an archetypal \u2018fall\u2019 \u2013 a descent from \u2018innocence\u2019 into an excruciating and inescapable self-knowledge.[1]<\/a> Following the Civil Rights Movement, no one could claim that America had always been a country founded on freedom and equality for all human beings.\u00a0 Steele continues, \u201cIn that era, a remarkable convergence occurred: So many hypocrisies were established as legitimate<\/em> complaints against America that the nation fell into arguably the worst crisis of moral and cultural authority in its history.\u201d[2]<\/a> He points out that it was difficult for people to reconcile how a country claiming to operate as a democracy could exclude an entire race of people from living freely, could neglect to honor women as equals, could engage in the horrors of the Vietnam War, and could deal devastating blows to the environment.[3]<\/a> The unveiling of these truths opened American eyes to the fact that our country was not innocent, had never been innocent, and was indeed, riddled with imperfection. Anti-Americanism emerged as an acceptable moral authority within the culture, \u201cbifurcating\u201d American mainstream authority and creating a new, \u201cauthentic\u201d worldview that highlighted and resisted America\u2019s hypocrisy and inauthenticity.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Steele believes the movements of the 1960\u2019s intended to bring America to a point of humility, so that the country could grow forward into a true society of freedom for all.\u00a0 The problem, however, was that they went too far and got caught up in a self-centered \u201carrogance of power,\u201d which led to a particular harm, in and of itself.[5]<\/a> This new American identity, according to Steele, led to a new American liberalism that focused on dissociating from mainstream politics and morality.\u00a0 Eventually, this new liberalism, in Steele\u2019s view, attempted to redeem white sins and guilt \u2013 white shame \u2013 by setting up social programs to \u201chelp\u201d black individuals and families overcome the oppression they had experienced for four hundred years and move fully into pursuing their potential in American society. \u201cSuch was the shame of America after the 1960\u2019s,\u201d points out Steele, \u201cthat it generated a liberalism grounded in dissociation rather than principle.\u201d[6]<\/a> In a sense, it was a reaction to guilt and shame, as opposed to a proactive attempt to reconcile and seek forgiveness for wrongs done. Steele believes that the goal of new liberalism coming out of the 1960\u2019s was immunity from past evils, never the development of minorities.[7]<\/a> It enmeshed the longings for equality among minorities with white longings for redemption.[8]<\/a> Once again, according to Shelby Steele, the heroic system is created with white interest at the center. He suggests a more conservative system that inspires people to take initiative and responsibility for their own future, for it is in this system and through these opportunities, he believes, that true freedom can be experienced by all.[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

The Overwhelm of Shame<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shame.\u00a0 What do we do when we\u2019ve been found guilty and we and others see that our innocence was a delusion? What do we do when our hurts and the hurts we\u2019ve inflicted as individuals, families, communities, and countries are found out and we are exposed?\u00a0 We can hide and disappear, we can shift blame and shame others, we can stand undefended to the accusations and attempt the hard struggle toward reconciliation and redemption.<\/p>\n

Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n

My thoughts jump to Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela and the insistence of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to acknowledge the evils committed and then to grant forgiveness.[10]<\/a> The process was excruciating, and healing.\u00a0 It was also too hard for some who chose instead to hide or blame others. Could America have tried such a courageous approach?\u00a0 Where would we be now if we had chosen that road?\u00a0 Is it still possible to choose such a path? Is it too late?<\/p>\n

In his book, The Soul of Shame, <\/em>Curt Thompson writes that the remedy to shame is vulnerability.[11]<\/a> \u00a0It is in offering our true selves to another, acknowledging the harm we have inflicted, and remaining fully seen in order to be known, that we can overcome the power of shame, and heal together. He believes, \u201cThis process of being known opens the door not only for healing but for the expansion of our capacity to co-create with God renewed minds and hearts, out of which burst\u2026beauty in the face of shame\u2019s withering onslaught.\u201d[12]<\/a> Do Americans have the courage to stand together and be seen for the imperfect collective that we are? \u00a0For the imperfect individuals that we are? Might we be able to put down our defenses and say we don\u2019t have the answers needed to fix the schism in our country? To acknowledge the hurtful ways we have approached racism? Might we have the courage to acknowledge and address our lack of innocence and our ignorance? Would it be possible to set our agendas aside to listen to others among us, ask questions, stay silent, wait for wisdom together? \u00a0Could we bring ourselves to think of what is best for others, even if it means giving something up ourselves?<\/p>\n

I once heard a Native American presenter say that if our goal is to shame people into hearing us and changing their ways, we will never be successful.\u00a0 Shame is not a true reconciler, nor can it bring healing.\u00a0 Somehow, we have got to figure out how to deal with shame, for left unaddressed, it compounds and complicates damages done and creates nearly irreconcilable divisions.<\/p>\n

We know how shame enters our lives.\u00a0 Perhaps our next challenge is to figure out how it exits.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Shelby Steele, Shame, How America\u2019s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country (<\/em>New York, NY: Basic Books, 2015), 55.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Steele, 77.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Steele, 77.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Steele, 61-62, 176.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Steele, 66-67.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Steele, 142.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Steele, 183.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Steele, 184.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Steele, 197-198.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness <\/em>(New York, NY: Doubleday, 1999), 45-46.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Curt Thompson, The Soul of Shame (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2015), 115.<\/em><\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Thompson, 132.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Truth be told, I could not figure out how to apply my quick-read formula to Shelby Steele\u2019s Shame, How America\u2019s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country.\u00a0 I read the entire book, carefully, cover to cover.\u00a0 I feel like I need to read it again. Summary of Steele\u2019s Book Steele presents an in-depth, well thought out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":157,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1997],"class_list":["post-29738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-steele","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29739,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29738\/revisions\/29739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}