Martin Luther King told people they had to take on the responsibility — and risk — to gain their freedom. Jesse Jackson tells them that they are weak, victims of prejudice, that have no responsibility for their situation, and that they should rely on him to get the concessions that will improve their situation. In my opinion, that message of `victimhood’ is a bigger barrier to progress than prejudice itself. Shelby Steele
Shelby Steele, African-American scholar at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution who studies the economics and politics of race. (San Jose Mercury News, March 13, 1999)