{"id":215261,"date":"2020-10-20T07:10:56","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T07:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=215261"},"modified":"2020-10-23T07:14:30","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T07:14:30","slug":"amazons-attempt-to-muzzle-shelby-steele-says-volumes-about-race-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=215261","title":{"rendered":"Amazon\u2019s Attempt To Muzzle Shelby Steele Says Volumes About Race In America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Glennon \u2013 Wirepoints Oct 16, 2020<\/strong><\/h1>\n

UPDATE 10\/18\/20: According to the film\u2019s producers, after Amazon refused to stream the film and saying it would hear no appeal, and after extensive public criticism, Amazon proceeded nevertheless to publish the film without the producer\u2019s consent or knowledge. They have now sent a cease and desist letter to Amazon. The producers\u2019 version of the sequence of events is described here<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s tempting to dismiss this as just another instance of media censoring views it doesn\u2019t like, but it\u2019s about far more. It\u2019s about the entire \u201cconversation\u201d we supposedly are having on race in America, and why it\u2019s no conversation at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWhat Killed Michael Brown?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/a> is a new documentary written by impeccably credentialed Shelby Steele<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, who has long been among the most prominent voices challenging orthodox thinking on race.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The film isn\u2019t another look at the facts surrounding the shooting of a black man, Michael Brown, by a white cop in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. That shooting sparked riots and gave life to the entire Black Lives Matter movement as well as the \u201chands up, don\u2019t shoot\u201d meme.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, Steele uses the event as an example through which his broader views are presented, updated to address America\u2019s meltdown on racial issues over the past year. The \u201cpoetic truth\u201d that the establishment likes to push, as Steele put it, is that Brown was executed. He wasn\u2019t executed, making the shooting a metaphor for many other faulty \u201cpoetic truths\u201d Steele challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since Steele himself is black and gifted with unusual clarity in thought and words, the cancel culture\u2019s reaction should be no surprise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amazon, where the plan was to stream the film, abruptly cancelled, sending only a smug email saying this:<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we have found that your film doesn\u2019t meet Prime Video\u2019s content quality expectations and is not eligible for publishing at this time. We will not be accepting resubmission of this title and this decision may not be appealed.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Consider the irony in that. Amazon got its start as a book seller. Having achieved near monopoly power, it\u2019s now a book burner.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amazon also reportedly<\/strong><\/span><\/a> has contributed millions to Black Lives Matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

But credit Amazon for knowing what to squelch because the movie undoubtedly would succeed in opening many of the minds Amazon would like kept closed.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s superb.<\/span><\/p>\n

It traces Steele\u2019s personal story. Born in Chicago, he grew up in south suburban Harvey. His parents met while working in the early civil rights movement. He worked initially in St. Louis as what he calls a \u201cwarrior hero\u201d in President Johnson\u2019s War on Poverty, much of which was misguided as he now sees things. Robert Woodson also appears in the film. Like Steele, he spent his younger years administering 1960s-style welfare programs and is now a leading critic thereof.<\/span><\/p>\n

The culture fostered by those programs eventually migrated to suburbs like Ferguson, says Steele in the film, and it\u2019s that culture that killed Michael Brown.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the facts surrounding the Brown shooting, the film lays out what many Americans probably still don\u2019t know, which is those facts are not subject to dispute. The police officer acted in self-defense according to multiple eye witnesses. A grand jury therefore declined to indict the officer. The FBI, under Attorney General Eric Holder\u2019s Justice Department, found no wrongdoing in the shooting.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Holder proceeded nevertheless to inflate the controversy by accusing the city of other forms of racism, ultimately hurting the entire community. \u201cHolder made Ferguson pay the price for a racist murder that was neither racist nor a murder,\u201d says Steele.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ex-Black Disciple gang leader, Varney Voker (L), and Pastor Corey Brooks (R) discuss their work in South Side Chicago. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

The film, produced by Steele\u2019s son, Eli, brings his father\u2019s views to life. It includes segments with Chicago\u2019s Corey Brooks, a pastor on the Southside along with a reformed drug dealer now helping Brooks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder what would have happened if Michael Brown had the good fortune to meet Pastor Brooks,\u201d says Steele in the film.<\/span><\/p>\n

All Chicago should be wondering that.<\/span><\/p>\n

All America should be wondering that.<\/span><\/p>\n

They aren\u2019t, thanks to a culture that cancels and punishes such thoughts. Amazon is hardly alone. A day hardly passes now without a story from a workplace or school were somebody is flogged for daring to voice a contradiction with the prevailing view that white supremacists lurk everywhere, racism is systemic and we\u2019re all biased but too dumb to know it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ferguson provided Steele with an illustration of what he thinks is wrong about America\u2019s approach to race; Amazon has now provided him with an illustration of how views like his get silenced.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let Amazon or anybody else deter you from seeing the film. Alternate ways to view it are provided here<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the latest example of modern censorship, Amazon has buried a new documentary on the death of Michael Brown <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42,38,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-controlling-the-news-andor-the-free-exchange-of-ideas-and-information","category-Race","category-The_Media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=215261"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215266,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215261\/revisions\/215266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=215261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=215261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=215261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}