Happy 4th & the East Coast Swing

Hey all,

Happy 4th of July!

In honor of our nation’s birthday, here’s a quote from William Faulkner: “We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.”

In just two days, our small documentary crew will leave for our East Coast swing that begins in Southampton, VA, and ends 18 days later in Northampton, MA. We will be meeting with many great minds and, hopefully, grab a few signature east coast meals along the way. We are very excited.

Several of you have asked me for behind the scenes footage and/or what it is like to make a documentary. That is why I’m sending this letter out to you today to let you know expect updates throughout this journey. A lot of them will likely be photos and maybe even some video clips if I can pull it off within the tight schedule.

To kick things off, I thought I’d start with the very first step of the film process: the introduction to the film’s 25 page proposal. It’ll give you a sense of what we’re thinking and how we plan to build the film from that starting point.

Here’s the introduction:

When Shelby Steele was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s in the scrupulously segregated world of South Chicago, old fashioned racism blanketed his world. Today, he simply doesn’t meet much racism in the world, which is not to say that there isn’t some. It’s just that white racism is no longer a worthy enemy, so that worrying much over it is a waste of time. Today, the real threat is not white racism; it is white guilt.

Perhaps no one better exemplifies white guilt in Steele’s adult world than President Joe Biden. Both men are close in age, but have lived their lives in two different Americas. As a black man, Steele sought to move beyond race, to become fully American.

By contrast, Biden never doubted his Americanness. His white skin made the point. Instead, he made a career out of white guilt — the embrace of all things anti-racist to show his innocence of America’s racist legacy. White guilt is not genuine guilt; it is the terror of stigmatization as a racist - a terror that causes whites to act guiltily even when they feel no actual guilt. For Biden, and for all who conspicuously display their innocence of racism, power is their actual goal.

When Steele learned of Biden’s executive order on February 16, 2023, he felt a terrible let- down. The order, “Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” calls for the creation of a national diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy that will embed “equity-focused leadership across the federal government.”

Every government agency from the Education Department to the Defense Department must establish equity teams led by senior officials who will push ideological conformity throughout the ranks. They will fund outside activist groups charged with delivering equitable outcomes.

Biden seeks nothing less than the remaking of the entire United States government on the socialist principle of equity as redress for what he sees as the racial wrongs of history.

What troubles Steele is the prospect of Biden’s white guilt undermining the very American principles that would give focus to those seeking to join the American mainstream.

For Steele, it is quite remarkable that America is locked in this existential battle, and at a time of greater wealth and freedom than ever before. That is why he believes that America’s newest form of racism - white guilt - must be exposed. No less than the fate of our nation is at stake.

Lastly, a huge thank you to everyone who signed up this newsletters and a special thanks to those signed up as paid subscribers. It means much.

All my best,

Eli