SHELBY STEELE ON THE ZIMMERMAN CASE: The Decline of the Civil-Rights Establishment: Black leaders weren’t so much outraged at injustice as they were by the disregard of their own authority. “Today’s black leadership pretty much lives off the fumes of moral authority that linger from its glory days in the 1950s and ’60s. The Zimmerman verdict lets us see this and feel a little embarrassed for them. Consider the pathos of a leadership that once transformed the nation now lusting for the conviction of the contrite and mortified George Zimmerman, as if a stint in prison for him would somehow assure more peace and security for black teenagers everywhere. This, despite the fact that nearly one black teenager a day is shot dead on the South Side of Chicago—to name only one city—by another black teenager.”

To possess moral authority, one must act morally.