ELI STEELE: The terror of being called racist is crushing free speech in America

When my father, Shelby Steele, author, columnist, and senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, began publishing his essays on race in the late 1980s, my teenage self was often by his side when he gave speeches. After each speech, the same scene unfolded as a crowd of people gathered to the side of the podium, each wanting a word.

I remember one man in particular who hurried to reach my father first. He wore a corduroy sports coat with leather elbow patches. He said, "Dr.