It was just under 50 yrs ago that the Civil Rights Act passed. It was so close behind us. [View all]

[bigtree]

Last edited Sun Mar 11, 2012, 09:36 AM - Edit history (1)

It should be remembered that there are still folks around who actually experienced institutionalized racism and discrimination full-force, first-hand in their lifetimes. Critics of the opinions of the U.S. of black activists like Barack Obama's acquaintance at Harvard, Professor Derrick Bell, are certainly free to point out their mistrust and distaste of the white-dominated infrastructure of government and businesses they were made to endure.

Yet, to characterize that mistrust and cynicism of black Americans like Bell (and other black activists and advocates) toward the actions and attitudes of the nation's white majority as something sinister or untoward is completely dismissive of America's antagonistic past regarding almost every aspect of blacks' existence in the country.

You have to ask yourself just how black folks who grew up in that confrontational and discriminatory era, as well as the generations who followed, were supposed to regard the cliquish white majority as they perused their quest for inclusion and advancement against such determined and insidious headwinds?

As we consider the relatively short distance we've managed to put between this generation today and that tragic past, we also need to ask ourselves if any of that progress would have been possible without that cynical, insistent attitude from Prof. Bell and others as they challenged the status quo?

When we celebrate the efforts of black leaders from the past who were confronting the bewildering, illogical facets of racism and Jim Crow, we need to view their actions and statements in opposition to it all in context of the amazingly vicious assault on the citizenship and establishment of people of color that they were facing down.