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| Rich Terrell |
'Where Do We Go from Here?' King's question amid the chaos of the '60s still resonates today . . . "That debate is similar to the one raging today between youthful leaders and supporters of Black Lives Matter and older establishment leaders. Then as now, race was front and center. The youngsters of SNCC had kicked whites out of the group, while the SCLC and other organizations were strong proponents of integration. "
. . . "A schism developed among Black people after Stokely Carmichael, the SNCC leader from 1966-67, raised a clenched fist and shouted, “Black Power,” and said Blacks should cut ties to whites. He was also part of the effort that led to name changes from centuries-old labels of “colored” and “Negro” to African American and Black, which once was deemed an insult.
"We at the New York Times were puzzled at first over which term to use in our reporting. Executive Editor A. M. Rosenthal finally threw up his hands and instructed writers to use whichever term their sources preferred. For a while, we did just that, until Black and African American became the standards.
"The decades of the '70s and '80 marked a significant shift with slow but sure progress. More Blacks were elected to political office; there was economic improvement and more progress for other ethnic groups; and the general racial climate began to improve.
"Recent elections have propelled even more nonwhites and women into elected office. ...
"Today’s Democrat message is one of “let hatred, not freedom, ring.” For whites, as the quintessential scapegoat for all of Black America’s problems, constantly accusing us of racism does little to promote unity and only builds resentment. While Democrats shroud this hatred as “justice,” it has the bloody stench of revenge.
"Most of us haven’t done anything racist or supremacist, but revenge is being exacted against us because we are white." . . .
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