I thought that was a very good piece also- short and straightforward. I saw this at FADG and thought of the discussion here on black progress. Wondered if you noticed it- it was interesting to me since it came from Jesse...
But Mr. Jackson, who ran for president in 1984 and 1988, says that the United States is a far different place than it was when he sought the White House and that blacks are now rising to real positions of political power through conventional routes.
"The fact is we have grown as a civil rights community enormously in the last 20 years," Mr. Jackson said in an interview.
"You look at the number of mayors," he said, "you look at the number of legislators, you look at the number of Congress people, the number of blacks and browns on boards, the number of blacks and browns in college, the number of blacks and browns with M.B.A.'s. There is a steady growth curve."
I thought your point about age was a good one. Like you, I was born before integration, and clearly remember the first black student in my high school. She was a lovely girl, whose family was brought in for the express purpose of being the first to break the barriers. The next year they closed the black schools and integrated fully. But for a whole year, Curtissa was the sole black face in my classes. We have come a very long way since the 50s. Whether that means we older people are too complacent or younger ones not as appreciative of the enormous changes in beliefs that have occurred, I don't know. Both, probably. You need the impatient ones. As President Johnson said so eloquently to JFK in 1963, "blacks are tired of this patience stuff..." |
