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IMO it's SSDD (same shit, different day). I think this article by Tim Wise is far more thoughful:
"Not very. At least not as the means to an ends...precisely because progress on racism has never been related to how whites felt about black people. Rather, progress has come via movement activity forcing elites to make changes, whether or not the mass of whites supported such changes. None of the civil rights acts of the 1960's were supported by the majority of whites. Neither was desegregation via the Brown v Board decision. And needless to say, neither was abolition of slavery. But interestingly, after laws were changed, more and more people (though admittedly not enough) came to accede to the new norm, and actually reduced their opposition to such laws and changes. Keep in mind, most people are conformist. They assume the laws are legitimate, and the state is legitimate. As a result, when activists force changes, over time (sometimes a very short time), most people come to at least passively accept those changes, and many even come to support them outright.
Never to my knowledge have most white people's perceptions of blacks in this country been:
a. based on what blacks did or did not do.
b. that blacks were equally capable and deserving of opportunity
c. the key to whether or not progress would be made for black people.
No matter how blacks have "behaved" or what their demands have been , whites, especially elites, have found ways to explicate white superiority. So if slaves ran away, they were mentally ill and dangerous, but if they didn't run away, they were happy and clearly inferior beings (since what rational person would accept bondage?). If blacks fought for their rights, they were agitators, commies, etc. but if they didn't, they were docile, and "recognized their own limitations and the need for white guidance." In other words, whites' support for challenging racism has never been dependent on what blacks did or did not do." - from http://www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/862 <--- Blame this lady for Nutty.
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