Word: civilizer
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Dates: during 1970-1970
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...other words, had there been no blacks, certain creative tensions arising from the cross-purposes of whites and blacks would also not have existed. Not only would there have been no Faulkner; there would have been no Stephen Crane, who found certain basic themes of his writing in the Civil War. Thus, also, there would have been no Hemingway, who took Crane as a source and guide. Without the presence of Negro American style, our jokes, our tall tales, even our sports would be lacking in the sudden turns, the shocks, the swift changes of pace (all jazz-shaped) that...
Without the presence of blacks, our political history would have been otherwise. No slave economy, no Civil War; no violent destruction of the Reconstruction; no K.K.K. and no Jim Crow system. And without the disenfranchisement of black Americans and the manipulation of racial fears and prejudices, the disproportionate impact of white Southern politicians upon our domestic and foreign policies would have been impossible. Indeed, it is almost impossible to conceive of what our political system would have become without the snarl of forces-cultural, racial, religious-that makes our nation what it is today...
This sort of low caricature could hardly persist after the battle for civil rights was truly joined. In those tense days of the '50s and early '60s, laughter came to serve dual functions. By mocking the black's own intolerable position, it bolstered his emerging self-awareness as he marched on Selma and Washington. At the same time, it pricked the white's guilt feelings by chastening him for years of brutal apathy, then soothed his conscience with the balm of newfound empathy. Says Black Comic Stu Gilliam: "Until we marched in the streets...
WHITES often assume that civil rights acts and court decisions have made law the black man's redeemer. In practice, many blacks see the law as something different: a white weapon that white policemen, white judges and white juries use against black people. Indeed, blacks are clearly underrepresented in law enforcement and overrepresented in crime and punishment. Among the facts...
Vanishing Neighbors. The assumption is that most jurors can reach a fair verdict, regardless of their race, ethnic background or economic circumstance. Yet Southern white juries have repeatedly acquitted the obvious white killers of civil rights workers. Blacks feel that Northern white juries have railroaded various black militants...