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"While certainly not new in the American debate, the Civil Rights Movement which took off during the 1950s drew a fiery public line between social progressives who wished to rid the American justice and political system of discriminatory laws and conservative traditionalists who refused to lessen their political power based on the widespread southern conviction of white superiority. Social progressives were at a distinct disadvantage. Not only did they lack political power in the southern states, but their means for achieving their goals were diverse and often in conflict with one another – demonstrated most effectively by highlighting the differences between Martin Luther King, Jr.’s nonviolent protests over discriminatory laws and Stokely Carmichael’s often inflammatory cries for “Black Power” and self-determination. Conservative news media, in an effort to put a decisive wedge in the blossoming movement’s followers, spread stories which, at least according to Carmichael, exaggerated the philosophical division within the movement."
Reblogged from sickeninglyliberal
A excerpt from my essay Clashing Ideologies: The Traditionalist and the Progressive, an examination of the historical differences between the left and the right. (via fortuneandglory)
(Source: jonathanwriting.com)
