I am not sad that black Americans are rebelling this was not only inevitable but eminently desirable. What might once have been a series of separate problems now merge into social crisis of almost stupefying complexity. Confronted now with the interrelated problems of war, inflation, urban decay, white backlash and a climate of violence, it is now forced to address itself to race relations and poverty, and it is tragically unprepared. The nation waited until the black man was explosive with fury before stirring itself even to partial concern. The luxury of a leisurely approach to urgent solutions – the easy of gradualism – was forfeited by ignoring the issues for too long. Today’s problems are so acute because the tragic evasions and defaults to of several centuries have accumulated to disaster proportions. A Testament of Hope Published Posthumously 1969 Whenever I am asked my opinion of the current state of the civil rights movement, I am forced to pause it is not easy t describe a crisis so profound that it has caused the most powerful nation in the world to stagger in confusion and bewilderment.
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