Thread by @amikegreen2

Most Americans have never been taught anything about the "Negro American Revolution." This explains why educators, media, clergy, pundits and politicos struggle to understand today's socioeconomic and political battlegrounds. Just 53 years ago, the govt spelled it out. 1/13

"The US is approaching a new crisis in race relations. In this period expectations of Negro Americans will go beyond civil rights. They will expect equal opportunities for them will produce roughly equal results as compared with other groups. This is not going to happen." 2/13

"Nor will it happen for generations to come unless a new and special effort is made. There are two reasons. First, the racist virus in the American blood stream still afflicts us: Negroes will encounter serious personal prejudice for at least another generation." 3/13

"Second, 3 centuries of unimaginable mistreatment have taken their toll on the Negro people. The harsh fact is that as a group, in terms of ability to win out in competitions of American life, they're not equal to most of those groups with which they will competing." 4/13

"Individually, Negro Americans reach the highest peaks of achievement. But collectively, in the spectrum of American ethnic and religious and regional groups, where some get plenty and some get none, Negroes are among the weakest." 5/13

"The most difficult fact for white Americans to understand is that in these terms the circumstances of the Negro American community in recent years has probably been getting worse, not better. " 6/13

"Indices of dollars of income, standards of living, and years of education deceive. The gap between the Negro and most other groups in American society is widening." 7/13

"Chapter 1: The Negro American Revolution
The Negro American revolution is rightly regarded as the most important domestic event of the postwar period in the United States." 8/13

"Nothing like the Negro American Revolution has occurred since the upheavals of the 1930's which led to the organization of the great industrial trade unions, and which in turn profoundly altered both the economy and the political scene." 9/13

"There have been few other events in our history - the American Revolution itself, surge of 1830s Jacksonian Democracy, Abolitionist and Populist movements of the late 19th Century - comparable to the current Negro movement.
There has been none more important." 10/13

"The Negro American Revolution holds the prospect that the Republic, which at birth was flawed by institutional slavery, & throughout history has been marred by unequal treatment of Negro citizens, will at last redeem the full promise of the Declaration of Independence." 11/13

"It's clear that what happens here is being taken as a sign of what can, or must, happen in the world. The course of world events will be profoundly affected by success or failure of the Negro American Revolution in seeking peaceful assimilation of the races in the US." 12/13

"Award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Dr. Martin Luther King was as much an expression of hope for the future, as it was recognition for past achievement. It is clear that carrying this revolution to a successful conclusion is a first priority confronting the Great Society." 13/13

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