Black leadership and the second redemption

Argues that the conservative turn in American politics has unleashed forces that challenge the economic & political gains of the modern civil rights movement. Similarities between these forces & those that ruined Reconstruction efforts during the 1890s are pointed out. Civil rights reforms of the 1950s/1960s were an attempt to accomplish what the original Reconstruction failed to do. It is contended that todays politics of retrenchment focus on how the nations governing institutions coordinate conservative forces whose aims are linked to restricting opportunity in a society hierarchically structured along the lines of race & class. For the first time since WWII, the Executive branch, Congress, & the Supreme Court are dominated by those willing to limit the protection of civil rights & opportunities for poor people. This shift in national politics has seriously hampered the ability of vulnerable citizens to have their voices heard. The black community must form a new alliance with progressives to fight policies that reward corporations & the super-rich & punish the black poor & working class for their moral shortcomings. J. Lindroth