For blacks only [HARDCOVER] [RARE BOOKS]

for blacks only

black strategies for change in america

STERLING TUCKER

The polarization of America continues. Black (and white) radicals call for the overthrow of the government, for the destruction of what they believe to be a pervasively racist society. Theirs is the voice of violence.

Responding are those who demand order at any price: additional laws, harsher penalties, the prompt and sometimes indiscriminate use of police and National Guard force. These, too, are the voices of violence.

Too often, the voices of the extremists are the only ones we hear; and we begin to believe that we have to choose between them.

Sterling Tucker believes there is another way- the way of sanity and realism. He believes there are at hand-within the system-effective tools for change.

Tucker begins by providing an overview of the civil rights movement and why it failed. He discusses the meaning of Black Power, suggest- ing that this concept initially released wholesome energy, but was not able to offer strength, purpose and cohesion to the equal rights movement. Turn- ing to an assessment of the national mood, the author shows that fear and guilt have prevented white America from understanding black anger; misconstruing the nature of black violence, whites have enshrined “law and order” at the expense of justice.

Then Tucker proceeds with an analysis of realistic strategies. Having shown the failure of black radicals to relate to the realities of the American scene, he considers separatism as a concept, showing its dangers as an ideology as well as its constructive uses as a temporary tactic. He deals at length with the question of alliances, and suggests the ways in which whites, earlier banished from black organizations, can be enlisted again without compromise.

Drawing on his own experience as head of Urban League Field Services, Tucker shows how broader elements of society can be engaged in