The rise and eclipse of black power

The abandonment of the black community by the black middle class

     In a recent exchange with me in Persuasion, Steve Stoft, citing certain excesses of black power, asserted that “black power eventually evolved into CRT.”

     Stoft and I were witnesses to the excesses of black power (and the student anti-war movement) in the late 1960s.  Based on that experience, it is easy to conclude that the wrongheadedness of CRT is rooted in the tendencies of black power.  However, a good understanding of black power and CRT enables us to see that CRT decisively breaks with the assumptions and concepts of black power. 

     Black power had its excesses, but it also formulated important groundbreaking insights in the context of the challenges of the time.  In contrast, CRT is fundamentally wrong, both empirically and morally, and it has become a toxic presence.  Even as American society moves toward a rejection of CRT, it will take a long time to overcome the distrust between the races that has been stimulated by CRT.

     In exploring this issue, I today discu…