Back to the 1960's with Barack
In the 1960s many Americans, me included, were powerfully influenced by a book, “Crisis in Black and White” by Lawrence Silberman. With the nation in ferment over civil rights, Silberman happened to hit the jackpot with a book that stirred liberal impulses, including mine. By 1966, 42 years ago, I was the officer at The Quaker Oats Company charged with rectifying imbalance in minority hiring and opportunities. The original view was that if equal opportunity legislation were to be passed, blacks and other minorities would swiftly take advantage of their new freedom and rise to the top.
That was the reigning liberal consensus until Silberman’s book came out. Silberman laid out a radical thesis. He said that even if all the shackles of discrimination that held minorities back for decades were to be removed, the result would be rather like a runner freed from manacles on his feet: he couldn’t ... Read More...
