How the 1968 uprisings gave us the Civil Rights Act of 1968
NOVANEWS
By Eugene Puryear
Soldier standing guard on the corner of 7th & N Street NW in Washington D.C. with the ruins of buildings that were destroyed during the uprisings that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Date: 8 April 1968 Credit: Warren K. Leffler/Library of Congress.
The 50th anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is, rightfully, the cause of great reflection as well as numerous calls to action. So much of what Dr. King fought for in his later years–an end to war, racism and poverty as well as a re-ordering of societal priorities away from capitalism–remains undone. Dr. King’s assassination was the key marker in the transition of a great era of social change, from one where “inclusion” in the broader capitalist system...