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Lifting as we Climb
A progressive defense of respectability politics
Kennedy, Randall http://harpers.org/archive/2015/10/lifting-as-we-climb/
Publisher: Harper's Magazine
Date Written: 01/10/2015
Year Published: 2015
Resource Type: Article
A defense of the morality and utility of respectability politics for black americans.
Abstract:
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Excerpts:
This is an oft-heard critique of the politics of respectability: that it wrongly shifts attention from illegitimate social conditions to the perceived deficiencies of those victimized by those conditions. We err, however, in forcing a Manichaean choice between outward-facing protest and inward-facing character building. The achievements of the civil-rights movement stemmed from and reinforced the reformation of white America, to be sure, but those achievements stemmed from and reinforced the reformation of black America as well.
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