Larger forces are at work. The fact is that it is White elites who determine the cultural assumptions which influence law and policy in America. The federal courts have had more to say about the role of integration in the struggle for Black social and economic development than have any dozen Black intellectuals. All of these influences have been of ambiguous benefit to Black communities. Too often have we been objects, but not subjects in the political and intellectual dramas that shape the consciousness of our children.
Rivers wants to see the reconstruction of civil society in Black communities.
Talk about nationalism is indeed foolish in the absence of an answer to these and many other related questions. This is not to say that Blacks are helpless in the face of all of this. Glenn C. Loury Boston University Click here to return to the Boston Review Forum, Black Nationalism . Copyright Boston Review , 1993-2000. All rights reserved.