And "yes", I know about segregation and "Jim Crow" and all that crap. It pales in comparison to the evil that has been wrought in this Great Republic since people learned that you get what you want, at others' expense, if you "march" and shriek irrational demands, and riot in the streets. Martin Luther King's legacy is Antifa, BurnLootMurder, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Sam Brinton.
Because the Commies drove the bus.
“60 years after, I am convinced that the so-called “civil rights movement”, and all the legislation that it spawned, did enormous harm and no good.”
Those “evil” southern senators and governors warned what would happen.
Almost every bad thing they predicted came to pass.
Here is a George Wallace speech on the topic:
His comments/predictions:
“Every person in every walk and station of life and every aspect of our daily lives becomes subject to the criminal provisions of this bill.”
“It threatens our freedom of speech, of assembly, or association, and makes the exercise of these Freedoms a federal crime under certain conditions.”
“It is designed to make Federal crimes of our customs, beliefs, and traditions.”
“I am not about to be a party to anything having to do with the law that is going to destroy individual freedom and liberty in this country.”
“I am having nothing to do with enforcing a law that will destroy our free enterprise system.”
“I am having nothing to do with enforcing a law that will destroy neighborhood schools.”
“I am having nothing to do with enforcing a law that will destroy the rights of private property.”
“I am having nothing to do with enforcing a law that destroys your right—and my right—to choose my neighbors—or to sell my house to whomever I choose.”
“I am not in the least impressed by the protestations that the government will use this power with benevolent discretion.”
“The face is that it is possible with a politically dominated agency to punish and to bankrupt and destroy any business that deals with the Federal government if it does not bow to the wishes and demands of the president of the United States.”
“A left-wing monster has risen up in this nation. It has invaded the government. It has invaded the news media. It has invaded the leadership of many of our churches. It has invaded every phase and aspect of the life of freedom-loving people.”
I must disagree. The ACLU gained traction in MLK's day, the 50s and 60s, as great liberators of oppressed blacks; but the ACLU always has been a communist organization. They used the vulnerable black community to further the rest of their agenda, just as Democrats have been using blacks ever since with a “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
Blacks were the fall guys for white communists; and now that their reputations and enclaves are in ruins, the socialist/communists are using the mentally ill (mass shooters and the sexually deranged). Trump was the first president since Eisenhower to genuinely acknowledge blacks' capabilities, call out the genuine needs of AA communities—tools to build social and economic freedoms and responsibilities—and address them without pandering.
As for what has happened with American blacks since the Civil Rights movement, it was predictable; in 1967 the great social philosopher Eric Hoffer wrote, in The Temper of Our Time,
“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”